How Do Infrastructures Sape Cultures of Consumption Essay

How Do Infrastructures Sape Cultures of Consumption - Essay Example This essay stresses that the government of a country provides Infrastructure Services like Transport, Water & Electricity to promote well being of the citizens and hence will be committed to subsidize the cost to the consumers in order to make them reachable to the most unprivileged in the society. However, it needs to be clearly communicated that Infrastructure Services resulting in consumption of natural resources (like water) that is of utmost environmental importance should not be treated as a product which can be availed as per personal choice without any commitment to the larger community & the environment. The consumers would have to be educated on the bigger picture such that they assume larger accountabilities of preservation of the natural resources thus helping in reducing wastage. This can be done by promoting products & services that help in waste reduction without compromising on the day to day lifestyle goals of the individuals. Moreover the services are allowed to be controlled by non-profit organizations such that the cause of environment protection is higher on agenda than the revenues from services. This paper makes a conclusion that the design of end user utility services in large buildings & households should be done in such a way that manual avenues of saving natural resources (like water) should be provided along with signage or short instructions rather than controlling wastage through automatic means. Human behaviour would override the automatic systems more often thus resulting in more wastage than conservation.

The Quest for Power or Control Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Quest for Power or Control - Essay Example Conforming to the observations by these authors we are now in the formative period where there is great respect for the worker as an important stakeholder and is greatly empowered. This has motivated the worker to greater outputs and closer ties with his organization. The culture of the company has become the cornerstone of judging the governance level of the company. Performance of the company is now tied with the performance of its workers. This human capital is now considered as the prime source of competitiveness. A new wave of bonhomie has pervaded the corporate world and with the onset of globalization and multi-cultural workforce, companies are vying with each other to ensure that this normative pattern is not only maintained but enhanced. The technology was always the driver of change. New Internet-based technologies not only produced the knowledge worker but also introduced the concept of virtual offices and remote workers. Control got diluted and the operational normative pattern has been disrupted. Rationalism too has no role in the current environment as the worker is no longer bound by geography. Today output has become the sole criteria for judging performance. All other system factors like discipline, culture, work rules, and others have become worthless. Both rational and normative theories have to be replaced by a new paradigm that has emerged out of them. A new culture is being evolved with the interactive web which is a common platform being used by all stakeholders and there is free interaction between all of them, including the final consumer. The new order comprises of flexibility, adaptability, and responsiveness; the result is action-oriented produced by high-skilled workers.

Critically analysing the issues and effectiveness of the Code of Essay

Critically analysing the issues and effectiveness of the Code of Sustainable Homes and their contribution to helping UK Government to achieve the reductions in CO2 required - Essay Example necessitates the need to formulate strategies, framework, policies, regulations and any other method to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases in to the atmosphere (Bergman et al, 2007). Presently the world is going through the global warming phase; the cause has been attributed to increasing green house gases from industrial, commercial and various other residential activities. Goodall (2007:3) mentions that fewer people know the details regarding the amount of carbon dioxide are generated in their day to day activities. It is further mentioned that only air travels, each person travelling by air is responsible for 12.5 tonnes of greenhouse gases per year in United Kingdom. It is important to mention that half of the total carbon emissions results from the way in which we live i.e. running our homes and getting from place to place in car or plane. Bergman et al (2007) states that household ownership of electronics, such as televisions, domestic IT and other gadgets has increased ra pidly and expected to continue to rise over the next years making the consumer electronics, the biggest single sector of home electricity consumption. And moreover, the number of households is increasing with the increased growth in population year by year causing an increased environmental burden and introducing social sustainability issues. It is further mentioned that the one person household in the UK has grown from 18% in 1971 to 30% in 2001 and are predicted to constitute 38% of households by 2026. In view of the involvement of residential activities in carbon emissions and other greenhouse gases, the governments from different countries evolved and formulated different strategies to cope with the increasing problem. The present paper looks into the policies adopted by United Kingdom to reduce the carbon emissions the residential sector by providing carbon free homes as stipulated in their Code for Sustainable Homes. According to the report for World Business Summit on Climate

