Mike Mason
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Note. this post comes from a place of introspection that I sometimes find difficult to find the proper wording for. It’s abstract in nature but still paints a picture that is worth not only discovering, but remembering too. This is why I’ve put it in writing. A lot of my recent posts have been about the automatic; decision making that is sometimes out of our control. Instinctual quirks that create [...]
Mike Mason
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Alternative Title: Chase nuance, not novelty. A lot of what influences most of the content in these posts has to do with increasing rate of change. We live in a world vastly different than what came before it, and the gap between decades is getting wider. This stretching of the modern condition means the world you live in now will be drastically different than the one your grandchildren will grow [...]
Mike Mason
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Alternative title: Being happy is mostly dependent on your frame of reference and an invisible force called anchoring. You walk into a 7-Eleven on a scorching day on the hunt for a tasty beverage that will cool you down and quench your unbearable thirst. You see the slushy machine with the Big Gulp sign, and you think to yourself, I haven’t had one of those in a WHILE, I’m going for it. You don’t [...]
Mike Mason
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Alternate title: Does the (wo)man make the decision, or does the decision make the (wo)man? Decisions. We make decisions every day; every action is the result of a decision, whether we make it consciously or not. My decisions make me who I am, so it’s mind altering to ponder this topic in detail when you discover that many of the decisions you make aren’t made by “you.” We [...]
Mike Mason
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So much of what we experience in life is profoundly personal. Not because it should be hidden from others, but because even if we wanted to share these experiences, we often don’t have the right words. We can’t muster the right combination from our vocabulary to have them completely resonate with others. Communication through language, both verbal and written, has a natural limit to how far it [...]
Mike Mason
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This one is short but worth sharing. I had stumbled upon the concept of the Monomyth some time ago when George Lucas mentioned in interviews that he was inspired by the framework in his writing of the Star Wars script. In it’s simplest form the Monomyth can be described as the perfect template for the story of a hero. A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural [...]
Mike Mason
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Four years ago my grandfather passed away painlessly as he slept in his summer home on PEI. The summer before I had interviewed him and asked him what advice he would give to future generations. Here’s what he said: Stay the course. If we had an example to lay down then it would be engrained in our kids, and it turned out to be the best thing since we now enjoy grandkids. Of all the things he could [...]
Mike Mason
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Things are in a constant state of flux. Technology is eating the industries that touch our daily lives. The rate of change is so quick, and so random, the best indication we have for seeing where things are headed is private market investments in small technology companies, and the acquisitions of those small companies by larger corporations. These investments surface from underlying trends in a [...]
Mike Mason
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Alternative title: understanding how someone thinks is more important than learning what they’ve done. As far as I can tell, I learn best from other people. For a long time, I thought this learning process may be some kind of skill for mimicking others. I’ve never had any issues fitting in with different groups and can have great conversations with most people regardless of what they value. [...]
Mike Mason
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Alternative title: See mom, video games weren’t a complete waste of time. I’ve played video games my entire life. I can remember Christmas break 99′ our family crowded around the Nintendo 64 to watch the final boss fight in Zelda: Ocarina of Time. It was a really powerful moment my brother and I had been working towards for weeks and it had finally come to it’s conclusion. [...]