loving art, science and creative kids
3/27/2015 1:52:14 PM
Will she be in control?
Great Expectations
My 10 year-old-daughter returned from two weeks in overnight camp with great anticipation. She later told me that during the car ride home she imagined running into the house and jumping onto the pillows of her favorite living room chair. Unbeknownst to her, while she was away, my husband and I had rearranged the furniture. When my daughter entered the room ready to make her leap, instead of the chair being in its familiar location, it had been moved across the room. She became disoriented and quite upset. “ What have you done to the room? Where is my chair? ” she shouted, blaming us for providing a chaotic and unanticipated homecoming. It was as though we had taken away her sense of belonging and safety from the place she called home.
Her reaction reminded me of a similar situation I experience in my childhood. In that instance I was entering my bedroom and discovered that the bureau was moved away from the wall. I did not notice my grandfather hidden behind the furniture trying to fix an electrical outlet. Instead of thanking Grandpa for helping with the repair, I too exploded in anger. Afterwards I was embarrassed by my behavior, and I still cannot think of the incident today without feeling remorseful.
Those two incidences of angry emotional reaction were singular, but as I aged there was one emotion, that of fear, that stayed with me to cause a great deal of trouble. Public speaking was part of my job as museum director yet for years I would get dizzy as soon as I started talking to a crowd. This dysfunctional reaction had started in fifth grade when I was asked to give a book report before the class. Three minutes into the talk I felt dizzy and my eyes would not focus. I had to sit down and put my head between my legs to avoid fainting.
Years later I considered these past experiences and wondered what triggered such fierce reactions, and asked myself how they could be better controlled. Curiosity led me to study the physiological makeup of the body in closer detail, especially the role of adrenaline.
I learned that the way a person reacts to a situation is commonly labeled as an emotional response (happy, sad, anger, fear etc.), and to create that emotion the body’s involuntary nervous system is at work. Several hundred years ago it was believed that body and brain were separate, but today the idea is accepted that they are connected. How our appendages are moved by thought is something most of us can comprehend, or at least accept, for we have control when using the voluntary part of our nervous system. Think about raising your arm and you can probably do it with ease. The involuntary or less conscious part of our sensorium is more complex, but it is where we need go in order to understand how emotional responses are triggered.
This part of our neurology causes so much havoc that I wanted to figure out why. The autonomic, involuntary or visceral nervous system is a part of the body that acts as a control system below the level of consciousness. Bundles of nerves deal with functions like heart rate, perspiration, glands, digestion and salivation, diameter of the pupils, urination, and sexual arousal. Often their effects are life saving, as when adrenaline jumps in dangerous situations, helping to focus attention and enable a fast reaction. At other times, especially under conditions of prolonged stress, the effect can lead to ulcers or heart disease.
I wondered if these involuntary emotional systems could be controlled? Pharmaceutical companies think so, and have developed a multi-billion dollar industry with pills like Prozac. Many monks and yogis are convinced that it is a learned response that can be possessed after years of practicing meditation. Drug dealers, taking advantage of society’s desire for short cuts, sell mind altering drugs like marijuana and cocaine in order to affect autonomic nerves.
When I was president of The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry we developed an exhibit that showed how the mind can learn to control the involuntary system. A visitor would go into a quiet booth and put two fingers on adjacent probes. The goal was to make one finger warmer than the other through mind control. When the finger temperatures differed by a degree, an electric train placed outside of the booth would be put in motion. A great many visitors were able to accomplish this feat though I never could.
Neurologists teach people how to do “hot hands” to treat migraine headaches. I had a doctor friend who used the process often when working in tense emergency medical situations. He learned a modern technique that used bio-feedback equipment to help speed up the meditative process. The goal of his therapist was to teach migraine sufferers how to make their blood flow from head to hands, opening the restricted vessels in their neck that often cause the pain.
My personal technique for controlling my autonomic reactions is meditation. I practice daily and after many years am able to slow my heart rate and keep adrenaline from spiking uncontrollably, enabling me to make a speech when called on to do so. I have friends who practice yoga or Pilates with similar intent, focusing their mind to control stress and other negative emotions.
As I age, I find it more important than ever to incorporate mind control activities into daily practice. It helps me gain a perspective when dealing with unexpected situations involving family, finances, and illnesses to name a few. My desire to stay completely calm in the face of unexpected situations will probably never be fully realized, but I am better than before. I also have perspective, and accept the fact that many things will go wrong, just as many times there will be pleasant surprises with better than expected outcomes. Watching my daughter embark on new new adventures, I see her taking risks based on dreams where she imagines a happy ending. I hope she has learned how to prepare both body and mind to react to unexpected events in order to emotional balance ups and downs that might get in the way. The knowledge that she has internal resources at her disposal may be all that is needed to provide enough courage for her to pursue ideas with great expectations.
