Sally Ember's Blog, page 91
December 7, 2014
Tip for Finding Read Tuesday Book Deals
My books are on #READTUESDAY, also. Thanks for posting, Charles.
Learn more about Charles by watching my great *CHANGES* conversation with him: any time: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPbfKicwk4dFdeVSAY1tfhtjaEY_clmfq
Authors: Learn more about and get yourself or recommend someone to be scheduled as a guest: *CHANGES* G+ HOA http://sallyember.com/changes-videoca...
Originally posted on ReadTuesday:
Pearseus by Nicholas C. Rossis
FINDING BOOK DEALS
Read Tuesday is a Black Friday type of event just for book lovers on December 9. (Almost here! In fact, many of the books are already on sale.)
The first step toward finding amazing book deals is to browse the Read Tuesday catalog (see below).
Don’t worry: You won’t make purchases at Read Tuesday. You buy books at major retailers, like Amazon and Smashwords, as usual. Read Tuesday is just here to help readers (and gift givers) find good books at great prices, and to help authors and publishers find readers.
When browsing one of the Read Tuesday catalog pages, try pressing Ctrl + F. This works on Mozilla FireFox, for example, by opening a Find box in the bottom left corner of the screen, but when I try it on Internet Explorer, the Find box appears at the top, so it…
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Filed under: Writing
#SMASHWORDS READ TUESDAY 12/9/14 and beyond, #EBOOKS SALE!
To counteract “Black Friday” and all the other rampant consumerism in the days surrounding the winter holidays in which people spend many dollars (or abuse credit) in service of items that do not enhance their lives significantly, SMASHWORDS and many authors have gotten together to create a great new holiday: READ TUESDAY on 12/9/14.
http://readtuesday.com/contact-us/ for #authors to learn more/sign up.
http://www.sallyember.com/blog on 12/8/14 for links to my books!
Don’t just buy stuff! BUY BOOKS!
Many #Smashwords authors are offering discounted or free books on, before, and after this date. Visit Smashwords to find out what you can get!
Remember: as always, authors appreciate your downloads and purchases and other readers very much appreciate your posting comments, rankings, ratings, and reviews on Smashwords, Amazon, Kobo, iBooks, nook, Goodreads, Shelfari, BookLikes and elsewhere! Please support indie authors during the holiday season!
Here are my two Smashwords READ TUESDAY sale offers, both ebooks in The Spanners Series, unique sci-fi/ romance/ paranormal/ multiverse/ utopian novels for youth and adults.
Get both and be all caught up in time for the release of Volume III, This Is/Is Not the Way I Want Things To Change, some time in the Spring of 2015!
Use COUPON CODE NH97X for 25% OFF at Checkout for This Changes My Family and My Life Forever, Volume II of The Spanners Series, 12/9/14 – 1/2/15.
Usually $3.99, now $2.99 for this sale! https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/424969
This Changes Everything, Volume I, The Spanners Series, is FREE every day! https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/376197
If you already own my ebooks PLEASE POST REVIEWS!
And, if you’re feeling “flush” and would like to donate to support THIS author, there is a DONATE button on my website: http://www.sallyember.com
Filed under: Indie or Self-Publishing, The Spanners, This Changes Everything, This Changes My Family and My Life Forever, This Is/Is Not the Way I Thought Things Would Change, Volume I of The Spanners, Volume II of The Spanners, Volume III Tagged: ebooks, holidays, indie authors, reviews, Sale, Smashwords
December 6, 2014
Writers’ Tools: Dictionary
needing verbal inspiration? Need a word? Look HERE! Thanks, Jack and others for posting about “My Word Hoard.”
Originally posted on natural zero:
Writers have many tools at their disposal, and I recommend using all of them to help improve your writing, especially if you’re a novice writer. The fact that you’re reading this blog is evidence that you’re looking for ways to improve your craft; I actually mark writers by those who are willing to learn in order to improve their craft, and those who believe that what they’re doing is “good enough” and they needn’t improve. Writers tend to be a bit masochistic, and we’re often a very self-depreciating lot. We always feel we can improve, and the best writers are those who are always seeking to improve.