Marketing Activities Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Marketing Activities - Essay Example By moving its Apple Mac operating system from IBM and Freescale Semiconductor Intel chips, Apple has moved away from the up market computer image that it had, and is now positioned to attract any computer buyer (Lukovitz, 2007). Dell Computers has used the power of the Internet to provide awareness of its products and the place from where to acquire its products. To Dell Computers the Internet has been an extremely suitable means to provide the place of sale for its product of personal computers, targeting the market segment for personal and business purchase of computers. It is not that Dell computers has not used offline means to create awareness. It has used means like the television media for advertisements to create awareness, but has found the Internet more powerful and easier to gauge response of its promotional activities. The successful use of the Internet is what has powered Dell Computers to its leading position in the personal computer market (Enos, 2001). In a move to make use of the powerful players on the Internet, Dell Computers has strategically tied up with leader in Web search and advertising Google to ward off the threat from Hewlett-Packard. It will provide its Google desktop with Googl e Toolbar software on its personal computers, while Google will help create awareness and sales of the new PowerEdge servers from Dell. These efforts stem from competitor activities to cut into Dell’s market share through reduction in price. (Dells New Marketing Strategy - Google, Servers & Storage Systems). Dell Computers also uses innovative offline marketing promotion strategies. An example of this is in its attempts to reach out to the student market for personal computers and laptops. In 2007, it tested the promotion of its products through student’s mobile devices, using a free offer for a plasma TV and free music download, for

Port strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Port strategy - Essay Example In the year 2005, UNESCAP and TTD (The Transport and Tourism Division) comprised of almost 600 ports, globally. In the year 2002, GTO operated approximately 55% of total global port terminals (Rossignol, 2007). Source: (Rossignol, 2007). Since 2002, the larger port operator companies comprise of the larger market share and are increasing at reasonable rate. In the year 2005, the GTO’s share in port had increased to 58%. The capacity of goods in ports had risen by 11.3% which was calculated as 399 million TEU from 2004–2005. The high market share of GTO indicates the importance of port services globally. In 2006, it was found that GTO terminals possessed 81% of the largest cranes with more than 22 rows (Rossignol, 2007). Source: (Rossignol, 2007). The above table shows the major port operator companies throughout the world in the year 2005. Strategies of Major Port Operators The port operators had experienced tough dynamic business environment. This increased the need of merger and acquisition of small terminal and establishment of new terminal system. As a consequence, many port operators had implemented horizontal and vertical assimilation strategies. The motive for merger and acquisition strategies is to expand the business, market share, and economies–of–scale and attain the leading position. In the year 2009, HPH (Hutchison Port Holdings) was the market leader for port shipment and PSA (Port of Singapore Authority) was in the second position with regard to total hectare. This highlights the aggressive growth related strategy for obtaining terminal. The acquisition takes place in the lower market that possesses strong growth... In past, many port operators had restructured their port and begun to relocate operations and proprietorship to the private sector. The critical part in restructuring is that the government must make sure that the ports are managed effectively. It has been seen that private corporations have stronger encouragement to control resources competently than public organisations. The reason is that private companies are greatly exposed in the competition and there is less vulnerability of political intrusion. The restructuring had helped PSA and HHLA to gain insight about how to achieve more competitive and efficient ports. It directly benefits the employees and the neighbouring countries. Port restructuring provides convincing means to increase both political and monetary autonomies. There are three motives behind restructuring of ABP ports. The first motive is the limited competition and higher cost of port services. The second motive is to remain competitive with other European ports tha t had swiftly adjusted according to market condition and adopted advanced technology such as containerisation. The final motive is that under the control of government the port’s access was restricted i.e. it was unable to diversify into other profitable businesses. The restructuring helped to remove these limitations of ABP.