Art work is always for sale. Go to www.eichingerfineart.com for more information.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this blog site.
Do you want to know more about the autonomic nervous system?
https://www.rarediseasesnetwork.org/ARDCRC/patients/learnmore/FAQ.htm - also discusses diseases and cures.
https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/auto.html - great description, written for kids
http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/ART00466/Biofeedback-Dr-Weil-Wellness-Therapies.html - bio feedback and migraines “With practice, biofeedback can allow you to influence the part of the nervous system that regulates the dilation of blood vessels that contribute to migraine symptoms. Once you master this technique, it can be a tool you can use to abort a headache at the start of an attack.”
3/20/2015 11:26:25 PM
Ancient Rock Formations a 3-D picture by Marilynne
On Earth from Outer Space
When I accepted my job in Portland, moving expenses were part of the package. As I was discussing the process with a board member I remember him jokingly saying, “You are not bringing rocks, are you?” My husband and I gave each other one of those knowing looks that means, “Of course we are bringing our collection.” Wherever we traveled we picked up rocks for our garden that were as large as we could carry in our car. They had to be beautiful, unusual and a reminder of the terrain we were exploring. We have some magnificent specimens both in and out of the house that I never tire of examining. I love my connection to millions of years of our changing planet.
Learning how to “see” is an art form. It is easy to walk in the woods and not realize that the ground is alive with life and history. Insects turn organic rot into soil, rocks underfoot may have split from large boulders deposited during the ice age and sea fossils found 400 miles from the ocean edge tell a history of ever changing climate and land formation.
Examining the earth, both past and present, is like being a forensic scientist on a quest to solve a crime. The study of volcanoes, earthquakes and hurricanes leads contractors to design communities that will not expose people to such disastrous occasions. Using knowledge of rock formations and fossil deposits helps geologists locate and develop energy and mineral resources.
There are four earth sciences, Geology which is the science of the earth, meteorology, of the atmosphere, Oceanography, of the oceans, and Astronomy, of the universe. In the science museum I was exposed to them all.
One interesting experience I had during my presidency at OMSI had to do with the Willamette Meteorite, the largest found in North America. It was discovered in an open field in Oregon before being given to the American Museum of Natural History in New York in 1906. This 10 ft by 6.5 ft hunk of nickel and iron weighs about 32,000 pounds. The Meteorite was know and venerated by Native Americans but when settler Ellis Hughes found it on land owned by the Oregon Iron and Steel Company he realized its value and tried to claim ownership, moving it secretly over a period of 90 days to his own land. What he was doing was discovered, initiating a lawsuit that Hughes lost. The Iron and Steel Company was given the right to sell it to a Mrs. William Dodge for $26,000. She put it on display at the Lewis and Clark centennial before sending to the natural history museum in New York. Scientists now believe that the meteorite originally landed in Canada or Montana and was brought on the flow to the Willamette Valley at the end of the last Ice Age, 13,000 years ago. It has been seen by well over 40 million people and is one of the most famous meteorites known.
Now back to my tale . . . one day in the early 1990’s I received a visit from a school teacher asking me if her class could get the meteorite back to Oregon, would the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry be willing to house it. Thinking that was going to be pretty near impossible I responded, “Of course.” The teacher and her class were on a quest — big time! She was using this challenge as a learning experience for her elementary students. She had her class write letters to the media, to wealthy donors, and to congress. The children also got the public to write letters which flooded the American Museum of Natural History Museum located in New York City with requests to send the meteorite back to Oregon. The class received an invitation to make a presentation before congress and several students did so. Shortly afterwards, I received an angry phone call from the president of the natural history museum. He told me that what I was encouraging was quite unethical.
In the end, the children did not get the meteorite back, but they had an impressive learning experience. I thought that the teacher was brilliant. In defense of the natural history museum, New York does seem to be an appropriate location for the rock. That institution is known for its meteorite collection which attracts public and scientists from around the world.
A few years later another group tried the get the meteorite returned to Oregon. For generations, the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde had been using the meteorite, which they call Tommanowos, in ceremonies and in 1999 they demanded that it be returned to their native land. This time the American Museum of Natural History filed a lawsuit against the tribe in 2000. Eventually an agreement with the Museum was reached which gave the meteorite a resting home in the museum with tribal members able to conduct a private ceremony around the meteorite once a year. If the Museum ever has a reason to cease to display it then the meteorite will be given back to the tribe.