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On Proof and Progress in Feminism
I LOVE THIS. Every word. You NAILED it! Reblogging. Sharing. Wishing I had written it. THANK YOU! Will you be my friend, forever, please?
Best to you in intelligent sisterhood,
Sally
Originally posted on The Accidental Mathematician:
The recent allegations against several celebrities have led to a broader conversation on how we, as a society, don’t believe women. In a “he said, she said” situation, we trust the man and assume that the woman is either mistaken or lying. “Taking us seriously” means that we are advised of such and offered an explanation for our dismissal instead of simply being dismissed outright. It’s not only personal bias, conscious or not; there are institutional mechanisms perpetuating this state of affairs. No proof is ever sufficient if it comes from a woman. Should she present multiple affidavits, all signed and notarized in triplicate, she’ll be informed that they do not prove her claim; she, on the other hand, probably violated multiple rules and procedures by collecting and presenting her evidence in the first place. She should stop before she gets into more trouble.
Meanwhile, there’s a growing crop of…
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December 5, 2014
The silent farewell – #buddhism #relationships
Right where I am today. Thanks.
Originally posted on grevilleacorner:
Rejected once more,
stop and reflect;
notice how
there is clinging
to a notion of relation
that never was or will be;
Letting go,
notice
that you can still love
without the need
for any time with
or validation from;
without any more
suffering.
The silent farewell.
Stephanie Mohan – December 2014
Filed under: Writing
from B*TCH MEDIA, “#Feminism and #Science-Fiction” #Podcasts
from B*TCH MEDIA, “#Feminism and #Science-Fiction” #Podcasts
If you are a feminist, interested in feminism, a science-fiction writer or reader, or all four, you MUST listen to these 4 podcasts from Popaganda of B*TCH MEDIA.
You can listen to them all in a row (first window) or listen to each one separately. Here are the titles of the four podcasts in this Episode of Popaganda:
“The beautiful ‘feminism and sci-fi’ illustration is from Voyage by Molly Mendoza. Voyage is a visual essay on the Voyager Interstellar Mission and is embedded with the themes of wonder, distance, and exploring places far away from home.”
DEEP THOUGHTS ON ELLEN RIPLEY: Ellen Ripley and Gender in “Alien”
INTERVIEW WITH WALIDAH IMARISHA: Peace, Justice, and Octavia Butler
INTERVIEW WITH ADRIENNE MAREE BROWN: What Can Social Justice Activists Learn from Science Fiction?
AN ESSAY ON FAMILY, SCIENCE, AND POP CULTURE: The Laws of Familial Thermodynamics
If you don’t subscribe, yet, to BiTCH MEDIA, an unavoidable pop-up comes with this link, below, asking for you to subscribe. Sorry. I don’t know how to disable it, but honestly, you SHOULD subscribe and, if you can afford it, donate. BiTCH MEDIA is a great source of info, critique and news.
LINK TO ALL PODCASTS:
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/popaganda-episode-feminism-and-science-fiction
Filed under: Blogging and others' content, Science Fiction and Fantasy, Writing Tagged: activism, activists, Alien, B*tch Media, feminism, feminist, gender, Octavia Butler, peace, Popaganda, sci-fi, science fiction, social justice, speculative fiction, Ursula K. Le Guin
December 4, 2014
Cynthia Sue Larson Interviews Yasunori Nomura
Very exciting #physics #mutiverse #quantum stuff in this interview. Thanks, Cynthia!
Originally posted on RealityShifters Blog:
Yasunori Nomura with Cynthia Sue Larson
I’ve been following Professor Yasunori Nomura‘s work this past year with tremendous interest, since he was one of the first theoretical physicists to publish a paper on the topic of the many worlds of quantum mechanics being one and the same as the eternally inflating multiverse. This perspective is one I consider to be extremely promising, both for its elegance and also for its ability to explain much that other theories cannot so easily address.
