Review: A Whole New Mind
When my parents were kids, going to college was more of a tale than an expectation. They probably heard of one or two random people going to a university; probably to study pre-med or law. Since I was a kid, going to college was a pretty standard thought drilled into the minds of my generation. I think that at least 60% of my graduating class is currently in college. What the patterning factor of my fellow classmates is that they are all going for standard left-brain degrees. Biology. Business. Accounting. This is of course with the exception of me and four or five other of my fellow high-school peers; we are in school for BFA’s. We are the lucky ones, or at least Daniel Pink feels that way, the author of A Whole New Mind. To Daniel Pink, right-brainer's are the future of our society. Pink’s entire book is based on how every job in this world can be done better with right-brain thinkers involved. So us artist’s getting our BFA’s will be the rich ones someday; never unemployed.
My R-Directed Mind
Since I have read Pink’s book I have found a great appreciation for right-brainer's. Since R-Directed career paths are so important for the future, it is important for teachers today to get children thinking the new-age way from the start. It is a dire need for teachers to get children’s brains stimulated with art-related and empathic processes.
Pink’s Book consists of a couple opening chapters, leading up to divided explanations of his theory of the “Six Senses.” Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play and Meaning are Pink’s new age R-Directed senses. As for me, a few of them are my strengths are one I have as a weakness. Empathy is certainly first and foremost my greatest sense. As Pink says himself, it is “politically correct” to say that men and women are equally empathetic. Through studies and testing it has become apparent that women are indeed more empathetic then men. It is just our nature. Being a woman myself, I have strong empathetic passions. This is obvious through my intense caring emotions for all people, my need to help mankind and my understanding nature. I can’t look at anyone crying and not tear up myself; it hurts me to see people in vain. I have always had a huge heart, and although truly embarrassing I would like to quote myself. I was somewhere around the age of 6 when I said, “I have so much love that it doesn’t all fit in my heart.” Wow. So cute it’s kind of pathetic. But still, caring for people has always been a great strength of mine. This is something that will come in handy in my R-Directed future with my R-Directed career. (Pages 172-174)
The Beginning to My Empathetic Career
Out of Pink’s senses I definitely feel that design is my weakness. I am in the fine arts field, and do not think that I could ever survive over in Tower as a design major. My furniture in my room is organized so badly. My bed is up against the same wall as my roommate bedroom, so every time I roll over and hit the wall it wakes her up. The set-up of my room as almost anti-feng-shui, you could say. Design has just never been something that I am good at. I am a C.A., or better know as an R.A., and I have to make flyers every month for my programs. Tonight I did my flyer for my “Open Doors, Part Deux” program. Although I angrily and anxiously worked away for 2 hours on the flyer, it is so simple and poorly laid out. I once again have failed as a designer. Through the exercises that Pink suggests in the book about strengthening your design sense, hopefully I will grow in this area.
A Portion of My Poorly Designed Flyer
There was not one instance in Pink’s book that I felt offended or disagreeable. Since I heard Pink lecture at MassArt my freshman year of college I have always connected to his thoughts, theories, and examples. I feel so strongly about his work, that most of it connects to me in my life. This starts right in the beginning of his book, or I could also say, right at the beginning of his lecture. In high school there were times when my family was pretty well off, but once there was a time that the economy was so bad, we got food donated to us. This is something that I have never been ashamed of, because I understand my parents’ circumstances. I know that my parents are both smart and capable of work, but the job market has been tough. My mother works in IT Management and does contractual jobs at companies such as Pfizer. Pink exposes the truths about IT in America. Since it is something that does not require R-Directed thinking, it is not a unique career, thus anyone can do it. More and more IT jobs are outsourced every year, leaving less and less job openings for people, such as my Mother. She was unemployed for a large amount of my adolescence possibly because of outsourcing. She is an extremely intelligent and highly regarded woman, so the outsourcing truths that Pink writes about (Pages 36-40) in his book are one of the only explanations to my families financial struggle.
My father is disabled and has never been able to find work. He has a disease called Ankylosing Spondylitis. Because of this disease his spine is “fused” together and he cannot move very well. He is also in a lot of pain everyday. The worst part to my father’s disease is that his appearance is shocking to many people. Since he can’t move his spine, he can’t turn his head. 99% of the jobs my Dad applies for, he does not get hired, and it is because of his disability. Even though he is in so much pain, he would do any work he could possibly find just to support his family. Maybe if people were more empathetic they would see that he wanted to work and if they just gave him a chance he would have done them well.
