When TED Talks, People Listen

   

This TED...

Hello and happy Wednesday! Considering the adversarial, and often downright ugly, tone of the news these days, it's easy to forget that the world is full of people who know and do interesting things and are willing to share them with the rest of us. I reminded myself of this last week when I decided to watch a daily TED talk.

Not this Ted.

If you are unfamiliar with TED, here's what the website says about their organization:

TED is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less). TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics — from science to business to global issues — in more than 100 languages. Meanwhile, independently run TEDx events help share ideas in communities around the world.

TED has also expanded to include the TED Radio Hour, TED Masterclasses, the TED mobile app, and TED-ED animations, which are short, fun videos that use fun graphics and music to explain a variety of science and lifestyle topics.

Other than catching snippets of the TED Radio Hour in my car, I've been in a TED-free zone for quite some time. It's one of those things I tell myself I should do more of--"Hey, self, you should watch more TED talks!"--but then I never actually do it. So I was grateful for my Take It or Leave It kick in the pants, because I really enjoyed my daily dose of TED.

I learned, among other things, about the physics of bubbles, the science behind human organ regeneration, and how dog noses work. I was inspired to re-think my personal narrative and persevere in the face of failure. I got some tips on how to get better at the things that really matter to me. I listened to a guy talk about how he tried something new every 30 days, which confirmed to me that small changes in our lives are much more sustainable. Last but not least, I watched a semi-compelling animation about why humans should eat more insects. (Bugs look much more appetizing in cartoon form, I must say.)

Many of the TED talks are quite short, and there was no need to devote hours and hours to broadening my world view. But once I got started, it was easy to just keep watching. All in all, this week of TED has been one of my favorite new activities, which makes this Take It or Leave It a definite Take It.

5-Letter Word for a Rectangular Board

Unless you've been living in a fitness blackout zone (I honestly don't blame you if you are; no judgment here), you've heard how important strong core muscles are. Because I often feel like I have the core fitness of a mushy apple, I decided to try a week of planking. Note that I'm referring to the exercise, not the weird fad of lying face-down in unusual places. (Apparently, that is also called the Lying Down Game, which sounds like something invented by the desperate parent of a toddler who will...not...nap.)

Planking: the fad 

The internet is full of planking challenges, but mine was short and simple: three planks a day. I started with thirty seconds per plank on the first day, which didn't seem quite painful enough, and finally settled on a minute. Other than the occasional forearm plank, I didn't change up my form. No side plank, stability ball plank, reverse plank, or walking the plank. (A little pirate humor for you, arrr.)

In general, I am not averse to strength training exercises, but I discovered over the course of the week that I don't really enjoy planking. Sometimes my wrists hurt. Sometimes my back complained. Sometimes my dog came to see what I was doing and licked my face. Every single time I planked, I was glad when the minute was over. I could, however, feel all the muscles engaging as they are supposed to, so I'm sure planking is good for me even though I kind of hate it.

Planking: the cat

Now I must decide: take it or leave it? According to the internet, the benefits of daily planking include increased strength and flexibility, improved posture, decreased risk of spinal injury, better balance, and a boost in metabolism. I could use all those things. So I guess this week's Take It or Leave It is a grudging Take It.

Once Upon a Time...

...there was a little girl who loved reading fairy tales. She had a two-volume set of Grimm's, one book blue and one red. As time went by, she lost track of those books. Fast-forward a few (okay, many) years, and that grown-up girl happened to come across one of the same books in a second-hand store. She bought it, because eight bucks is not bad for a big dose of nostalgia. In reading through it, she remembered a) how much she loved fairy tales, and b) she had bought a complete Grimm's Fairy Tales from Barnes and Noble a while back for next to nothing, and that big book was just hanging out in her stack, waiting to be rediscovered. So the next week's Take It or Leave It was born...

I read (at least) one fairy tale every day for a week, and I think I've identified what it is about them that captivates me: the stories collected by the Brothers Grimm are flippin' nuts. I mean, just absolutely wacko. Yes, they are full of deep symbolism and archetypes--witches, roses, mirrors, tricksters, and so on--but they're also like the craziest fever dreams a person could have. Talking animals? Of course--and also trees, streams, rocks, and bones. Glass mountains that open up and swallow whoever or whatever happens to be near? Yes, sir. A guy the size of a thumb? Sure, why not. Children made entirely out of gold? Got 'em. Well, how about a child who is a hedgehog on top and a human boy on the bottom? Him, too.

