A study in Scarlet: Memoirs Gulliver Project 2007-2008

 

Presentación

Además de la voluntad para el amor, sobresale en estos escritos la sinceridad, la inocencia, el soberano humor contra el miedo y la violencia y como un pleno ejercicio de la propia individualidad, el diálogo amoroso con la naturaleza, el repudio a la guerra, la relación con la muerte como un personaje cotidiano, y debido a las experiencias vividas, una madura y aguda consciencia del dolor, de las grietas familiares y sociales que les ha tocado en suerte atravesar.

Porque un merecido tránsito de un país de la crisálida de la violencia a la mariposa de la paz, es imposible hacerlo sin la poesía.

A study in Scarlet: Memoirs Gulliver Project 2005-2006

Introducción

Sabemos que la mayoría de las víctimas de todas estas turbulencias, devastadoras de la palabra luminosa, han sido los niños y jóvenes. Ellos han padecido en su propio ser la aspereza de un lenguaje mancillado del que se vuelven su espejo. Cómo lograr que esa fisura no siga abriéndose, es asunto que nos compete todos, sobre todo aquellos para quienes la palabra que brota de la poesía no es el simple deporte de los vocablos, sino un acto sagrado de celebración de la vida y respeto por el otro. Es en la palabra donde se cifran nuestros enigmas y por eso hablar es la forma más primitiva de poetizar. “El lenguaje es la casa del ser”.  

Dada la experiencia acumulada en una década de trabajo con talleres de creación literaria en múltiples sectores de la población, se considera que la realización sistemática de esta actividad contribuye a la formación de una nueva actitud generacional frente a los problemas de la vida cotidiana, gracias a que posibilita el desarrollo de las capacidades individuales de cada asistente en el uso creativo del lenguaje.

Prologo

“Todo comenzó con la risa de los niños y terminará con ella”. (Rimbaud)

Y qué mejor si ese encuentro se realizaba alrededor de la experiencia viva de la palabra, fuerza, potencia, energía vital disponible para todos, pero desdichadamente, ignorada por muchos, menospreciada por la misma sociedad a la que debería servir y nutrir.

Asumimos la tarea de llevar nuestra experiencia y conocimiento de la poesía a los niños de las escuelas populares más olvidadas de la ciudad, buscando con ello, no sólo compartir ese saber formal en torno del lenguaje sino abrir un espacio de reconocimiento, de conciencia individual y colectiva, de sensibilidad y recomposición espiritual que desde el alma de los niños, tanta falta de atención, tanta precariedad, tanto desprecio, desafecto, indiferencia, dolor, soledad, violencia, desgarramiento, miseria, revelaban.

Algunos encontraron las dificultades normales en estos casos, desde la del difícil acceso a las escuelas, hasta la incredulidad y desconfianza que despertaban las visitas de personas extrañas al medio y al ámbito escolar incluso, en algunos profesores y personas del vecindario.

Fue muy gratificante para la mayoría de los poetas, comprobar cómo aparecían lenta o rápidamente los signos, los gestos, los detalles más alentadores del afecto, la simpatía, la esperanza. Las emociones de parte y parte fueron emergiendo, cálidas, abiertas. Alrededor de las lecturas, las historias a viva voz, la conversación espontánea, el intercambio de sonrisas, de pequeñas manifestaciones de amistad, las imágenes que por primera vez descubrían muchos de los chicos, las mismas palabras escuchadas, paladeadas, comprendidas, asimiladas por primera vez; el asombro, la alegría de los juegos propuestos con esas nuevas o viejas palabras; la en principio, desganada y luego empeñosamente manifiesta escritura mínima que muchos se atrevieron a entregar, con frases sueltas, definiciones impensadas, apartadas de la lógica habitual, con sueños súbitamente revelados en el papel; trazos reveladores del alma y la sensibilidad en dibujos plenos de libertad; risas, voces, preguntas al fin desprevenidas, incluso prohibidas

Privilegiamos la espontaneidad, la creatividad, la curiosidad y la soltura del gesto, la expresión, el cuerpo (permitiéndoles estirarse, reclinarse, tenderse o sentarse en el piso, entrar o salir cuando lo desearan); intentamos transmitirles la noción y la sensación de bienestar que procuran los estados de recepción contemplativa y creadora, lo cual en otros ambientes y niveles, les habían sido criticados, señalados incluso como viciosos, peligrosos, nocivos.