I could write about my relation to every single thought Pink writes about in his book, but the most important topic is his theories on joy. Since my parents divorced when I was 17, my Mom has been fueled by her want and need for joy in her life. She has been trying to teach my brother and I for the past 3 years that finding happiness is more important than anything in life. Money and objects are never going to be important, what is important are the “real” aspects to life. Being happy, loving and enjoying life to the fullest is more important than anything. Living a cold, stressful life in the hunt to buy the "American Dream" is not worth it in the end if you never felt joy.
My R-Directed Mind
Since I have read Pink’s book I have found a great appreciation for right-brainer's. Since R-Directed career paths are so important for the future, it is important for teachers today to get children thinking the new-age way from the start. It is a dire need for teachers to get children’s brains stimulated with art-related and empathic processes.
Pink’s Book consists of a couple opening chapters, leading up to divided explanations of his theory of the “Six Senses.” Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play and Meaning are Pink’s new age R-Directed senses. As for me, a few of them are my strengths are one I have as a weakness. Empathy is certainly first and foremost my greatest sense. As Pink says himself, it is “politically correct” to say that men and women are equally empathetic. Through studies and testing it has become apparent that women are indeed more empathetic then men. It is just our nature. Being a woman myself, I have strong empathetic passions. This is obvious through my intense caring emotions for all people, my need to help mankind and my understanding nature. I can’t look at anyone crying and not tear up myself; it hurts me to see people in vain. I have always had a huge heart, and although truly embarrassing I would like to quote myself. I was somewhere around the age of 6 when I said, “I have so much love that it doesn’t all fit in my heart.” Wow. So cute it’s kind of pathetic. But still, caring for people has always been a great strength of mine. This is something that will come in handy in my R-Directed future with my R-Directed career. (Pages 172-174)
The Beginning to My Empathetic Career
Out of Pink’s senses I definitely feel that design is my weakness. I am in the fine arts field, and do not think that I could ever survive over in Tower as a design major. My furniture in my room is organized so badly. My bed is up against the same wall as my roommate bedroom, so every time I roll over and hit the wall it wakes her up. The set-up of my room as almost anti-feng-shui, you could say. Design has just never been something that I am good at. I am a C.A., or better know as an R.A., and I have to make flyers every month for my programs. Tonight I did my flyer for my “Open Doors, Part Deux” program. Although I angrily and anxiously worked away for 2 hours on the flyer, it is so simple and poorly laid out. I once again have failed as a designer. Through the exercises that Pink suggests in the book about strengthening your design sense, hopefully I will grow in this area.
A Portion of My Poorly Designed Flyer
There was not one instance in Pink’s book that I felt offended or disagreeable. Since I heard Pink lecture at MassArt my freshman year of college I have always connected to his thoughts, theories, and examples. I feel so strongly about his work, that most of it connects to me in my life. This starts right in the beginning of his book, or I could also say, right at the beginning of his lecture. In high school there were times when my family was pretty well off, but once there was a time that the economy was so bad, we got food donated to us. This is something that I have never been ashamed of, because I understand my parents’ circumstances. I know that my parents are both smart and capable of work, but the job market has been tough. My mother works in IT Management and does contractual jobs at companies such as Pfizer. Pink exposes the truths about IT in America. Since it is something that does not require R-Directed thinking, it is not a unique career, thus anyone can do it. More and more IT jobs are outsourced every year, leaving less and less job openings for people, such as my Mother. She was unemployed for a large amount of my adolescence possibly because of outsourcing. She is an extremely intelligent and highly regarded woman, so the outsourcing truths that Pink writes about (Pages 36-40) in his book are one of the only explanations to my families financial struggle.
My father is disabled and has never been able to find work. He has a disease called Ankylosing Spondylitis. Because of this disease his spine is “fused” together and he cannot move very well. He is also in a lot of pain everyday. The worst part to my father’s disease is that his appearance is shocking to many people. Since he can’t move his spine, he can’t turn his head. 99% of the jobs my Dad applies for, he does not get hired, and it is because of his disability. Even though he is in so much pain, he would do any work he could possibly find just to support his family. Maybe if people were more empathetic they would see that he wanted to work and if they just gave him a chance he would have done them well.
I could write about my relation to every single thought Pink writes about in his book, but the most important topic is his theories on joy. Since my parents divorced when I was 17, my Mom has been fueled by her want and need for joy in her life. She has been trying to teach my brother and I for the past 3 years that finding happiness is more important than anything in life. Money and objects are never going to be important, what is important are the “real” aspects to life. Being happy, loving and enjoying life to the fullest is more important than anything. Living a cold, stressful life in the hunt to buy the "American Dream" is not worth it in the end if you never felt joy.