Looking at the opening scene of Romeo and Juliet Essay Example for Free

Looking at the opening scene of Romeo and Juliet Essay Romeo and Juliet, a play originally written by William Shakespeare in 1595 1600 is a tale of love and tragedy involving two young people who fall in love, but find it ends in disaster due to their age old family feud. This play had been directed as a film in 1968 starring Olivia Hussey, but never before has it been modernised as a film. By choosing to do this the problem that faced Baz Luhrman when he was directing the film version of Romeo and Juliet was that he could not predict whether there would be an audience for Shakespearean stories in a modern culture. Particuarly as the age group he was targeting were those who would probably still be at school, where Shakespeare had been stereotyped as boring. This problem was tackled by updating the swords involved by replacing them with guns, adding a famous cast known to the particular chosen age group and backing the film up with modern music. The opening scene of Baz Luhrmans Romeo and Juliet begins with a screen of black, and a very small television screen in the centre. As the shot continues the camera zooms in on the television screen that is showing a coloured female newsreader, with a plain background and a split ring in the top right hand corner. This entrance to the first scene of the film forces the audience to concentrate on the film by introducing it slowly, making you feel anything missed will detract from the films impact. The newsreader is dressed in red, the classic colour of love, danger, passion and blood, and the ring split in two with the words Star-crossed lover subtly introduce the main themes of the films while the audience is focusing on what the newsreader is reporting. The screen around the television is black, focusing all attention on the newsreader, and her voice is quiet and sounds almost muted while she talks of the feud of Verona, re-enforcing the directors obvious wish to capture the attention of the viewers. With this red on black theme it seems to represent the blood and tragedy of the story of Romeo and Juliet on the rest of the town, and almost shows the final tragic word on the darkness of the two feuding families. From this opening, though the newsreader does not directly speak of the main characters, Romeo and Juliet, you feel as if the feud is already familiar before entering in to the actual film. The change from the first scene to the second is a very quick jump cut. The camera zooms very close in on the newsreader tilting, and jumps through to a street in Verona, travelling down it and coming to a halt at a large statue of Jesus, but only allowing you a very quick glance before switching to a black screen with the words In Fair Verona in large white capitals at eye level. It then jump cuts back to a the same picture of Jesus, but this time it is a closer shot, and holds for a bit longer, before very quickly zooming back to show the statue in between two sky scrapers, one named Capulet in red, and one named Montague in blue. The buildings are the highest in the street, and with the statue in between them seem very important and noble, informing the audience of the familys wealth and power, and also of their rivalry. The statue standing dead centre between the two towers shows that while religion is important in this story, and does to a certain extent act as a barrier between the two families, it is much smaller then the buildings, symbolising that their feud may prove stronger then their religion. The next shot is a jump cut on to the camera moving on to the streets of Verona, and a tracking shot of a police car with the words Verona Beach written down the side. This shot of the police car informs the viewers that police are involved, and the place the play is set in is called Verona Beach. Once focused on the car the camera tilts and zooms out, jumping in to a zoom in shot of the same statue of Jesus, which it zooms in on, jump cuts back to a second shot and zooms in again, this time blurring the statue. This blurring shows the disregard held by the families towards their religion as the feud gets greater. The scenes by now are moving very quickly and are very separated, not flowing smoothly at all. It is quite difficult to keep with the speed at which the film is moving, Luhrman once again trying to keep the audiences attention. Following on from the blurred shot of the statue, the camera, remaining blurry, focusing in turn, on the signs above each building, reading first Capulet in red and then Montague in blue. These choices of colour cause you to question whether or not the Capulet family are more fierce, with their name in red. You then get a tracking shot of a police helicopter against what you assume to be a church, and the city of Verona. Again re enforcing the religion verses law theme that is apparent throughout this film in Verona. Following this is a zoom in shot of a person lying on a mattress in the street surrounded by dirt and people in black. Through this shot you assume the person involved is injured, showing the severity of the feud. Again, jump cutting to the next scene, though seeming to slow the