Subject: Lifescope TIPs & QUIPs [35] "Navigating the Future, part one"

TIPs & QUIPs, the free occasional email of helpful hints and quotes (and
sometimes challenging suggestions) for getting the most from life.

In this issue:
     *** WiseWords
     *** This Issue's Theme
     *** Suggested Resources
     *** Thrive On! Recommended Site


*** WiseWords ***                                     [TOP]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
  "The trouble with our times
   is that the future is not what it used to be."
    --Paul Valery
        
  "The optimist proclaims that we live in the best 
   of all possible worlds; 
   and the pessimist fears this is true."  
    --James Branch Cabell
    
  "Don't mistake a clear view for a short distance."
   --Paul Saffo

(For a collection of some of our favorite WiseWords, see our web page at
<http://www.lifescope.com/pages/WiseWords.html>.)

*** This issue's theme: Navigating the Future, part one     [TOP]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Reader:

It is incredibly rare for me to find a book whose premise so
perfectly resonates with my primary motivation for founding
Lifescope, and whose reasoning closely parallels mine. One such 
book is "Navigating the Future" by Mikela Tarlow.

If you buy nothing else from Lifescope, I implore you to buy THIS
book. We offer hundreds of products to help you change and improve
your life, but this one explores the broad implications of why we
want to in the first place, and how to better use all those other
tools and resources, in this unique period of human evolution.

So rather than simply introduce the excerpt, as I usually do, I
will intersperse my opinions and focused comments to tie concepts
together. The author's work will always appear indented and in
quotes, to distinguish it from my comments. So onward...

[from "Navigating the Future" by Mikela Tarlow, with Philip Tarlow.
 Copyright © 1999 by Mikela Tarlow, Reprinted by permission of
 from The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.]

   "A great deal has been written about the kinds of business
    structures that will be most suited to the turbulence that lies
    ahead, yet little has been written about the kinds of people
    who will be best suited to this ride. This is why I choose to
    focus on the part of the future locked in our own very personal
    response, the small shifts in how we transform our perceptions,
    ideas, and actions.
    
   "This new focus for exploration I call psychological futurism,
    an examination of how the individual can evolve more
    effectively in fast-moving and turbulent systems. It is an
    understanding based on the common patterns of how we develop
    responses to new cultural demands.
    
   "In the rush to capitalize on technological breakthroughs we
    tend to ignore the impact of continuous sweeping change on the
    individual psyche. This is probably because both the human
    psyche and the future are far messier, fuzzier, and more
    complex than any technical problem ever is. But the shape of
    technological progress ultimately hinges on the people who use
    it. Therefore, a business owner dealing with transforming
    markets needs new perceptual skills. When old values and
    traditions disappear almost overnight, we need new emotional
    paths for dealing with the instability that results. It is
    issues like these and thousands more that call for
    psychological futurism, as a way of coming to grips with the
    new demands."
    
The book is divided into three parts, entitled "Where are we headed?", 
"How do we get there?", and "What will we find?". I've extracted a 
few of the key ideas from each section...

WHERE ARE WE HEADED?
   "Millennium fever is making futurism highly fashionable.
    Sometimes it seems as if almost everyone has a take on where we
    are heading. Yet the most important thing about all the
    scenario building and future tripping is that it opens the door
    for each of us to begin tuning into our own personal sense of
    what lies ahead.
    
   "AWAKENING OUR ABILITY TO SEE UNFOLDING PATTERNS MAY BE THE MOST
    IMPORTANT PSYCHOLOGICAL SKILL WE CAN CULTIVATE.
    
   "In the last three decades, we have gained an average of five
    extra hours per week of leisure time, yet you would be hard
    pressed to find anyone who actually feels that they have more
    time. The acceleration we all feel is far more complex than
    having too much to do. It is more a result of a complexity or
    density of information and experience that we must integrate.
    The shortening of our attention spans makes it seem as if
    things are moving faster, as we process more and more bits per
    hour. Traditional boundaries have collapsed so we move into new
    situations much faster. Layers of meaning and layers of tasks
    are placed one on top of the other, so nothing is simple and
    sequential any more.
    
   "We all feel strangely compelled to keep moving faster.
    Unconsciously, we begin to crave the intensity of experience.
    Subliminal messages everywhere are telling us that acceleration
    is in fact a form of power. The waves are coming in faster and 
    bigger than at any time in history, a degree of change greater
    than the industrial revolution, in one-tenth the time.
    
   "RELENTLESS ACCELERATION INFILTRATES ALL THAT WE DO. IT SHAPES
    THE CHOICES WE MAKE AND THE VALUES WE SERVE.
    
   "Proliferation of information is, in fact, SLOWING our conceptual
    progress. Other emerging research suggests that coping with
    digital-age speed may be tough on our bodies, our imaginations, 
    and our perceptual capabilities. In other words, nimbleness and
    speed are not the only solution to new cultural demands.
    
   "WHEN EXISTING ASSUMPTIONS, BELIEFS, AND PATTERNS OF ACTION PROVE
    INADEQUATE FOR THE VOLUME AND VARIETY OF EXCHANGE THAT AN 
    ORGANIZATION OR INDIVIDUAL MUST HANDLE, BREAKDOWN BEGINS.
    
   "Power no longer lives in physical resources, but in the world
    of ideas and imagination. A key skill is being able to draw
    attention to new islands of focus, to help people see connections
    and influences that were previously invisible. Then, speed may
    be attained not by accelerating, but by looking sideways or
    stopping completely. Mastering this 'continuous discontinuity'
    differs from the power that arises from the strong analytical
    skills that were once so effective."

