Learn to control money but do not allow it to control you

Firewalker

Tricia, absolutely correct. Universities chose to ignore the fact that when they were 'our family' rather than 'our employer' everyone from the cleaning stuff through admin to academics, self-exploited and showed considerable good will. Now...no! The job of traditional employers is always to exploit - profits are made mainly by appropriating surplus value. It is the responsibility of the employee to minimise the amount of surplus value by getting fair pay (which also means that people do not do things because of good will and stop self exploiting in ways that benefit the employer).

Not rocket science but for some reason people still believe in the principles of clasical capitalism.

Firewalker

Firewalker

Great day for celebration - MG's negative wealth is down to zero (great news this is), I had my first run in two months and 7 day (but who was counting) and the Money Principle has an anniversary (the hudredth post today).

Apart from this my quest for the recovery of different payments that are due to me (so to speak) continued today - I finally got around to claim compensation for my EasyJet adventures in April; better late than never and there is a very good chance that I will get 250 euro (apparently it is not easy to get compensation out of EasyJet but as I found out it wasn't easy to get home using this airline either). There is an European legislation about that so let's wait and see.

Have you ever had this very deep conviction that soemthing is to happen by a certain time? For some reason I know, I mean really know that we will be done with the negative wealth by next summer (I am thinking April but can say summer to be on the conservative side of things). There is quite a bit left so not sure how is this going to happen but a way will be found.

Now I am off to meditation - hope that this time my meditation practice is not going to be suplanted by a wine drinking session with friend.

Firewalker

thriftyscotslass

Welcome back FW and I hope you enjoyed last night be it meditation or wine-drinking session.

Firewalker

Good evening Thrifty. It was meditation! And it was wonderful - I had forgotten that I used to meditate (I did loads of yoga in the pasts and probably should go back to it) and how wonderful it feels. Last night I went so deep that I didn't even notice that 45 minutes had passed. Certainly a habit to develop.

Firewalker

Firewalker

Today I finished a piece of writing and it is gone where it should have gone to (it is not for publication yet). Do you remember that before the summer I asked people for mental support - a colleague and I were applying to a private foundation for funds to write a book? Well, the funder came back and said that they are very interested but would like to see some papers from the first part of the project first. This is what we have done now - so I am doing loads of wishing and invisioning and would appreciate some support in doing it. Getting this will be good in many ways - apart from everything it is one of the things that propells you forward. It is not everyday that someone pays for me to write a book!

Having finished this I feel my thinking is coming back. Today have been thinking a lot about education again - in fact have been tweeting a bit about it.

Did I mention that my ten year old is, according to his school, in charge of his education? I understand student centered education and am all for it...But! How can a ten year old know what he needs to learn and self-assess how far he is in his learning?

It seems to me that the education system - from primary to university - is focusing on the wrong thing again. We have been focusing on teaching and keep forgetting about learning. So instead of being teachers, can you imagine how much things will change if we see ourselves as 'enablers of learning'? And we would not have to trasfer responsibility for education to the ones that are being educated.

What do you think?

Firewalker

Firewalker

You may not believe it and it is very hard for me as well but...I have gone from no weekends for couple of weeks to starting the weekend today at 13.05. Which feels very nice indeed.

Remember I was telling you about mind mapping where I want to be in five years time and than taking it back to three years, one year, three months, a month and two weeks. Works like magic! In fact I am starting to catch up for the time I lost around my hospital adventures in August. There are two other elements to this I want to share with you.

One, I have been practicing being completely focused. This means that I have given up on doing more than one 'big' thing at any given time. Instead, I have been focusing on one thing and going at it untill it is finished. All other things I do come second and are, in some sense, supporting the main thing (like reading, searching etc.). What is suffering under the current regime of complete focus is cleaning, I suppose and something will have to be done about it.

Second, I have just finished reading a very interesting book called 'Uncertainty'. There is loads in it that is just not worth it but there some nuggets that are splendid. One of these is that creating is a process that needs a system allowing one to focus and rest in sequence - so, like the obsessive I am, I have been doing 90 minute on, then long rest - three times during the day. Less pain and more done! Another nugget is that where creation is concerned visualising the outcome is pointless - anything we can visualise is not that creative. This doesn't mean that visualisation is pointless but it has to shift to the process - this really did it for me. And it is so simple that I am wondering how I didn't think of it myself.

Because of all that, all I wanted to achieve during this week was completed by lunch time. Since then I have been resting (in my own way) and now I'll go for another little run. Only cloud in all this is that I still feel my leg slightly uncomfortable - people of the internet who have been through similar say that it can hurt for about six months. And I have to get lighter!

Firewalker

elantan

Firewalker wrote: »

Tricia, absolutely correct. Universities chose to ignore the fact that when they were 'our family' rather than 'our employer' everyone from the cleaning stuff through admin to academics, self-exploited and showed considerable good will. Now...no! The job of traditional employers is always to exploit - profits are made mainly by appropriating surplus value. It is the responsibility of the employee to minimise the amount of surplus value by getting fair pay (which also means that people do not do things because of good will and stop self exploiting in ways that benefit the employer).

Not rocket science but for some reason people still believe in the principles of clasical capitalism.

Firewalker

with my experience as a student i can say i felt the same ... i was seen as a figure ( my uni fee) .. gone was the passion, gone was the care ... i looked forward to university to expand my knowledge to be stretched and to learn ... instead i was trained for a job ... i was sadly dissapointed but i think this is what happens when education goes out the window (along with standards) and business comes through the door

i left after second year as i just couldnt take any more ... it took me all my strength to go back for the second year as it was as i had had enough after first year and the only reason i did was because i was there for only 12 weeks ... i only had to step foot in the university for 108 hours for the whole of second year ... but after the first three i sat and worked out how many i could miss without getting into trouble ( 27 incase anyone fancies trying the same) i then (almost thankfully) struggled really hard with a frozen shoulder and had dr's letters regarding my care needs and managed to score another 18 hours off ... yes it was that bad

Firewalker

I am so sorry to hear this, El. Sadly, we academics are only human and some colleagues have seriously started seeing themselves as 'teachers' and 'trainers'. I still see myself as an 'enabler of learning' and get in disputes with the managers and administrators. Was going to say 'get in trouble' but this assumes that I give a toss.

All I care about are my students - they have to become the best they could be - and my research. I have only 20 years to retirement and if I have it my way I would be able to have have the option to retire much earlier - in about 7 years.

Firewalker

elantan

I had a feeling u were different FW ... Don't get me wrong I had one tutor/lecturer that was amazing she pulled my knowledge out of me and stretched me to my limits ... Sadly she became so dissilusioned with the whole scenario that she hightailed it out of there in my second year ( she is now thriving in a much better environment ... I am SO glad for her ... And her students)

I have a very good friend that is a graduate tutor in a university and I know she is very much likeminded as yourself ... It's wonderful that there are still people that do care about students and don't just see them as a wage ... I do feel very cheated out of my education though ... I spose its a good job I have a passion for learning so havbe carried on by myself ... I just wish I could have some direction lol

Firewalker

I just came back from my run - the second one after my brief venture into middle age. Feels so good! So I have decided the following:

1) Over the next 52 weeks (a year) I'll run, walk and cycle 2,000 miles. Every week I'll check where I have got to - the distance between Manchester and Sofia is 1,383 miles so this is quite far.
2) Next October I'll run the Loch Ness marathon again. This is a challenge to Mr Bloater and all long distance runners here. Are you on?

Now dinner calls!

Firewalker