My Activities

Those who have been following the blog for some time may wonder why I have been posting less frequently than usual. That’s because I have had a great deal of non-cyberspace projects that I have been dealing with. To wit:

I have been setting up a business with the intention of delivering biofeedback, counselling and training seminars. There has obviously been a lot to do on that front.

In order to deliver training I have had to write the training materials and curriculum practically from scratch. I have course manuals and presentations under preparation in study skills and other personal development related subjects. These will also be available in book format as and when I complete them. I have also continued writing articles, some of which have been published in high IQ society magazines.

In the meantime, I continue to be a learning addict, and I continue to read books and study online all the time. I frequently have three or four MOOCs (mass online open courses) on the go.

I run a SIG (special interest group) within British Mensa called Phoenix, whose mission statement is: “Being accepted by Mensa reveals why we are called deviants and misfits and were squashed as children for being bright.  We encourage each other to ignore ageism and help each other to find that we are not alone in our experiences of repression and to gain confidence in our abilities.” I hope that in doing this I can offer support and encouragement to other people whose opportunities did not match their potential.

I have become involved with a group set up to raise awareness of the strengths and needs of people with Asperger’s Syndrome and the very high functioning end of the autism spectrum. In today’s workplace, presentation is increasingly valued over substance, “soft skills” over intelligence and aptitude, and “fitting the culture” over measurable skills and the ability to get results. I am seeing highly capable individuals who would once have merely been considered a little eccentric now seeking diagnosis purely to get some measure of legal protection from workplace discrimination. In a world that desperately needs people of substance who can walk the walk more than ever, I feel particularly strongly about these issues.

As I have always done, I continue to investigate techniques and technologies for learning and mind development that actually work. As some of you know, I have on occasion investigated the techniques of some sometimes controversial groups or individuals who tend to hold their workable techniques very close to their chest, unless the fee is right. My mission is to make this information available to the public, without contractual or other restrictions, without having to join some movement or do the bidding of some guru, and without having to pay thousands of pounds or dollars for information that shouldn’t cost more than the price of a spiral-bound course manual or professional weekend seminar. I still have a lot to put together and write up, but it will be done.

My music has been somewhat neglected of late, but I still play and compose, and I’m in the early experimental stages of developing a music teaching method of my own.

On top of all that, I look after my partially disabled partner, while I myself have a condition called myalgic encephalomyelitis, otherwise known as chronic fatigue syndrome. My personal need to push through and get the show on the road keeps me going.

For anyone who reads here who still thinks that all of that is not enough, guess what – I think you’re absolutely right.

To effect the sort of changes that are going to leave a proper mark on the world, I need the type of support that would enable me to carry out my applied neuroscience research, preferably within the context of a private college or similar institution. That isn’t going to happen without significant injections of finance to cover equipment, running costs, premises, staffing, living expenses and all the other expenses associated with ongoing major research projects.

I have never gone down the road of soliciting on the blog – you will notice there is no “donate” button.

However, I feel that there are many people out there who still believe that if a person has the ability, then opportunities follow automatically. They don’t. (In fact, the kick-back from others can be very much harder than it would be on the merely mediocre.)

There are many people who still believe that if a person is skilled in a certain area, then they should be able to find their own ways of selling it to the world. It rarely works that way. Selling, marketing and PR are a whole other skill-set, and personally I find them a distraction that I would rather not have to deal with. For every high ability person who happened to be born close enough to the rich and famous to find their way into the history books, how many are there whose accomplishments remain unsung, or were prevented from happening at all from lack of support?

If anyone still thinks I’m not “doing anything about it”, it’s time to do something yourself and get behind the SevenSigma project so that it can actually happen.

Update: I am now formally studying Cognitive Neuroscience as well as learning Neurofeedback to add to my practice. My research into the other subject areas continues.