Fuimos sorprendidos por su capacidad de respuesta, de entendimiento y proyección. Parecía que la misma necesidad de afecto, de comprensión, de curiosa expectación los convertía en ávidos y diligentes habitantes de un país no tan imaginario como el que les proponíamos encontrar.

Creemos que como propuesta experimental el proyecto Gulliver rompe con los esquemas tradicionales de una educación precaria y empobrecida por la rigidez y la carencia de imaginación, que invita a la risa de los niños, a la fiesta de la creatividad y a exorcizar los miedos; que ayuda a sanar las heridas causadas por nuestra violencia endémica y por el maltrato a la infancia que es un oprobio aquí y en todo el mundo.

INSTITUCIÓN EDUCATIVA LA ESPERANZA
ESCUELA REPÚBLICA DE CUBA

Tallerista: Diana Berrío
Participantes: 15 niños

Bobo:
Es una persona que no tiene conciencia de lo que hacen los demás.
      Dayan Camilo Hincapié (8 años)
Cárcel:
Es un policía que no muere y siempre nos atrapa.
      Lizett Saldarriaga (9 años)
Infierno:
Es cuando nos mandan los adultos con rabia.
      Carlos Alberto Londoño (10 años)
Paz:
El sonido de una bala.
      Juan Fernando Echeverri (12 años)

Andrea´s Pensieve: The Happiness Advantage

Title: The Happiness Advantage

Author:Shawn Achor

PRINCIPLE #1 THE HAPPINESS ADVANTAGE

Extensive research has found that happiness  actually  has  a  very  important  evolutionary  purpose,  something  Barbara Fredrickson  has  termed  the  “Broaden  and  Build  Theory.”14  Instead  of  narrowing  our actions  down  to  fight  or  flight  as  negative  emotions  do,  positive  ones  broaden  the amount  of  possibilities  we  process,  making  us  more  thoughtful,  creative,  and  open  to new ideas. (page 51)

For instance, individuals who are “primed”—meaning scientists help evoke a certain  mindset  or  motion  before  doing  an  experiment—to  feel  either  amusement  or contentment can think of a larger and wider array of thoughts and ideas than individuals who  have  been  primed  to  feel  either  anxiety  or  anger.15 And  when  positive  emotions broaden  our  scope  of  cognition  and  behavior  in  this  way,  they  not  only  make  us  more creative, they help us build more intellectual, social, and physical resources we can rely upon in the future. (page 51)

Positive emotions flood  our  brains  with  dopamine  and  serotonin,  chemicals  that  not  only  make  us  feel good,  but  dial  up  the  learning  centers  of  our  brains  to  higher  levels.  They  help  us organize new information, keep that information in the brain longer, and retrieve it faster later on. And they enable us to make and sustain more neural connections, which allows us  to  think  more  quickly  and  creatively,  become  more  skilled  at  complex  analysis  and problem solving, and see and invent new ways of doing things. (page 51)

The  Happiness  Advantage  is  why  cutting-edge  software  companies  have  foosball tables  in  the  employee  lounge,  why  Yahoo!  has  an  in-house  massage  parlor,  and  why Google  engineers  are  encouraged  to  bring  their  dogs  to  work.  These  aren’t  just  PR gimmicks.  Smart  companies  cultivate  these  kinds  of  working  environments  because every  time  employees  experience  a  small  burst  of  happiness,  they  get  primed  for creativity and innovation. They see solutions they might otherwise have missed. Famed CEO Richard Branson has said that, “more than any other element, fun is the secret of Virgin’s success.” This isn’t just because fun is, well, fun. It’s because fun also leads to bottom-line results. (page 52-53)