I was thrilled when attending a screening of the recent documentary film, “Particle Fever,” about the hunt for the Higgs boson to see Yasunori’s name up on the podium. I’d received an invitation to attend this UC Berkeley event through the Physics Department where I’d studied and received my degree many years ago. Dr. Yasunori Nomura was one of the panelists who talked about what we’re learning from the…
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December 2, 2014
America’s First UFO Sighting was at Boston in 1639
“They” have always been around here. #Aliensamongus
Originally posted on The Only Buddhist in Town:
America’s First UFO Sighting was at Boston in 1639. This is another interesting UFO sighting reported during the US colonial times. Remember, in the 1600’s there were no aircraft and no air pollution. What could it have been?
Filed under: Writing
Interview with Sally Ember Ed.D and Me – *Changes*
Be there to interact with us LIVE 10 – 11 AM EST USA http://goo.gl/A3qPZP or watch another time on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZRG5j5fHuo
Originally posted on Fiction Favorites:
Just a reminder that the Google Plus live interview with Sally Ember Ed.D will be tomorrow from 10:00 to 11:00 AM EST. Here are all the details:
Welcome to Episode 14 of *CHANGES* G+ HOA with author, John W. Howell, who writes thrillers. Join host, Sally Ember, Ed.D., LIVE, conversing with John on Wednesday, December 3, 10 – 11 AM Eastern Time USA, https://plus.google.com/u/0/events/c73le14imljt9q0vn1do99re6fg or catch our conversation any time on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZRG5j5fHuo
It should be a good exchange since this is the first time Sally has interviewed a thriller author. I think that’s okay because this will be the first time I’ve been interviewed by a doctor who hasn’t billed Medicare. Should be a good time for all who attend. If you can’t make it you can visit YouTube anytime after.
Please visit Sally’s The Spanners Series at http://sallyember.com/spanners/ for a complete listing of all the links and her blog at http://sallyember.com/
Filed under: Writing
#Meditation Rebuilds #Brains: #Harvard’s Research Offers Proof!
#Meditation Rebuilds #Brains: #Harvard’s Research Offers Proof!
The methodology and research conclusions from this recently published study are astonishing for several reasons that matter a lot to me. Some of you know that I fell last April, breaking my nose and causing a concussion which has impaired my cognitive processes AND affected my ability to meditate enormously. I am all for finding out more about what helps brains heal and work better in us all.
My descriptions and opinions are in this post, linking this research to another recently revealed study on brain functionality. Links to original articles, below.
Test subjects taking part in an 8-week program of mindfulness meditation showed results that astonished even the most experienced neuroscientists at Harvard University.
Researchers found that remarkable positive outcomes can occur after only 8 weeks of being in this meditation course, even though, for about half the time, the learners barely knew how to meditate at all. Individuals meditated for an average of “about 27 minutes per day.”
What were they learning? How could such a brief experience and small lifestyle change have such tremendous impacts?
Simple mindfulness sharpens one’s ability to focus. Increasing the skills related to paying attention, following one’s thoughts or one’s breath are the easiest types of meditation to learn. These are also the most basic and accessible forms of meditation for Westerners because the current version contains nothing religious, almost nothing that feels “cultural,” native to the Eastern countries from which these techniques originated.
image from http://www.theguardian.com
In most mindfulness classes (which are not the same as many meditation classes), participants and leaders do NOT bring Eastern “forms” into the experience.
Most mindfulness groups do NOT:
light candles
burn incense
prostrate or bow
chant syllables (mantras) in Sanskrit or other foreign languages
pray
wear special clothing or colors
call the teacher by an unusual title (“Lama,” “Rinpoche,” “Guru”)
treat the instructor as a spiritual guide or leader
use photos or statues of Eastern figures or past teachers
discuss “lineage”
set up a shrine or altar.
If mindfulness groups use music or musical instruments (drums, bells, horns,”ambient” recorded music), they use them as part of the meditation experience, to set a mood, mark the time or start/stop a session.
Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn and many others from the Vipassana/Insight Meditation centers have distilled the essence of these beginners’ meditation practices into palatable, sanitized chunks able to be digested in fewer than two months by even the most resistant Western learner. There are now hundreds of books and thousands of resources and settings that you can find that include or teach mindfulness, from the family to corporations, schools, businesses, government and hospitals.