pace slightly, you get an aerial tracking shot from the helicopter with the diagetic sounds of the propellers, of a large statue of the Virgin Mary standing with open arms. Quickly moving on through a jump cut the statue of Jesus seen before is briefly shown, before zooming in on his face, although it is made up of many small dots, and shown in dark grey and black. This shot is held and zoomed out to reveal a family tree with both families on it, starting at the top with Ted Montague and Fulgencio Montague. Symbolic of the hatred that is passed down the family through each generation. The music up to this point has been very loud and menacing, increasing in volume when what I see as relevant shots are held. The lighting has been bright throughout, all shots set in the day, and there have been no characters introduced until the family tree. The beginning shots seem to be more introducing the place and the themes than the characters themselves. The layout of this tree implies that the rivalry started between these two men and has been passed down through the family. With the statue of Jesus with open arms set between the two families reminds us of the strong religion present in the city, and the grey colour of the pictures and background sets in almost like a cloud of grey, strongly contrasting with the colour we have seen in the previous scenes. As well as being the first shot of the characters, also introduced in this scene is the first voice since the newsreader, although this time it is non diagetic, in the form of a voice over. The music reaches a climax and then fades away to a quiet backing for the deep male voice commenting on the family trees in front of us. The shots of this tree are broken up by shots of fire and newspapers titled Montague vs Capulet, and while the speed of the changing shots has slowed down, now dissolving in to each other, Luhrman makes up for it with the impact of the shots he is using, you need more time to look at each one then before. Coming off the newspaper shot using dissolving and fire, we see the familiar screen of black with white text reading In Fair Verona, reminding us of the setting while looking in to the characters, as seen before when the city was being introduced and we were shown the names of the families. This subtle mixing of the two is very effective in showing the strong relationship between the setting and characters, and the effect that they have on each other. This phrasing of Fair Verona is ironic, as although we are being told the city is fair, we are shown only violent shots of the goings on and only controversial shots of the place itself. Moving on from the text shot we are shown a series of tracking shots of Verona, similar to those shown before, combining diagetic sounds such as the helicopter propellers with non diagetic such as the voice over. We then get another still shot of a newspaper reading Ancient Grudge followed shortly by a third newspaper reading New Mutiny and a picture of one of the young Montague boys. This ancient grudge followed by new mutiny re enforces the idea of the feud being passed down the family that we were introduced to through the family tree. The text is also in older style writing, showing that such an old thing has carried through in to modern day. This picture of the young Montague holding a gun is the first we see of the younger generations of the families, and it is associated with anger through his face and death through his gun. The next newspaper clip we get is Civil blood, also read out to us by the voice over, this emphasises the fact that the brawls caused by the families do not only affect themselves, but the rest of Verona. We are shown a tracking shot of a middle ages coloured man wearing helicopter equipment against a dark background, fitting as the shots seem to be getting darker, set later on in the day. The word Police is shown in large white text against black, symbolising their affect on the feud, good on bad or clean on dirty. There is then a series of shots of Verona and magazines with bullets on the covers, showing how much violence there is in the city. It is made out to be a loud, busy dangerous place reflected in the characters themselves. The feuding families seem to sum up the rivalry present within the city, Religion verses hatred, Law verses war. Although you may argue that at this stage you are unable to establish whether it is the place reflected through the characters or the characters strife being the reason for the way the place is. We then get our first shot of a man and a woman in a black car, both look drawn and very worried. Jump cutting through to a shot of a second couple, obviously the other family, recognisable only because of the quick glance we got of the man on the family tree. This creates a broken up image of the families, imposing the idea that the families get in the way of each other. As the music builds up again there are two screens of just text, when put together reading A pair of star crossed lover take their life. The T in the take is actually a cross when you look at it, bringing religion in to death. At this point the voice over is stopped and the music becomes loud again. Following the