The  children  who  were  primed  to  be  happy  significantly  outperformed  the  others, completing the task both more quickly and with fewer errors. (page 54)

People  who  put  their  heads  down  and  wait  for  work  to  bring eventual happiness put themselves at a huge disadvantage, while those who capitalize on positivity every chance they get come out ahead. (page 54)

On average, they  came  to  a  correct  diagnosis  only  20  percent  of  the  way  through  the  manuscript

—nearly twice as fast as the control group—and showed about two and half times less anchoring (when  a doctor has trouble letting go of an initial diagnosis (the anchor point), even in the face of new  information that contradicts the initial theory.).(page 55)

This  reveals  something  important  about  the Happiness Advantage in action: Even the smallest shots of positivity can give someone a serious competitive edge. (page 55)

It’s  not  hard  to  see that this study, and all the others like it, have invaluable lessons to impart not just about how we should run our hospitals, but our businesses and schools as well (page 55)

Because in addition to broadening our intellectual and creative capacities, positive emotions also provide a swift antidote to physical stress and anxiety, what psychologists call “the undoing effect.” (page 56) In other words, a quick burst of positive emotions doesn’t just broaden our cognitive capacity; it also provides a quick and powerful antidote to stress and anxiety, which in turn improves our focus and our ability to function at our best level.

happiness is not just a mood—it’s a work ethic. (page 57)

While we each have a happiness baseline that we fluctuate around on a daily basis, with concerted effort, we can raise that baseline permanently so that even when we are going up and down, we are doing so at a higher level (page 57)

HOW???? (page 58-60)

1. Meditate (Studies  show  that  in  the  minutes  right  after  meditating,  we  experience feelings of calm and contentment, as well as heightened awareness and empathy. And, research even shows that regular meditation can permanently rewire the brain to raise levels of happiness, lower stress, even improve immune function)
2. Find Something to Look Forward To (  Anticipating  future  rewards  can  actually light up the pleasure centers in your brain much as the actual reward will) 
3. Commit Conscious Acts of Kindness (acts of altruism—giving to friends and strangers alike—decrease stress and strongly contribute to enhanced mental health) 
4. Infuse Positivity Into Your Surroundings (our  physical  environment  can  have  an  enormous  impact  on  our  mindset  and sense  of  well-being.  While  we  may  not  always  have  complete  control  over  our surroundings,  we  can  make  specific  efforts  to  infuse  them  with  positivity) 
5.  Excercise (Physical  activity  can  boost mood  and  enhance  our  work  by improving motivation and feelings of mastery, reducing stress and anxiety, and helping us  get  into  flow) 
6.  Spend Money (but Not on Stuff) (spending  money  on  experiences,  especially ones with other people, produces positive emotions that are both more meaningful and more lasting) 
7.  Exercise a Signature Strength (Everyone is good at something,  each time we use a skill we experience a burst of positivity. Even more fulfilling than using a skill, though, is exercising a strength of character, a trait  that  is  deeply  embedded  in  who  we  are)

PRINCIPLE #2 THE FULCRUM AND THE LEVER

Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck, whose studies show that whether or not someone believes their  intelligence  is  changeable  directly  affects  their  achievement.  Dweck  found  that people can be split into two categories: Those with a “fixed mindset” believe that their capabilities  are  already  set,  while  those  with  a  “growth  mindset”  believe  that  they  can enhance their basic qualities through effort. Her  research  has  shown that  people  with  fixed  mindsets  miss  choice  opportunities  for  improvement  and consistently underperform, while those with a “growth mindset” watch their abilities move ever upward. (page 77)

PRINCIPLE #3 THE TETRIS EFFECT

one  study  from The  Yale  Journal  of  Health  Policy,  Law,  and  Ethics explains: “Law schools teach students to look for flaws in arguments, and they train them to be critical rather than accepting.”5 And while this of course is “a crucial skill for lawyers in practice,” when it starts to leak beyond the courtroom into their personal lives it can have “significant negative consequences.” Trained to be on the lookout for the flaws in every argument, the holes in every case, they start “to overestimate the significance and permanence of the problems they encounter,” the fastest route to depression and anxiety —which in turn interferes with their ability to do their job. (page 91)