In 1997 a 28 pound crown section of the Willamette Meteorite was traded for a Martian meteorite from the private Macovech Collection. The crown piece was scheduled for auction in 2007 which cause another outrage by the Grand Ronde Tribes. An editorial in the Oregonian Newspaper put an end to that sale though a 4.5 ounce piece was eventually sold to the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum in Oregon.
Once more in 2007 a group of students convinced Representative John Linn to introduce a resolution demanding the meteorite’s return to Oregon. The tribes had not been consulted and they did not support the resolution, saying they were content with the present arrangements so the proposal went nowhere.
My guess is that the museum has not seen the end of requests to return the meteorite to Oregon. It is interesting to see how important a piece of space rock is to the public and how possessive ownership can be. The Willamette Meteorite is amazing to view and I do hope you will make the effort if you are ever in New York. Image a meteorite that size hurling through space and earth’s atmosphere to land in your back yard.
Around the world museums display a great many artifacts that were taken or purchased during private archeological digs. Do you think that these valuables should be returned to their place of origin or do you believe that the artifacts should be shared internationally to be viewed by a maximum number of people? This subject raises complex ethical questions and is worthy of its own discussion. Yes, earth science can certainly be fascinating.
Do let me know your thoughts on the matter by responding below.
Art work is always for sale. For more information go to eichingerfineart.com/works.
3/13/2015 2:37:16 PM
White Rhino by Marilynne Eichinger
Today's Rhinoceros are relatively new animals in the evolutionary chain of events but similar to those that lived during the Miocene era 14.2 million years ago. Though old, they are more related to human being than dinosaurs. Dinosaur's lived over 167,000 million years ago. There is a great deal of research being conducted about them today. Mounting evidence shows that dinosaurs are ancestors of today's birds rather than mammals.
Wouldn’t it have been exciting to be the teenager who found a Duck-billed Hadrosaur mummy in North Dakota in 2007? Imagine discovering a dinosaur with skin so that scientists don’t have to guess about the outer covering of this great extinct mammal.
Dinosaur explorations often change our view of history. I always imagined myself on a dig-team, becoming famous for finding a missing link. When my children were young I thought it would be fun to take them on a dig to the Dakotas or Texas as part of our family’s vacation. I never followed through though, so now I have to be satisfied by visiting museums and reading about interesting discoveries.
When my granddaughters were still in elementary school I once took them on an excursion to the Burke Museum in Seattle. The girls were excited by the prospect, grabbing notebooks and pencils along with a small reference book for the trip. Once in the museum they traveled from display to display, writing down information and drawing a pictures just as their research father might have done. This visit made me realize how fearless, curious and participatory young children are when given a chance to explore. They often lead the way to learning.
Pre-history is interesting for young and old alike. A while ago I learned of a fossil mammal found in Europe that is connected to South Dakota suggesting that there was a trans-Atlantic route about 66 million or so years ago. The keen eyes of paleontologist Frans Smet of St. Mary’s College in California discovered a tiny marsupial mammal tooth embedded in rock in Maastricht, Netherlands. When it was scanned in an electron microscope, the connection was made to North America and the historical timeline as the world knew it changed by 50+ million years.
Paleontologists now believe that T-Rex was a lean, mean, warm-blooded hunter who only attacked large prey and was not a scavenger as previously thought. He was agile and used a lot of energy, meaning that he needed a lot of food. Other research shows that most dinosaurs were vegetarian rather than meat-eaters and my oh my… they were sexy. It is thought that flying dinosaurs actually had more elaborate mating displays than modern-day peacocks. The fin-backed Pterosaurs and Pelycosaurs developed elaborate headrests and sails in order to attract a mate.
Did dinosaurs die 65 million years ago because of an asteroid impact? New research suggests that a bad climate caused by a series of volcanic eruptions was slowly killing off the mammals. "The [asteroid] impact was the coup de grace," Paul Renne, a geologist at the University of California, Berkeley, said in a statement for National Geographic. USC earth scientist David Bottjer confirms that the earth “just got sick” during the Triassic-Jurassic extinction and food became scarce. By looking at rare development of aragonite crystals on the ocean floor, he postulates that the slow dying period had something to do with the ocean’s chemistry. The coral reefs of that period are related to those in our oceans today and by understanding why they died we might learn more about the death that is now occurring in reef populations around the world. Is our earth getting “sick”? Will mankind die out as did the dinosaurs?
There are several dinosaur extinction theories but the most prevalent speaks of five major mass extinctions, the largest occurring 250 million years ago in the Permian-Triassic era. Almost 95% of all species were eradicated at that time. Some scientists say a comet or asteroid collided with earth, others postulate that a flood volcano causing oxygen loss in the seas was the reason. Some investigators have had theories about thinning atmospheric oxygen levels and now even this theory is questioned. Such are the twists of science where each discovery causes a new hypothesis to be made.