And don't forget all the scheming, double-crossing, lying, homicide, wisdom and stupidity, patience and haste, laziness and industriousness, dying and resurrection, sinning and redemption. So many themes. So many lessons and cautionary tales. So much potential for creative inspiration.

I'm glad I spent the week getting reacquainted with Grimm's tales and will continue to read through them, including the great Philip Pullman's Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm. For now, I'll leave you with the first two lines from a story called Fitcher's Bird, which stopped me short:

There was once a wizard who used to take the form of a poor man, and went to houses and begged, and caught pretty girls. No one knew whither he carried them, for they were never seen more.

Sweet dreams!

My Siesta Fiesta

In many countries--Spain, Mexico, the Philippines, Italy, Nigeria, and more--the afternoon nap is an integral part of the day...and an opportunity to get out of the heat. In America, we've come a ways since the Seinfeld episode when George Costanza had to curl up under his desk to get some shuteye. But we still haven't gone all in on this napping thing. Kids, sure. Adults, though? It seems lazy and unproductive, two things we Americans like to pretend we hate (when in actuality, we enjoy lying down and putting up our feet as much as the rest of the world does, gosh darn it). Plus, we're absolute lunatics about air conditioning, so escaping the heat isn't a problem.


The science suggests America would be well-suited to adopt the siesta culture. A power nap (around 20 minutes) can boost creativity, productivity, problem-solving, reasoning, and learning. Napping three times a week has been shown to lower the risk of heart disease, heart attack, and stroke. Plus, the general reduction in stress can make us happier and, one would imagine, more pleasant to be around.

I am always tired when mid-afternoon rolls around, so for my Take It or Leave It this week, I decided to try a daily nap. In the interest of being consistent, I set a couple of ground rules: I would lie down at the same time every day, and I wasn't allowed to read or look at my phone. Just set a timer, close my eyes, and hopefully catch some winks.

Honestly, I thought I was going to crush this napping thing. After all, I've been known to fall asleep in class, in cars, in movies, in airplanes... But I struggled with the planned nap. On Saturday, I forgot about it altogether. Out of the other six days, I had only two where I felt like the nap did all those magical things for me that naps are supposed to do. On the other four days, I woke up feeling just as tired as I was before, but with the added bonus of also being grouchy.

Even though this week wasn't terribly successful, I'm not quite ready to throw in the nap towel. In fact, I feel challenged now to figure out what constitutes a perfect nap for me. To start, I think I'll shoot for the thrice-weekly siesta and maybe even check into one of the "power nap" apps that I only now discovered exist.

I guess that means this week's Take It or Leave It is a little bit of both.

Happy napping!

This Just In...

It's Take It or Leave It, Week 4!

When I was a kid, my best friend had a paper route. She'd get up early, use rubber bands to secure the papers into tight cylinders, fill up her canvas sack, and walk the neighborhood. I admired that she had a job, but I wasn't exactly envious of the work. Or the hours. Now, the relatively few home-delivered newspapers are done so by adults in cars under cover of pre-dawn darkness.

It's no secret that the way we consume news has changed dramatically. What used to require perhaps a half hour of reading in the morning and an hour or so of TV in the evening has truly become 24/7. And it's not nearly as passive. The news actively seeks us out with chimed alerts on our phones and scrolling feeds at the bottom of even our non-newsy shows.

We're a culture that doesn't seem to know when we've had enough, and news is no different. I've had a longtime habit of reaching for my phone first thing in the morning, even before my eyes focus, to see what happened in the world while I slept. I knew it wasn't a great way to start the day, but it was just too easy. Plus, I love the validation of reading articles that agree with my views. These are divisive times, and I'm not above the occasional feelings of superiority at being on what I consider the right side of history.

When I decided that for my next Take It or Leave It, I was going to quit checking the news on my phone, I felt a little panicky. In fact, the night before, I binged on my favorite apps and websites, until, like any binge, it started to make me queasy. The next morning, I got up and got going without looking at my phone, and my world collapsed I was absolutely fine! Better than fine, actually, as I had freed up a few extra minutes. (I don't know about you, but for me, five minutes in the morning is like twenty minutes any other time.)