text the camera then jumps from one to another introducing through text and a frozen image of each character, the Capulets, the Montagues, both with the under text Romeos mother/father and Juliets mother/father. To follow we meet the chief of police Captain Prince, the Governors son Dave Paris and Mercutio, Romeos best friend, in a provocative position with his face angry and his finger pointed with a gun on him. Each character has a shot held on them for about 5 seconds before jumping straight on to the next. As the music builds up we see a pair of eyes, later recognised to be those of Romeo Montague, pushing the door of a church open to reveal light and flowers, portraying the church as a place of sanctity. This relates to the theme of religion present throughout the film, and it also gives a preview of the place in which the lovers lives end. Luhrman would have realised that as Romeo and Juliet is such a widely read play the majority of the audience would know then ending of the film, thus giving him a lot of scope to play around with previews of the rest of the film. The music quickens pace and very quickly we are run through the text previously shown and spoken but at a speed that it is not supposed to be read. This is followed by shots of fireworks, choirboys singing high piercing notes almost as a climax, guns shooting showing violence, main characters and eventually finishes on a black screen with William Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet. This creates a point of high climax, quickly let down by the still almost dead screen in comparison to previous shots. The mention of William Shakespeare is the first we hear of the author, and in mentioning him Luhrman has made himself seem almost modest, discarding any impression made implying that it is Luhrmans own play. The title then moves off the screen to the left and the film begins. As an opening sequence for this particular film I find it very effective. The setting of such a film in modern day would have proved very difficult, but the replacement of swords by guns has a huge impact on its success. The violence is portrayed well and you learn just about enough to follow the film as it opens but not enough to know what happens between now and the death of the characters. I like the way Luhrman lets the audience know the resulting death of the characters, but he does not say who dies. This builds up an immense suspense throughout the film. This introduction is done in such a way that it will captivate almost everyones attention through moving so quickly and creating such a tense atmosphere.

Essay on Silence and its Importance

Essay on Silence and its Importance The key aim of this research paper is to draw attention to the importance of silence in general, for students in particular. Thus, the introductory part of this research is devoted to the definition of silence and its important in our noisy world. The second section focus on the key powers of silence as located by the Irish writer Tony Cuckson, the importance of silence for students, how could we improve our relationship with silence? And examples of when can we use silence. Finally the third part consists of the analysis of the questionnaire data and summarizing the key ideas of the research. What does silence mean? Literally speaking, the word silence comes from the Latin word silens meaning to be still, quiet, or at rest. In English, it still maintains some of these meaning as most modern dictionaries define silence as the condition or quality of being or keeping still and silent, the absence of sounds, stillness or as a period of time without speech or noise. However depending only on these definitions we just learn silences first fundamental sense. Hence the silence is more than the state of being silent; entire absence of sound or absolute stillness. The silence, this research paper is concerned about, is the silence that enhances concentration, promotes meditation and allows us to be in touch with our inner. In other words, the silence that has the power to get people to think and to act. The word silence has become associated in our minds with passivity boring and inactivity. Moreover, we see silence as intrinsically dangerous, anti-social or abnormal. We fear and hate silence and we do everything possible to avoid it. In her book A Book of Silence , Sara Maitland stated*: instant and constant verbal communication is experienced not so much as a pleasure, but as a necessity. Background music, even in shopping malls where there is already a great deal of noise, so that no one can actually hear the music, is ubiquitous. The length of an acceptable silent pause on the radio has been reduced steadily over the last decade. Silence in public places, like libraries or churches, is increasingly considered oppressive rather than valuable. The silence of mourning is being replaced by cheering. In this statement, Sara Maitland has tried to draw our attention to our strange fear-hate relationship with silence. She gives us some habits that we unconsciously used to do in the everyday life to avoid silence. Sara Maitland has also noticed that people try to fill the void of silence with needless chatter, with