Observation; The Art of Reading your Environment like a Book.

Today's a fruitful day for me personally, of details which I'll go through later in the article.

Humans are sensory creatures, and this leaves much to debate about. We are gifted with five sense, namely touch, hearing, taste, smell and of course, sight.

They say that we often rely too much on a particular sense and research has shown that the sense of sight, especially, is the most heavily relied on, except maybe for certain individuals (the blind for example).

Is this considered a weakness? By relying too much on a particular sense, are we somewhat applying immunity to our consciences and filtering what we perceive in the world?

The sense of sight, is heavily relied on. For those who doubt this statement (or claim, more rather), do a little experiment and contemplate the results; Blindfold yourself for an entire day and try to live your life normally as you would with sight.

In common cases, normal people who attempt the above experiment will face difficulty in carrying out their daily activities as we humans, rely alot on sight. People get disorientated without sight and that's not a big surprise at all.

"Never judge a book by its cover". I'm sure most if not all of you have heard of this saying. This is played around the over-reliance of the sense of sight, so much so that the "book" is judged by its exterior appearance, its "cover" rather than its contents and ideas.

That is a metaphoric saying, yes. But in a way, it does hold some truth to our daily lives. More often then not, sight is used or rather, misused in our daily lives and this is especially evident in terms of human relations.

It is proven that people tend to favour better looking things or objects, or in the human relation's case, people, as compared to their counterparts.

It is rather disturbing that our society relies so much on visual appearance nowadays. This is so impactful that even the fate of business deals or competitions can be decided and swayed based on the visual appeal of the person.

It can thus be said that sight is a powerful thing as it fabricates our thoughts and perceptions about the environment around us. Your eyes, or I would rather call, "Windows to the World" is the medium and the source that brings about your vision and sight and with those, your perception of the world.

And that brings me to the main emphasis of this article; the Power of Observation.

"an act or instance of regarding attentively or watching" (as cited from dictionary.com)

In a theoretical way, yes. But I feel that there is much more then meets the eye then "attentively" and "watching".

Indeed, observation, simply put is just "watching attentively" but let us look at a more psychological aspect of the concept of observation.

To observe, is to learn and to find out. This is where the "watching" part comes in. It remains largely unnoticed but as one observes a particular incident, setting, or even a particular person, your subconscious mind creates an mental image in the head and this is when an impression is created, an impression of a place, an impression of a person etc.

This is just a general concept in your head, and to gain a more detailed insight on a particular observation, and this is where the "attentively" part comes in. By paying close attention to the fine and precise details of a matter, one will be able to gain a insightful observation to the things around them.

Mind you, this is not easy to master. Observation is tedious process, as I've found out, a couple of hours back.

I set myself a task to observe two specific places in the country (of which I will not specifically mention due to various reasons), largely to the benefit of a project that I was supposed to take on.

I've never thought observation was an easy thing to do probably because I one who will struggle for action if I judge an environment too mundane for my liking.

However recently, under the influence of my father, I've slowly interest myself in the art of observation. The myriad of people expressions and the various significant incidents that you see on this blog itself are so called "products" of my observations.

So why is observation so hard? "Attentively Watching" something doesn't sound as hard as say, Learning Spanish, or is it?

We are brought up in a society as such that people do not normally observe their surroundings closely, especially the Asian society as such. Thus I feel that in a way, Observation is to a large number of people, a social faux pas.

Is observing really something that makes you different? (refer to Article, Differentiation; not your Average Math Question)

During my period of observation, I've personally noted no less then 7 different individuals throwing weird glances and looks at me as I sit on benches or even stand in a corner with my notebook, scribbling furiously as I pen down my thoughts about my observation.

The society is a discreet one indeed and I'm sure the core reason in their response is that they are not used to this kind of action. People are not used to other people observing them (or just that they seem to) thus get uncomfortable.

They were not the only ones feeling uncomfortable though. I endured glance after glance and stayed focused on my task at hand. It somehow dawned on me that the society isn't one that encourages observation.

The constant hunger to improve time and time again and the motivation to better ourselves. That is how our society is turning out nowadays. As a result, the stress factor eats into people's lives and thus they develop a kind of "immunity" to observe interesting details of everyday life. They hardly have the time to take a step back and look at the lighter side of life and they hardly have time to observe.

Tragic, this is. For the great demands of our society takes a toll on its people adversely; it is evident even as you walk along the streets.

Many do not see the benefits of observation, though its a highly subjective result. It personally interests me to observe my environment. It keeps me in check and also allows me to see the other side that the world and life itself has to offer.