HOW DO WE GET THERE?
This next section is by far the largest, and begins with the
observation I've made many times before in my writings: that our
current culture has already advanced technologically beyond our
psychological capabilities. Metaphorically, we have put chainsaws
in the hands of babes. We need skills for catching up.

Latin has words for two different types of knowledge: Lexis, which
refers to the knowledge within language; and Praxis, which refers
to the knowledge gained through action. The most complete way of
learning is to combine thinking with doing, utilizing more of the
senses to reinforce the experience.

This section of the book offers eight navigational tools as the
substance of their program, presenting them conceptually and 
with exercises to immediately apply the knowledge in practice.

One of the first tools provides Seven Sensory Adaptations which
will be necessary to deal with the quickening glut and speed of
information. They are:  
    1) Edging - to detect changes at the periphery
    2) Blurring, Fields and Flows - see the forest for the trees
    3) Precision of Attention - selectivity of heightened focus
    4) New Priorities - perceiving our internal messages
    5) Paranormalization - stretching our receptivity
    6) Remasking - changing mindsets; WHO you are is WHAT you see
    7) Passion - when we're involved, we profoundly see more

I will expound on the eight navigational tools in the next issue
of TIPs & QUIPs. But why wait for me? Order your own copy now.

                                     Regards, --Lee Lukehart


*** Suggested Resources ***                                       [TOP]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
NAVIGATING THE FUTURE - Achieving Success in the new Millennium
   by Mikela Tarlow M.A., M.Ed., with Philip Tarlow
Embark on a journey into the future, a journey beyond the familiar
world into a realm of unprecedented personal transformation.
Popular personal-growth workshop leaders Mikela and Philip Tarlow
are your guides as you awaken your sense of what is to come by
developing ways to feel, sense, and think in entirely new
patterns. As Navigating the Future makes clear, going somewhere
new always requires finding an entrance never before taken.

The Tarlows are less concerned with how technology will affect
your life than with how you will respond to the unknown shape of
the future. Based on their consulting and seminars over the last
two decades, the Tarlows have built a  "psychological futurism"
that everyone can adapt to their own needs. They go on to show you
how to develop a personalized system for capitalizing on what lies
ahead rather than shutting down with "time sickness" -- a feeling
that everything is changing so rapidly that the world is spinning
out of control.

The heart of this enriching guidebook consists of eight
navigational tools through which you can build new self awareness,
break out of limiting behavior patterns, and create a future for
yourself that is filled with new possibilities. Each of these
eight tools is presented along with a series of exercises designed
to help you tap into your hidden resources. You will:

 1. Cultivate your ability to enter the "Zone."
 2. Develop a heightened perception.
 3. Transform your propensity to resist change.
 4. Master the art of "mythmaking" in order to reinvent yourself.
 5. Bring submerged aspects of your consciousness into full view.
 6. Construct rites of passage that will continually add meaning
    to your life.
 7. Harness the power of intimacy.
 8. Accelerate results and decrease the time it takes to move 
    from an idea stage to its manifestation.

These tools alone are not the solution to facing the future;
rather, they are a compass, offering a reference point by which
you can navigate the future and develop a greater sense of purpose
that will center you in the midst of accelerated change.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
For over 20 years, husband-and-wife team Mikela Tarlow and Philip
Tarlow have led seminars around the world, including the popular
"Accelerating Results" which has attracted thousands of people
seeking new models for taking action in today's world. Mikela has
a social science and organizational analysis background while
Philip is an internationally recognized artist with works in major
collections throughout the world. Together they bring a unique
blend of the visionary and practical to their work.

   (softcover book, 336pp) Item# D1356-BK
      SRP$16.95 -- Your Price $13.50, You Save 20%!
     
 Buy this item online now at Lifescope.com or Amazon.com.

     Your Lifescope purchase is RISK-FREE: 
     Visit our secure online store with your VISA/MC/Discover/AMEX.
     Your satisfaction is absolutely guaranteed or your money back!


*** Thrive On! Recommended Site ***                              [TOP]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
NAVIGATING THE FUTURE Tour Schedule - Meet the Authors!
<http://www.navigatingthefuture.com/navschedule.html>
If you live close to one of the following geographic areas, I highly
encourage you to see the authors in person...
   Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Wyoming, 
   San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego Area,
   Greater LA, Santa Barbara, Long Branch, Ojai
   Greater NYC Area & Connecticut, South Florida


DISCLAIMER
The contents herein are solely the opinions of Lifescope editors, and should 
not be considered as a form of therapy nor advice. There is no guarantee of 
validity or accuracy. Lifescope therefore assumes no responsibility for injury
and specifically disclaims any warranty, express or implied, of fitness or 
merchantability for a particular purpose. Besides, actual mileage may vary.

Copyright © 1998-2007 by Lifescope Inc. 
Permission is granted to reproduce or distribute this newsletter 
only in its entirety and provided copyright is acknowledged.

To subscribe or unsubscribe TIPs & QUIPs, please go to our Subscriptions Page
at <http://www.lifescope.com/pages/Subscriptions.html>

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
  Lifescope Inc. -- Bright Ideas for Better Living
           <http://www.lifescope.com/>
"YOUR IDEAL LIFE?  Discover It, Design It, and Do It!"