Pain clinics, anxiety/panic and addiction rehabilitation programs, trauma recovery centers and many more segments of the medical and therapy community have been teaching mindfulness without even using the word “meditation” for decades, bringing these techniques to the populations most needing to learn how to deal with strong pain (physical or emotional or both. These participants have been shown (in previous research) to have benefited enormously from mindfulness meditation classes.
What they discovered is brand-new evidentiary proof of the positive effects of mindfulness on the meditator’s brain! Prior to this study, meditation researchers had “found structural differences between the brains of experienced meditation practitioners and individuals with no history of meditation, observing thickening of the cerebral cortex in areas associated with attention and emotional integration” but couldn’t prove these resulted directly from meditation, until this project.
image from http://meditation-research.org.uk
The MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imager) scans showed “before” and “after” films of these meditators who used “mindfulness exercises” for less than half-an-hour daily. Just utilizing this small amount of beginning meditative techniques achieved: “a major increase in gray matter density in the hippocampus, the part of the brain associated with self-awareness, compassion, and introspection.”
If such results can be seen in merely 8 weeks, with beginners, doing the minimum amount of basic mindfulness, imagine what experienced meditators who use more advanced techniques and who meditate for an hour or more per day can accomplish in effecting changes to our brains and therefore, our self-awareness, compassion and introspection?
A related and recent study conducted by Dr. Abigail Marsh of Georgetown University, http://college.georgetown.edu/collegenews/why-do-strangers-help.html , used fMRI scans (functional MRI), which involved asking research participants questions while the scan is operating. She then looked at the differences in the amygdalas in the brains of diagnosed psychopaths (those who have little or no reaction to others’ pain and no moral inhibition against causing others pain) compared to social/community altruists (in this case, those who had volunteered to donate a kidney).
image from http://www.vox.com
Marsh’s fMRI scans showed that there were marked differences in the size and functionality of each group’s amygdalas, the part of the brain associated with processing emotion, inhibiting aggression and encouraging “helpfulness.” Altruists have larger, better formed and functioning amygdalas.
That altruists would have more compassion, less aggression and more helpfulness can’t be surprising. That their/our brains are physically different is now proven but still kind of awe-inspiring, to me.
image from http://journal.frontiersin.org
The logical next steps from a social change standpoint are to find out if engaging in regular meditation of any type could result in psychopaths’ being deterred/cured, AND if we can foster/enhance the development of altruists as well. What part could mindfulness play?
Stay tuned.
Meanwhile, if you already know how to meditate in any way, DO IT! Even 5 minutes per day or more short sessions sprinkled throughout a day matter a lot to our well-being, especially to the gray matter of our brains.
If you do not yet know how to meditate, there are hundreds of ways to learn mindfulness and other forms of meditation: online courses, in-person classes (some are offered for credit at secondary schools, community colleges and universities; some are free), workshops, audiobooks, CDs, online forums or chat rooms abound with opportunities.
If you suffer from a medical or psychological condition that could be improved or managed better by the application of meditation techniques, such as mindfulness, many medical facilities now offer classes such as the one mentioned in this study AND many types of insurance now pay for these classes! Ask your doctor or counselor.
image from http://www.mindfulnesscds.com
Also, many religious groups already have been providing and now offer more types of group learning and individual counseling that include meditation instruction even when the religion is “traditional.” So, if you’re a practicing Christian, Jew, Catholic, Muslim or other mainstream religious adherent, ask your religious community where you can learn to meditate.
BREATHE
image from http://iup.collegiatelink.net
Link to full article about Harvard research quoted in this post: http://www.feelguide.com/2014/11/19/harvard-unveils-mri-study-proving-meditation-literally-rebuilds-the-brains-gray-matter-in-8-weeks/
Link to original article first seen by me on Wildmind‘s site: http://www.wildmind.org/blogs/news/harvard-unveils-mri-study-proving-meditation-literally-rebuilds-the-brains-gray-matter-in-8-weeks
Filed under: Blogging and others' content, Meditation, Science Tagged: Brain, Gray Matter, Harvard, meditation