And so it goes, in any profession or  line  of  work.  No  one  is  immune. Athletes  can’t  stop  competing  with  their  friends  or families.  Social  workers  who  deal  with  domestic  abuse  can’t  stop  distrusting  men. Financial traders can’t stop assessing the risk inherent in everything they do. Managers can’t stop micromanaging their children’s lives (page 91—so this space could be training the brain of children to see opportunities for  creation, trust, gratitude, etc?)

PRINCIPAL #4 FALLING UP

Jim Collins, autor o f Good  to  Great,  reminds  us  that  “we  are  not  imprisoned  by  our  circumstances,  our setbacks, our history, our mistakes, or even staggering defeats along the way. We are freed by our choices.”

Adversarial  Growth,  or  Post-Traumatic Growth,  to  distinguish  it  from  the  better-known  term  Post-Traumatic  Stress. Over  the  last  two  decades,  psychologist  Richard  Tedeschi  and  his  colleagues  have made  the  empirical  study  of  Post-Traumatic  Growth  their  mission. Thanks  to  this  study,  today  we  can  say  for  certain,  not  just  anecdotally, that great suffering or trauma can actually lead to great positive change across a wide range of experiences. What kind of positive growth? Increases in spirituality, compassion for others, openness, and even, eventually, overall life satisfaction. After trauma, people also report enhanced personal strength and self-confidence,  as  well  as  a  heightened  appreciation  for,  and  a  greater  intimacy  in,  their social relationships. (page 103)

The strategies that most often lead to Adversarial Growth include positive reinterpretation of the  situation  or  event,  optimism,  acceptance,  and  coping  mechanisms  that  include focusing on the problem head-on (rather than trying to avoid or deny it). As one set of researchers  explains,  “it  appears  that  it  is  not  the  type  of  event  per  se  that  influences posttraumatic growth, but rather the subjective experience of the event.”7 In other words, the  people  who  can  most  successfully  get  themselves  up  off  the  mat  are  those  who define themselves not by what has happened to them, but by what they can make out of what  has  happened.  These  are  the  people  who  actually  use  adversity  to  find  the  path forward. They speak not just of “bouncing back,” but of “bouncing forward.” (page 103-104)

After  decades  of  studying  human  behavior,  Seligman  and  his  colleagues  found  that the same patterns of helplessness that he saw in those dogs are incredibly common in humans. When we fail, or when life delivers us a shock, we can become so hopeless that we  respond  by  simply  giving  up. (page 109)

When  we  eliminate  any  upward  options  from  our  mental  maps,  and worse, eliminate our motivation to search for them, we end up undermining our ability to tackle the challenge at hand.

And it doesn’t end there. When people feel helpless in one area of life, they not only give up in that one area; they often “overlearn” the lesson and apply it to other situations. They become convinced that one dead-end path must be proof that all possible paths are dead ends. A setback at work might lead to despondency about one’s relationship, or a rift with a friend might discourage us from trying to form bonds with our colleagues, and  so  on. 

When  this  happens,  our  helplessness  spirals  out  of  control,  impeding  our success  in  all  areas  of  life.  It’s  the  very  definition  of  pessimism  and  depression—an event map with all dead ends—and a surefire route to failure. We don’t have to stretch far to see this negative cycle on a larger social scale—learned helplessness is endemic in inner city schools, prisons, and elsewhere. When people don’t believe there is a way up, they have virtually no choice but to stay as down as they are. (page 111)

Decades  of  subsequent  study  have  since  shown  that  explanatory  style—how  we choose to explain the nature of past events—has a crucial impact on our happiness and future success.23 People with an optimistic explanatory style interpret adversity as being local  and  temporary  (i.e.,  “It’s  not  that  bad,  and  it  will  get  better.”)  while  those  with  a pessimistic explanatory style see these events as more global and permanent (i.e., “It’s really  bad,  and  it’s  never  going  to  change.”).  Their  beliefs  then  directly  affect  their actions; the ones who believe the latter statement sink into helplessness and stop trying, while the ones who believe the former are spurred on to higher performance. (page 117) (using art leaves you with a life-affirming creation, a poetic value-filled explanation, which could tilt the subjects towards the more favourable explanatory style?)

