idealawg

People v. The State of Illusion: Movie by former trial lawyer focuses on how we see

From Scientific American, the plot of the movie written and produced by non-practicing lawyer Austin Vickers:

The movie tells the story of a single father, Aaron Roberts, who destroys his life in an instant, in an accident portrayed as a culmination of stress and sadness. Roberts was driving while intoxicated and ran a red light, leading to a crash that claimed the life of the other driver. He ends up in prison and his daughter becomes a ward of the state. The prison walls become a metaphor for the confining boundaries we build in our minds and from which, the movie suggests, we must all try to escape if we want to be happier and reach our full potential. As Roberts gradually transforms his outlook inside the prison cell on the movie set, the experts tell the rest of us how to do this in a more metaphorical sense.

The post continues:

The film ... invokes a good deal of science to back up the simple, uplifting argument that we all have the power to change our lives by changing our own minds. The message is not unlike that of many life coaches, but the arguments are more subtle and interesting than the platitudes I usually hear. Here are some lessons the film extracts from the science ... .

I am curious about the movie because the blog post from Scientific American portrays it as containing accurate science. On the other hand, I read at Rotten Tomatoes:

If you liked The Secret, The Shadow Effect, or What The Bleep Do We Know!? then you're sure to love this docudrama by Austin Vickers.

I did not like The Secret or What The Bleep, movies praising the Law of Attraction. I see that a couple of the same people in those movies are in this new one. Click to see the eclectic group.

Because I am curious, I will probably view the movie. Even if it turns out to be too New Agey for me, I certainly will enjoy the location: Old Main Prison of the New Mexico State Penitentiary . I've already blogged about the prison, and lived near it for a number of years. It's a spooky yet enchanting, even captivating, site of confinement. Seeing the prison will be worth the ticket price.

Planning to see People v. The State of Illusion? Let me know what you think.

Click for Denver show times.

Note (added April 21, 2012): Click to read a review of the movie from The Hollywood Reporter.

How to use your iPad to teach and make presentations

Seeing that one of the bar exam preparation providers uses iPads in its training (also and this), I was reminded of the possible utility of the tablet for learning. Except I don't know how to use the device for anything besides e-mail, Sudoku, and reading books. My knowledge gap is large, very large.

What to do? My first answers to closing a knowledge gap are to talk with an expert or, more frequently, find a book. Not knowing an expert, I went on a book search. Google up!

After a search, I ordered this book and will write more later about what I learn.

Are you an achiever, explorer, socializer, or killer: Is conflict resolution a game?

Here's a fun way to categorize yourself and others, at least for a short while. Although this typology has no scientific validity, like many of the other self-report assessments such as Myers-Briggs, it is a good reminder that we are not all the same, and that OSFA (one size fits all) is an ineffective and sometimes risky assumption. (Click to read about some of the problems with personality assessments.)

In my research of educational game design, I came upon the typology; it's Bartle's Taxonomy of Player Types. The four types are achiever, explorer, socializer, and killer. They were developed to describe the different ways people approach games and can be compared to the four suits in a card deck:

An easy way to remember these is to consider suits in a conventional pack of cards: achievers are Diamonds (they're always seeking treasure); explorers are Spades (they dig around for information); socialisers are Hearts (they empathise with other players); killers are Clubs (they hit people with them).

Another way to see these four:

• Killers and achievers act. Killers act on other players and achievers act on the world.
• Socializers and explorers interact. Socializers interact with other players and explorers interact with the world.

See a visual image, a graph, of the four types here at the top of page 111, here under the section The Four Bartle Types, or here about 1/5 of the way down under INTEREST GRAPH.

In order to find out what type you are (or, more exactly, what type you are today because these kinds of assessments are situational), take this quick test. It's fun, and, if you are like me, some of the questions

iPad Brings New Wave in Doctor, Patient Communication: Are iPads improving communication in other professions

This news release precipitated some questions in my mind . . . 

Are there instances when lawyers are using iPads to communicate better with clients? How about coaches, are they using iPads? Are mental health professionals using iPads with clients? Are iPads being used in conflict resolution?