To be clear, it wasn't a news blackout. I scrolled past the news on Facebook, but I still listened in the car and occasionally sat down to watch Lester Holt. I stayed informed; I just wasn't mainlining news straight into my eyeballs anymore. As the week went on, I was very surprised to find that I didn't miss phone news one...little...bit. It was also nice to steer clear of those pesky rabbit holes, where I click one link and come back to my senses forty minutes later while reading 10 Overrated Tourist Destinations.

All in all, I feel pretty good about reclaiming a bit of my self-control at the Never-ending News Buffet.

Today's headline from Take It or Leave It:
Leave It.






 

The Sound of One (Non-dominant) Hand Clapping

Hello! Welcome to Week 3 of my Take It or Leave It Challenge.

When my mom was a little girl, her older sister taught her to write left-handed. But in elementary school, her teachers determined that she might be more comfortable being right-handed. As a result, she's still ambidextrous enough to write with both hands. That's the cool part. The downside is that she's had lifelong confusion about which hand she should use. 

I have no such problem. If my brain needs something done, it knows to ask Righty. For all intents and purposes, Lefty is just there for symmetry. But I've heard for years that it's good for the brain to call upon the non-dominant hand to help with routine tasks. In fact, ambidexterity training is a thing now, and its proponents claim such benefits as improved neuroplasticity, increased creativity, better memory, less stress, more positive mood... (The other side to the story is research showing that ambidextrous people tend to perform more poorly on certain cognitive tests and may have greater age-related decline in brain volume. Yikes!)

Out of curiosity, I thought I'd try ambidexterity myself. For the last week, I've been calling upon Lefty to help me out with everyday activities: brushing teeth, brushing hair, opening doors, vacuuming, cooking, eating, and the like. Frankly, the results were mixed. First of all, it was really hard to change my ways. I'd be halfway finished with something before I remembered to switch hands. I also learned that there are certain tasks I can't trust Lefty to do. Cutting, for example, with knives or scissors. Anything to do with my contact lenses/eyes. And the hairdryer was fine, but even though I only use a curling iron for smoothing out bed head, Lefty just couldn't manage it. Afraid to go to work with random facial burns, I quickly gave that one up.

To cap off the week, I did the Sunday crossword left-handed, the result being something between a third-grader's homework and a ransom note.

I didn't feel any more creative or less stressed--the opposite, really--but the exercise did present many deep, philosophical questions, such as: Why is there toothpaste on the mirror? Why is my belt on backwards? Who spilled coffee grounds all over the floor? All in all, I'm not a convert to this opposite-hand business, with one exception. Using my non-dominant hand for eating slowed me down and made me much more thoughtful, which is a good thing.

For Take It or Leave It, this one's mostly a Leave It.

Water, Water, Everywhere

There's apparently a magical substance that, when ingested regularly, can increase energy, improve complexions, reduce bloating, encourage weight loss, prevent headaches, lubricate joints, and flush out toxins. And that magical substance is...Diet Dr. Pepper! Hooray!

No, that's ridiculous. Of course, I'm referring to water. Nutritionists and other health-oriented people recommend drinking 8-8 ounce glasses a day. (Or, if you want to do a bit of easy math, drink half your body weight in ounces.) Drink more after exercising or on hot days or whenever you've been extra sweaty. (FYI, I'd rather not know what made you extra sweaty, thanks.)

Because Colorado is a dry climate, you might assume that drinking 8 glasses of water is a no-brainer. Except that it's not! Not for me, anyway. I have tried many times to get into the habit. It usually lasts about two days, and then I go right back to waking up in the middle of the night feeling like my tongue is velcroed to the roof of my mouth.

But this past week, I did it! Sixty-four ounces of water a day for seven days. (Well, almost.) I tried to drink sixteen ounces before leaving the house, and another sixteen during my four hours at work. No problem. For some reason, however, I apparently go into camel-in-the-desert mode during the afternoon, and all of a sudden, it's almost bedtime and I realize I have two more glasses to drink. So on day 1, I only drank 7 glasses.

Now that I'm adequately hydrated, I feel...pretty much the same. I was hoping for a surge in energy, or to have strangers stop me on the street and compliment me on my dewy, youthful skin. Those things didn't happen, but I do feel less thirsty all the time, especially at night, which is definitely an improvement. And I'm hoping that if I keep hydrating, that dewy thing will be right around the corner.

The Take It or Leave It verdict?
Take it. And toss in a slice of lemon, too.