My bio-text on Twitter says “Inquisitive, openminded, loves life. Professional coach, mentor. Please note that Twitter is my water cooler, I prefer conversation over promotions.”
Today I felt like creating a collage that shows the first part, “Inquisitive, openminded, loves life.” I think the collage can be titled “a harmonic thinker with a childlike mind.” Childlike in the sense of being open and inquisitive. It’s also about playing more, one of my goals.
I find it easier to think in images or graphics, it helps me see how things or topics relate to each other. Mind maps are great but at times I want a single image to show just a few things together. Triangles are easy, three things are related but still separate. Below are two other diagrams that help me sort things out.
A friend mentioned Venn-diagrams. I have seen them before but was not familiar with the name. It’s a great way to show how things relate to each other and that they overlap.
Venn diagrams normally comprise overlapping circles. The interior of the circle symbolically represents the elements of the set, while the exterior represents elements which are not members of the set.
For instance, in a two-set Venn diagram, one circle may represent the group of all wooden objects, while another circle may represent the set of all tables. The overlapping area or intersection would then represent the set of all wooden tables.
Source: Wikipedia Venn diagram
Euler diagrams are useful in other contexts. The quote below comes from Wikipedia, Euler diagram. The image below that quote is a great example that includes sets, subsets, intersections and disjointness.
Euler diagrams consist of simple closed curves (usually circles) in the plane that depict sets. The sizes or shapes of the curves are not important, the significance of the diagram is in how they overlap. The spatial relationships between the regions bounded by each curve (overlap, containment or neither) corresponds to set-theoretic relationships (intersection, subset and disjointness).
Each Euler curve divides the plane into two regions or “zones”: the interior, which symbolically represents the elements of the set, and the exterior, which represents all elements that are not members of the set. Curves whose interior zones do not intersect represent disjoint sets. Two curves whose interior zones intersect represent sets that have common elements; the zone inside both curves represents the set of elements common to both sets (the intersection of the sets). A curve that is contained completely within the interior zone of another represents a subset of it.
I was browsing addnature and Naturkompaniet looking for products from Snugpak (I have their Kit Monster 65 bag in red) when I noticed a bag from Life is good. The smiling face and the text “Life is good” hooked me, I later went into Naturkompaniet in Malmö and bought the bag.
Chi Running and Chi Walking is an interesting concept.
In Chi Living, Chi Running and Chi Walking basic principles of T’ai Chi are employed to optimize the flow of energy in your body, to reduce the use of force for moving forward, and thereby reduce the risk of injury, while maximizing the benefits of healthy movement and healthy living.
I’m interested in Eastern philosophies and concepts such as Chi. Mixing principles of Tai Chi with running and walking is something I intend to learn more about.
There’s an interesting statement in the video: Running is a controlled fall.
ChiRunning® (“chee-running”) and ChiWalking® apply simple principles of biomechanics, physics and nature to running and walking … which increase momentum and decrease resistance … for dramatic improvements in energy efficiency while reducing discomfort, recovery, aches/pains and injury. (From eChiFitness)
Source YouTube: ChiRunning Simplified!
I came across a video on YouTube, Terra Plana – Learning the skill of barefoot running (see below) which shows the basic changes needed to run barefoot.
I have been posting some about barefoot running and walking.
The big shoe companies are clearly paying attention to the (minimalist approach) trend. Nike was first to market with the Nike Free, a flexible shoe for “barefoot like running” with less padding than the company’s typical offerings.
The Nike Free line of footwear features a segmented sole which provides greater flexibility while still having an amount of cushioning. The Free line is based on a scale from 1-10, where 1 is barefoot and 10 is a typical athletic shoe sole.
That scale makes the 3.0 closest to being barefoot. Today I bought a pair of Nike Free 3.0 V2 which are “semi-barefoot” shoes. The soles are very flexible, walking in these shoes are very different to using an ordinary pair of shoes. Less padding in the Free shoes means you need to walk and run differently. No landing on your heel, it hurts too much.
It’s said that you shall take it slow and get used to minimalist shoes. I’m glad that I walk barefoot at home, it seems to make a big difference since I walked more than usual today yet still have no aching feet or legs.
Either the shoes are small in size or you need larger barefoot-shoes. I normally wear size 9, in these I needed size 10.5.
I came across an interesting article: You Walk Wrong.
It took 4 million years of evolution to perfect the human foot. But we’re wrecking it with every step we take.
Adam Sternbergh tells his story plus adds facts and information. MBT shoes are mentioned (not even close to barefoot) as well as Vivo Barefoot.
MBT-shoes force your feet to move in a certain way. Barefoot-shoes allow your feet to move in a more natural way.
My previous business home page was bilingual, English and Swedish. I created Key Coaching (Swedish) as a new WordPress installation. Now I have started to rebuild Key Coaching (English) from the ground up. I have imported some of the posts from Bengt’s Notes (this blog) because I decided to have my business oriented blogging over at Key Coaching.
That means topics such as coaching. mentoring, business and networking will be at Key Coaching in the future. The old posts for those topics will be removed from this blog and links will be redirected.
In my research around barefoot running and walking I found an interesting article in New York Times, Wiggling Their Toes at the Shoe Giants.
Recent research suggests that for all their high-tech features, modern running shoes may not actually do much to improve a runner’s performance or prevent injuries. Some runners are convinced that they are better off with shoes that are little more than thin gloves for the feet — or with no shoes at all.
Upstart companies like Vibram, Feelmax and Terra Plana are challenging the running-shoe status quo with thin-sole designs meant to combine the benefits of going barefoot with a layer of protection.
Vibram are famous for their finger shoes. Terra Plana makes some really good looking walking shoes, see links in Vivo Barefoot.
In 2004, Terra Plana became pioneers of the barefoot movement by launching VIVOBAREFOOT, the first minimalist shoe with a patented, ultra thin puncture resistant sole that offers maximum sensory feedback and maximum protection.
Update June 3, 2011.
I did not go all the way to thin-sole design this time, I bought the semi-barefoot Nike Free 3.0 V2 and I really like them.
This is a really interesting video, six minutes well spent. Michael Wolff talks about his three “muscles”: Curiosity, Appreciation and Imagination. He says about cooking that “You never cook the same meal twice.” That goes for other things too, a beginner’s mind makes things fresh.
Source: Intel Visual Life – Michael Wolff.
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