I don't want to numb myself to the variety this world has to offer and I feel that we shouldn't let certain social faux pases of the society hold us down.

Human beings have been in the never ending quest of more knowledge and I feel that environment observation is part of that quest for knowledge. A daunting task it is, to observe successfully but why shouldn't we?

So the next time you see someone with a pen and a notebook jotting down notes in a corner in any particular setting, think of him not as a social faux pas or a weirdo but a person who's observing and reading his environment and surroundings in detail.

The Human Mind; A Powerful Tool or just a Voice Inside Us?

I think about issues and matters all the time. Be it on the bus, standing in the middle of a huge crowd or even when I'm eating. However, I realise my mind sets into an automatic "wander mode" in two particular durations; when I bath and when I'm on the bed about to sleep.

Queer isn't it? I mean those two durations aren't exactly the most interactive and social periods of my life but it is during then when my mind is the most active as I think about personal issues (commonly) as well as a myriad of other topics. Thus it is no wonder or astonishment that I often fabricate my ideas (weird ones) and thoughts about certain aspects of my life.

The human mind works in ways unknown.

For years or even since the dawn of time, people have been trying to put a definite solution or answer as to how the mind works largely to no avail. All due to the simple fact that the human mind holds no boundaries.

I'll not endeavour the task of defining how the mind works but more rather, share my two cents on the complexity of the human mind and insights into using your mind to your advantage rather then the contrary.

From a scientific viewpoint, the epicenter of the human mind is commonly perceived at the brain of a particular individual. It is the brain that controls the entire nervous system in the human body and to put it simply, it is the "command center"; it controls the major functions of the body.

However, I personally feel that the human is not only restricted to the brain. To me, there is no central location where the human mind is located. The entire body functions and constitutes to the mind itself. The five senses especially plays a vital role in influencing the decisions and the way the mind works.

Why is this so?

The senses are in a way, how the body perceives and comes in contact with the outside world. They are the "windows" and the medium used for external interaction. Be it Touch, Smell, Taste, Sight or Hear, these are how we as humans, communicate with our surroundings and respond to stimulus.

These senses (as mentioned earlier) influence the way our mind works and its thus proven on many grounds in the field of psychology, which is the intensive study of the human mind and behaviour.

Ever heard of the "Forbidden Toy Study" carried out by Elliot Aronson and Merrill Carlsmith who were social psychologists about Cognitive Dissonance? Or W.S.Small's experiment with rats in a maze? These are fine examples of how the senses affect the psychological aspect of human beings.

Another aspect we have to consider in relation to the human mind is the human Emotion. As elaborated in one of my previous blog articles (Emotions; A Flaw In The Human Design?), emotions can affect the behaviour and the mind of a particular individual adversely.

Naturally, the human mind is influenced by emotions too as we as living organisms have feeling. Certain decisions might be affected and influenced depending on the emotion and I'm sure this is evident in our daily lives.

So is the human mind just a powerful tool that can be manipulated if used properly or is it just a part of the "entire human package"?

As mentioned, the human mind and emotion works hand in hand. Personally to me, the human emotion defines the soul of a person and in contrast, the human mind is the engine and processor that runs the soul and gives it life. We're exposed and accustomed to images of mindless zombies in horror films; an image of what we as humans, will be like without the soul, engine and processor.

So can we use the human mind to its fullest potential? Is it possible for one to manipulate another person purely based on the use of the mind?

I'm sure many of you would have watched or at least heard of this character from the comic book series (and recently a series of movies) X-men, called Professor X who is renown for his "amazing mind controlling abilities".

No, I'm not referring to abilities of that sought but more rather, manipulating via actions. We may not realise it but in fact, many of us are already applying these techniques to a certain extent. On a more subtle level, something called PR (people relation) skills are actually part of this so called manipulation. Other aspects are also involved, but I shan't elaborate (due to various reasons).

If one is able to master and learn the techniques of mind control and persuasion, it is no doubt that the individual will be one up in society. The power of super persuasion is incredible and in a sense, fearful.

To conclude, the mind is subjective and to some, it may be just a voice inside but I choose to think otherwise. To me, its both a tool and a part of existence. The mind might differentiate right from wrong, truth or lie, but is it, as always, up to the individual to decide how he or she wants to use it.

Personally, I use my mind for various reasons, a source of infinite inspiration, a place where no one but myself can go to, a reasoning department and of course, a place where I find my perspective of the world.

I'm sure everyone has different purposes in life and their minds are thus structured differently.

So let us work to perfect the strength of our minds and attain a one up in our lives.