News release (Henry Ford Health System):

MEDIA CONTACT: Krista Hopson [email protected]

iPad Brings New Wave in Doctor, Patient Communication
March 28, 2012

NOTE: A high-resolution bites and b-roll package is available for download upon request. A web video also is posted online: http://youtu.be/y3XyBQ6vJmE.

DETROIT – A Henry Ford Hospital surgeon checks in on a patient the day after removing a tumor from his kidney, examining the surgical scar and seeing on the patient’s face that he’s still in a bit of pain. But this isn’t your typical post-surgical hospital rounding.

The surgeon and his patient are actually 25 miles apart in two different hospitals, each armed with an iPad equipped with the live video chat software FaceTime.

Through face-to-face video calls on iPads and other tablets, Henry Ford is initiating the next wave of high-tech communication at hospitals called “telerounding.” In January 2009, Henry Ford became the first hospital to live-tweet surgery using Twitter, starting a trend still popular today at hospitals across the country.

“Using the iPad to communicate really appeals to the type of patients that are seeking state-of-the-

We're probably all dying this century: How to start the important conversation about death

Click to listen to intensive care specialist Dr. Peter Saul give his presentation titled "Let's talk about dying" given at one of the ubiquitous TEDxTalks.

Not exactly an upbeat talk, as Saul acknowledges, but worth listening to. He highlights two questions to ask others:

• In the event that you can no longer speak for yourself, whom do you want to speak for you?
• Have you talked with this person?

Other subjects covered:

• He jokingly suggested Occupy Death: Sit-ins in the mortuary?
• How we die lives on in those who remain behind us.
• He hates euthanasia and discusses why.
• "You matter because you are. You matter to the last moment of your life."--Dame Cicely Saunders, M.D. Founder of hospice

Join us in Seattle May 4-5? 19th Northwest Dispute Resolution Conference

I spoke at this annual conference two years ago and found the people—organizers, presenters, and attendees— to be warm, curious, skillful, and farsighted. They are also a brainy gang, paying attention to neuroscience. For the second year in a row, Dr. John Medina is speaking!

I am very happy to be returning to Seattle, and look forward to seeing old faces and meeting new conflict resolution pros. Below is the description of my program. Click to see the full brochure and read the program and to register.

Exciting news: My program will be graphically recorded by Nancy White, an international leader among graphic recorders. (She's in Zambia right now.)

My presentation:

Total-Brain Mediation: The Whole Brain and Nothing but the Truth

Presenter: Stephanie West Allen, Allen & Nichols Productions, Inc., Denver, CO
The field of conflict resolution is now filled with neuroscience myths, fiction and urban legends. We will look at what we REALLY know right now and how we can use that valid and accurate knowledge to move forward in the field. The best way to resolve conflict and to serve our clients is to make sure that we are using the complete brain, not just bits and pieces. Unfortunately much of mediation today is half-brained, at best. We neglect those parts of our brain that contain genuine, sustaining creativity and wisdom. This seminar will be mind-changing. Attendees will learn how to use the whole brain and nothing but the truth. Based on the latest in the neuroscience of learning, the seminar will be interactive, novel, fun ... and maybe a bit messy.

Resource for those interested in the flipped classroom: An ongoing collection of posts from around the blogosphere

Dr. Jackie Gerstein stays on top of the blog posts being written about the flipped classroom, and posts them for you on her Scoop.it. Click to see the collection of flipped-classroom posts. Her tagline at the collection:

Resources for the flipped classroom: Students review content for homework, class time is for experiential activities, questions, and rich discourse.

Other resources (a list to which I will add):

• "Flipped learning: A response to five common criticisms" (eSchool News)
• "What Everybody Should Know About the Flipped Classroom" (online learning exchange)
• Check back for more

One way of marketing: Blog about the life stories of your clients

Even though I have never met financial advisor Lynn Ballou's clients, I've read about them and I liked them. And, after reading their stories, I saw that their lives are impressive. One went from the law to supporting suicide prevention efforts; one is in her 80s and another in her 90s, both active; and another is an accomplished artist. Click over to her blog It Really IS All About You to read many more stories of Ballou's clients.

