Tag: inspiration

10 Random Facts about Randomness
This might sound strange coming from someone who is a born planner (See this post), but over the years I have developed a taste for leaving things to chance or opening the door for randomness.

According to Merriam-Webster, the definition of “random” is:

lacking a definite plan, purpose or pattern

I am not alone. Most of us over plan our lives and get upset when things veer off course. Perhaps, randomness is unavoidable and should be enjoyed as a critical part of life.

So here are 10 Random Facts about Randomness:
1. Online dictionaries are using social media and its concepts. When you look up a word you can find the “popularity” of that word and you can share where you’ve “Seen and Heard” the word with other people through your Facebook account. Try looking up “random” at www.merriam-webster.com where you will find that “random” is in the bottom 40% of searches on its site. Also, there are 7 Facebook comments about the word.
2. Geek alert! Random number generation is used for things like lottery winnings and slot machine payouts and simulating results for forecasting models in finance. You can try it out yourself in Excel, using the RAND function.
3. The “random walk hypothesis“is a theory that stock prices cannot be predicted. Think about that next time you pay a financial advisor or money manager. See the chart below for the daily closing price for the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
4. Randomness levels the playing field in leisure games, particularly games using dice. People of different ages can have fun together without worrying about who is smarter or more clever. Check out our family’s favorite game of chance, Farkle:
5. “Fooled by Randomness“ is a book by Nassim Taleb, a professor, author and investor, who has dedicated his life to luck and randomness. His theory is that humans are unaware of how much randomness there is in the world and that those who make money in the markets are just lucky, not insightful.
6. Random music moments can trigger nostalgia and/or make new memories. In a world where everyone has an iPad, iPhone or other portable music player, we leave very little to chance when it comes to rocking out. However, listening to the random radio can be a great way to hear songs you had forgotten about (The Proclaimers’ “500 miles”) and that trigger a memory to forgotten times (oh early ’90s…).
The random radio is also good for introducing you to new songs or artists. Isn’t that why we’re all singing Gotye’s “Somebody”…

7. Randomness creates more interesting stories. Try recalling a great vacation. Was it so wonderful because you did everything you planned to do? Perhaps you remember taking an aimless stroll in an unfamiliar city or meeting another couple while getting rained out of your planned activity. I remember all the times we got lost more than all the times we followed the directions exactly.

8. Play:children as randomness:adults. The definition of play sounds awfully similar to random: as a verb “to play” is to move freely or move aimlessly about. As children, playtime is encouraged because it enables the child to develop creativity and imagination. As adults, randomness may be the ticket to finding inspiration and creativity and, ultimately, to more productivity.

9. People who live random lives are also known as Bohemians, hipsters, slackers, spontaneous people or fun people. I wonder if these random people ever get a kick out of brief moments of planning and organization like us planners get a kick out of randomness??

10. My mother used to have a notepad that said at the top, “If you want to make God laugh, make plans.” So maybe when we experience the Joy of Randomness it’s not so random and part of a bigger plan…

So whether you like it or not, randomness is everywhere. Put the planner down and turn off the GPS for a bit. You might as well embrace it and let life take its natural course…
June 2, 2012
Mother Earth and the Silver Lining
Perhaps I have been accused in the past of being pessimistic, but I think I am practical – sensible, really.

I hate when people tell me to think positive or that things will always work out. How do they know? Last time I checked, there are always thousands of reasons why plans get derailed or goals don’t get achieved. There’s a whole list of phrases that really bother me:
- Look on the bright side.
  - I tried, but I got blinded and couldn’t walk or think straight afterwards.
- There’s always a silver lining.
  - Really, when I look up at the clouds in the sky, the lining just looks gray to me.
- You just have to believe in yourself.
  - Sure. I used to believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, too.
- Things have a way of working out
  - For whom? Me? I think it’s really 50/50 at best. In what world is 50% winning??
My husband has been telling me to think positive. My coworker tells me, if you wake up and think things are going to happen they will. And the books!! Don’t get me started on the plethora of books….

You mean all I have to do is just wake up think “I’m going to positive now! Things will happen!”?? Let me tell you, my ~~negative~~ sensible thinking has been going on for a while. I have proof.

Yesterday was Earth Day. You see, over twenty years ago I wrote on this topic. The essay was dire and dark enough for the local paper to run it. So to prove how far I have to go from myself to becoming a super-positive person, I’m sharing with you my “Mother Earth” essay I wrote as a 12-year-old. See below:

Greensboro News & Record, Sunday, Nov 11, 1990

What will our Mother Earth look like 100 years from now? She’ll be very, very ill, for one thing. Her surface probably will be very dried out and her beautiful features will be dead or dying. Don’t expect all her limbs to be there. She and her children will be tired and worn. Her children will be wearing gas masks and oxygen tanks because of all the chemicals in the air. All clothing will be cool and light since the ozone layer has vanished and it has let extreme heat come in. This is also a cause for wearing sunglasses. Her children will have to wear sunscreen to protect their skin. Food will be scarce because all of the crops will have died. In 100 years don’t expect life to be fun or comfortable, we’ll be living dead. So be kind to Earth, our mother.

Susan

Grade 7

Believe it or not, I was a happy kid. I really don’t know where these dark thoughts from, and I can assure you that if I ever laid awake at night worrying it was about boys and gossip – not the environment.

So far, almost 22 years have gone by, and I think a lot of Mother Earth’s beautiful features are thriving and most people are surviving just fine without gas masks and oxygen tanks. Although goofy weather events, including an incredible warm winter here in the Northeast, seem to be telling us something…

My concern for the next 78 years has less to do with the ozone layer and more to do with the economic environment – but that’s a different post…

So, 22 years later, I’m trying to be more positive – really, I am.
- I don’t worry about money every second of the day – just a few hours
- I don’t worry about what people think about me – all the time
- I am trying not to obsess about everything being perfect all the time
I’m trying to be sunny. In fact, someone awarded my the Sunshine Award a couple of weeks ago by TrishaDM.

The blogging award comes with some rules about sharing some information about yourself and mentioning/nominating other blogs. I’ll get to all that soon. Right now, I’ve taken this Sunshine award as a directive – so, yes, I will add more sunshine. And, I vow, that my next published writing will be more upbeat and at least written in a consistent tense (I can’t overlook all flaws now…).

By the way, I do believe there is some merit to these self-help books I mentioned above. It would be hypocritical of me to eschew double negatives in writing and then permit myself to be doubly negative about positive-thinking books….

Full disclosure – the only book of the bunch I read was “The Power of Now”, which was a gift from my Aunt Sherry who was a generous and fun-loving woman bright enough to light up any room. She is truly missed. So I think it’s about time I reread that book, which is available free as a PDF here. I’m positively overdue for rereading it….
April 22, 2012