Can understanding geology and paleontology help us with current issues of global warming? Scientists look at these ancient creatures and how they lived, at changes in land mass and atmospheric and oceanic conditions for clues that can help in predicting the fate of the earth over the next millennium.
According to Peter Dodson at the University of Pennsylvania, there are great times ahead for dinosaur hunters. He claims that paleontology will be a good career because new discoveries are increasing by 10-20% a year. So…if those visits to museums, digging for dino-bones in toys, and reading books spark an interest in your child or grandchild, you may want to fan the flame. With summer quickly approaching, participating in a excavation might be the perfect vacation.
Art work is always for sale. Go to eichingerfineart.com for more information.
Want to know more? Go to:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/fossils_ruins/dinosaurs/ - for the latest research about dinosaurs.
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/tertiary/miocene.php -Miocene era.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/13/130212--chicxulub-asteroid-dinosaurs-volcano-mass-extinction-environment-science/ - about dinosaur extinction.
https://www.museumofwesternco.com/dino-digs/ - for family expeditions in Colorado.
http://www.paleoadventures.com/dinosaur-dig-site-tours.html - for family expeditions in South Dakota.
http://www.wyodino.org/dig-site-tours/ - for family expeditions in Wyoming.
3/7/2015 1:48:06 PM
First Fight
by Marilynne Eichinger
Smiling Anger
When I was younger, I went to a counselor who asked me, “Why do you always smile when you are angry or sad?” I did not realize that I had such a disconnect between my emotions and expression of them. After observing myself over time, I started to see that I even giggled occasionally when I had to express a negative opinion. My smile was a way of taking back the argument that conveyed my feelings because I was afraid of the reaction I would get. The result was that whoever I was talking to did not believe the intensity of my words, thinking I was joking, and therefore discounted my effort at honest communication. This disconnect between verbal and non-verbal cues made it difficult for even the most empathetic individual to interpret my intent.
It is only since the mid-1960s that non-verbal communication has come under academic scrutiny. The relation between the two emotional processes, the display and the perception of affect via verbal and non-verbal cues, are skills related to emotional intelligence according to an article written for the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. This type of acumen includes the ability to identify, use, understand, and manage emotions.
The capacity to display and perceive emotions is learned in childhood by those who are fortunate enough to have parents who are accurate perceivers and clear expressers of feelings. As part of their parenting responsibilities they teach their children the expressive skills. Unfortunately a great many parents act in an opposite manner and train their offspring to inhibit emotional delivery. Though not demonstrative, their children may still be able to understand others and relate to subtle displays of emotion. For example, if a child observes abusive parents, he or she may be acutely attune to what is going on because his or her life depends on it. stoic Since these children learn to be stoic and hide their feelings, they are not quite as successful at communicating their message to others.
Children raised in a highly expressive environment often do not need to hone their perception skills to the same level as others. The psychology article gives as a metaphor the following example; “If everyone is shouting then one does not need to hear very well to get the message, but if everyone is whispering then one needs to develop excellent hearing.”
Ideas and theories about perception and communication are quite complex and confusing. The intensity, implications and applications of the impassioned situation all play a part. My sister has severe emotional problems. She now faces a life threatening disease but is not upset or willing to acknowledge the seriousness of her situation. She does become angry at the young doctors whom she thinks are just out to get money or experience in the operating room. In some ways I envy her because her lack of fear is calming, her mood is positive. However, talking with her to discuss a medical plan of action is extremely difficult, and she becomes angry and even lies if anyone takes away her ability to make decisions. Independence is something that she is not willing to give up easily. She is reluctant to have anyone not see her in a weakened state.
There is a dilemma in how to interact with a person who is not in tune with their situation or able and willing to speak honestly of their concerns. Those who grow up being taught to live in a dispassionate manner have a handicap to overcome when older. Every person, at one time or other, will have a need to lean on another’s shoulder. Illness and aging are part of life’s processes that can be accommodated when systems are in place to deal with them. Building relationships based on giving and accepting a helping hand take a long time to develop. Those not internally aware and able to express their own emotions find this type of friendship difficult to obtain. Being able to voice concerns is making a statement that says, “ I am comfortable with myself at this moment in time, and not afraid to share my true feelings.” Overall happiness depends as much on emotional intelligence as it does on intellect.
Please share your thoughts below.
Art work is always for sale at eichingerfineart.com.
Do you want to know more?
http://apps.olin.wustl.edu/faculty/elfenbeinh/ElfenbeinEisenkraft2010.pdf- Displaying and perceiving Nonverbal Cues.
http://www.helpguide.org/articles/emotional-health/emotional-intelligence-eq.htm - on Emotional Intelligence.