Three reasons that this blog can be a great business development method:

• A person reading the blog may conclude that if such a talented group of people have chosen Ballou, she must be proficient at what she does
• A potential client reading it might think that they'd like to be a member of such a grand group
• The stories show that Ballou cares about her clients, knows about their lives, and feels for their successes and sorrows, all a good indication of her level of client service

If confidentiality allows, your clients agree (on Ballou's blog almost all of the stories were primarily interviews so clearly the client consented), and with the appropriate kinds of practices, telling your clients' stories might be an effective way to make them feel appreciated and honored, and to let prospective clients know more about who you are. Know of other service professionals who are blogging their clients' life stories? Not just about the clients as case studies, but as people with wide-ranging lives, personalities, accomplishments, adventures, challenges, losses and loves?

 

Attitude of gratitude? How about the power of boo-boo juju?

Have you heard that having an attitude of gratitude can improve your life? Or that writing a gratitude journal can make you happier? I've heard that advice, read it, and then heard it again. After trying the journal, I concluded that I must be one of those people for whom that kind of writing is not effective enough to make it worth my time and paper. I sincerely tried appreciativeness exercises but finally returned them to the thankfulness store because they didn't fit.

Now writing about my mistakes! That I could get down with. This blog post about journaling your mistakes caught my eye, connected with my imagination, and satisfied my erring heart and soul. From "Why journal your mistakes?" (The Mistake Bank):

Documenting and reflecting on mistakes isn't easy. It's a discipline that needs to be learned. But think about this: according to the Harvard paper, most people don't learn well from their own mistakes. If you can be one of the few that do, it puts you at a tremendous advantage. That advantage will create opportunities, and allow you to capitalize on them.

As far as I know, there has been no research on the benefits of writing about one's mistakes. Nevertheless, I am going to give it a try and see how it works. Let's see if chronicling boo-boos creates juju.

If penning gratitude is valuable for you, then perhaps you can fold in some mistakes? I suspect that, in the world of diaries, woots and boo-boos are not mutually exclusive.

Note: I am grateful for many things in my life (my level of gaiety, even celebration, can be jarring for true pessimists and worriers), but moments of awe appear spontaneously, often when least expected. Scheduling them, or the memory of them, was counter-productive for me and my nature.

Whose aging is it anyway? Whose retirement? Whose legacy?

In Chronicle of Higher Education, I just saw another poignant reminder to listen to what an elder person wants as his or her legacy. In this essay, a son talks about how his goals for the retirement of his father did not align with what his father envisioned. And, not until after his father's death, did the son fully realize the mismatch.

Excerpt from "In Search of a Professor's Legacy":

Since his retirement in 1993, my father had been working on one last major project: a book he hoped would be his summa, his legacy. ...

He never finished that task. I now possess boxes of his notes and hundreds of data files but nothing like a manuscript. Moreover, the tension in the last chapter in our relationship was that his focus became my frustration. I wanted him to pay attention to matters that were vital to me: his and my mother's health, finances, and living arrangements. He wanted to talk about climate change, the possible entropy of civilization itself, and the nature of good and evil. He gloried in seeking new knowledge and immersing himself in current affairs. I fretted about the books (12,000 in all), magazines, and news­papers (he subscribed to over a dozen print publications) that made their home an obstacle course and a firetrap. Even when my parents finally moved into assisted living, the book project was a chasm between us.

Since his death, I have learned that his counter-ire with me was even deeper and more pained than I knew at the time: He believed that his only child didn't believe in him.

Was our impasse inevitable and unsolvable?

Click to read the rest of the essay.

Fortunately, there seems to be no shortage of blog posts, articles, poems, and books to help us through the fields, gardens, and thickets of allying with, and perhaps attending to, an aging parent, co-worker, or friend. Click to read other thoughts on honoring wishes of the aging:

• "What a sweet reminder to listen to your patient (or your client or your friend)"
• Aesop's old hound and the greying of the bar: What to do with old dogs?
• "Some lawyers go gentle into that good night, others do not: 'Graying of the Bar' fueling concern in court"
• "Tomorrow you may become yesterday's child"
• Book: How to Say It to Seniors: Closing the Communication Gap with Our Elders