One way to help ourselves see the path from adversity to opportunity is to practice the ABCD  model  of  interpretation:  Adversity,  Belief,  Consequence,  and  Disputation. Adversity is the event we can’t change; it is what it is. Belief is our reaction to the event; why we thought it happened and what we think it means for the future. Is it a problem that is only temporary and local in nature or do we think it is permanent and pervasive? Are there ready solutions, or do we think it is unsolvable? If we believe the former—that is, if we  see  the  adversity  as  short-term  or  as  an  opportunity  for  growth  or  appropriately confined  to  only  part  of  our  life—then  we  maximize  the  chance  of  a  positive Consequence. But if the Belief has led us down a more pessimistic path, helplessness and inaction can bring negative Consquences. That’s when it’s time to put the D to work.  Disputation involves first telling ourselves that our belief is just that—a belief, not fact —and  then  challenging  (or  disputing)  it.  Psychologists  recommend  that  we  externalize this voice (i.e., pretend it’s coming from someone else), so it’s like we’re actually arguing with another person. (page 119)

Psychologist Daniel Goleman, author of the groundbreaking book Emotional Intelligence, has extensively studied the toll this emotional  hijacking  can  take  on  our  professional  lives.7  When  small  stresses  pile  up over  time,  as  they  so  often  do  in  the  workplace,  it  only  takes  a  minor  annoyance  or irritation to lose control; in other words, to let the Jerk into the driver’s seat. When this hijacking  occurs,  we  might  lash  out  at  a  colleague  or  start  to  feel  helpless  and overwhelmed  or  suddenly  lose  all  energy  and  motivation.  As  a  result,  our  decision-making skills, productivity, and effectiveness plummet. (page 127, then if we are already dealing with kids with a lot of violent environment this would only perpetuate and worsen it)

One classic experiment, known as the Ultimatum Game, goes like this: Researchers invite two people who do not know each other into the lab. One of them is given ten $1 bills and told to divide the money between himself and the other subject in any way he likes (he can keep all $10 for himself, he can split it $6 and $4, etc.). Then he gives the recipient  an  ultimatum:  “Take  the  money  or  leave  it.”  Here’s  the  catch:  If  the  recipient chooses to leave it, both people get nothing.

For traditional economists, this is fairly straightforward. A rational person will always take the deal, no matter how stingy. After all, even if it’s only one dollar, that’s still one more  dollar  than  they  came  in  with.  But  as  it  turns  out,  most  recipients  actually  reject offers of $1 or even $2. Why? Because instead of rationally weighing their options, they allow their emotions—usually anger and annoyance at having been given a raw deal—to take over. This doesn’t make rational sense, of course, because they’re turning down a free $2 just to be spiteful. But it happens all the time. When neuroscientists investigate further, they find that the more active the limbic system is in the brain, the more likely the stingy offer will be rejected. As one researcher writes, “these findings suggest that when participants reject an unfair offer … it appears to be the product of a strong (seemingly negative) emotional response.”11 (page 127, this could help prove that marginalized kids who have not retrained themselves to use the intuitive mind/engage more will pass up improvement opportunities on irrational emotional bases)

So  how  do  we  reclaim  control  from  the  Jerk  and  put  it  back  into  the  hands  of  the Thinker? The answer is the Zorro Circle. The first goal we need to conquer—or circle we need  to  draw—is  self-awareness.  Experiments  show  that  when  people  are  primed  to feel high levels of distress, the quickest to recover are those who can identify how they are  feeling  and  put  those  feelings  into  words.  Brain  scans  show  verbal  information almost  immediately  diminishes  the  power  of  these  negative  emotions,  improving  well-being  and  enhancing  decision-making  skills.13  So  whether  you  do  it  by  writing  down feelings in a journal or talking to a trusted coworker or confidant, verbalizing the stress and helplessness you are feeling is the first step toward regaining control. (page 129, ART!!)

Once you’ve mastered the self-awareness circle, your next goal should be to identify which aspects of the situation you have control over and which you don’t.

Once my trainees are armed with a list of what is indeed still within their control, I have them identify one small goal they know they can quickly accomplish. By narrowing their scope  of  action,  and  focusing  their  energy  and  efforts,  the  likelihood  of  success increases. (page 129, not that art teaches all of that directly but they do learn that wording their pain makes it smaller, that one word at a time makes a verse, that one verse at a time makes a poem and that knowledge can spill to other areas of their life)

ave  a  direct  effect  on  our outcomes, that we are largely the masters of our own fates. With an increasingly internal locus of control and a greater confidence in our abilities, we can then expand our efforts outward. (page 129)

PRINCIPLE #7 SOCIAL INVESTMENT

psychologists  Ed  Diener  and  Robert  Biswas-Diener  review  the  massive  amount  of cross-cultural  research  that  has  been  conducted  on  happiness  over  the  last  few decades,  and  they  conclude  that,  “like  food  and  air,  we  seem  to  need  social relationships to thrive.”3 That’s because when we have a community of people we can count  on—spouse,  family,  friends,  colleagues—we  multiply  our  emotional,  intellectual, and physical resources. We bounce back from setbacks faster, accomplish more, and feel a greater sense of purpose. Furthermore, the effect on our happiness, and therefore on  our  ability  to  profit  from  the  Happiness  Advantage,  is  both  immediate  and  long-lasting. (page 163)

In a study appropriately titled “Very Happy People,” researchers sought out the characteristics of the happiest 10 percent among us.4 Do they all live in warm climates? Are they all wealthy? Are they all physically fit? Turns out, there was one—and only one—characteristic  that  distinguished  the  happiest  10  percent  from  everybody  else:  the strength  of  their  social  relationships.  My  empirical  study  of  well-being  among  1,600 Harvard  undergraduates  found  a  similar  result—social  support  was  a  far  greater predictor  of  happiness  than  any  other  factor (page 163)

individuals who invest  in  their  social  support  systems  are  simply  better  equipped  to  thrive  in  even  the most  difficult  circumstances, (page 165)

Jane Dutton, a psychologist who specializes in this subject at the University of Michigan Business School, explains that “any point of contact with another person  can  potentially  be  a  high-quality  connection.  One  conversation,  one  e-mail exchange, one moment of connecting in a meeting can infuse both participants with a greater sense of vitality, giving them a bounce in their steps and a greater capacity to act.”2 (page 169)

THE RIPPLE EFFECT

Recent research  exploring  the  role  of  social  networks  in  shaping  human  behavior  has  proven that  much  of  our  behavior  is  literally  contagious;  that  our  habits,  attitudes,  and  actions spread  through  a  complicated  web  of  connections  to  infect  those  around  us.  In  their groundbreaking book Connected, Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler draw on years of  research  to  show  how  our  actions  are  constantly  cascading  and  bouncing  off  each other in every which way and direction.1 “Ties do not extend outward in straight lines like spokes  on  a  wheel,”  they  write.  “Instead,  these  paths  double  back  on  themselves  and spiral around like a tangled pile of spaghetti, weaving in and out of other paths that rarely ever leave the plate (page 185)

This  theory  holds  that  our  attitudes  and  behaviors  don’t  only  infect  the  people  we interact  with  directly—like  our  colleagues,  friends,  and  families—but  that  each individual’s influence actually appears to extend to people within three degrees.  Fowler and Christakis estimate that there are nearly 1,000 people within three degrees of most of us. This is a true ripple effect—by trying to make ourselves happier and more successful, we actually have the ability to improve the lives of 1,000 people around us. (page 185)