TV, with Music, with noise of some kind. She noticed that Silence has become disconcerting and make people feel uncomfortable and alone, thats why -according to Sara Maitland- the world is filled with TVs that have been left on when nobody is watching it, for just a background noise. Yet people forget that the great forces, by which we live, are silent. The vast immensity of space is silent, because sound waves, unlike light or radio waves, cannot travel through a vacuum. Gravity electricity, the warmth of sunlight, the turning of the tides are all silent. Organic growth, life itself, the division of cells is silent. Society just forgets about these facts, Sara added. To sum up we could say that we hate or fear silence because we do not perceive its true meaning. Silence is not a mere absence of sounds or noises, it is more than that. Silence is a natural phenomenon that could be a source of creative energy that we should all use and benefit from it rather than simply avoiding it. *Sara Maitland is an English writer. Born in 1950, she grew up in Galloway, studied at Oxford University and currently tutors on the Distance Learning MA in creative writing for Lancaster University and is the Mentor Co-ordinator for Crossing Borders. She has undertaken writer residencies at HMP Ashwell and at Lincoln Cathedral The importance of silence in a restless world (noise pollution) It is obviously clear that we are living in noisy word. Unwanted sounds and noises pursue us everywhere we go. In the street, restaurants, supermarkets and even in the places where silence is considered as a necessity like schools and hospitals are not exceptions. From the early morning we step out home till we come back, we encounter variety of terribly noises. Our lives nowadays tend to be so busy that we have become accustomed to a constant barrage of tasks, inputs, and general noise. How often do we come home only to turn on the T.V. just so we can have something going on in the background? We used to not esteem the value of silence in our lives. Mike Moore* has described this phenomenon in his book Living Life Fully by saying When you add lawnmowers, snow blowers, leaf blowers, jack hammers, jet engines, transport trucks, and horns and buzzers of all types and descriptions, you have a wall of constant noise and irritation. Even when watching a television program at a reasonable volume level you are blown out of your chair when a commercial comes on at the decibel level of a jet. A recent study conducted by the Cornell University** about the impact of noise on employees in an open area office space where people are constantly exposed to fax machines, telephones, office chatter, shredding machines, etc revealed that workers in an open area had high level of adrenalin*** in their urine. When these employees were compared to those in quiet offices the results were startling. Workers in quiet offices did not have the same high levels of adrenalin in their urine. Besides, they were much more relaxed and less stressed. Moreover, a puzzle demanding attention and concentration was given to both groups of employees. The results revealed that the open area workers were found to be less diligent in the solution of the puzzle. They easily frustrated and gave up much earlier than the employees from the quiet offices. Another striking results found by the study are about sleeping, digestion and the psychological state of the employees under study. The study has revealed that workers from the quiet office slept better at night, had better digestion, were much less irritable at home and felt better at the end of their workday than employees from the open area offices. It seems clear from the results of such studies that noise does not only affect our focus and productivity but also impact our physical and psychological balance. Noise pollution tends to increase stress levels which in turn can result in increased frustration and anger. There is no doubt that the results of this study should push us to revise and re-establish our relationship with silence. In other words, we must begin to establish a friendship with silence. *Mike Moore is an international speaker and writer on human potential, motivation and humour. You can check out his website at www.motivationalplus.com **It is an American university ***Is released by the body when under stress. It prepares us for fight or flight. The key 4 powers of silence Till now, we have seen and known -from the introduction- the type of silence this research is concerned about and its true meaning. We have also recognized the importance of silence in a terribly noisy world showing some startling facts and striking recent studies. In this chapter, I have managed to devote it to the key four powers of silence as located by the Irish writer Tony Cuckson*. In fact, Tony has located seven powers but I have chosen the most important ones that everyone could experience regardless of his/ here possibilities or where s/he lives. In his valuable article Enjoy the Silence Tony has summarized the benefits of silence by saying that: silence is creative, silence promotes the inner and builds trust, silence gives rest, and silence allows listening. In this chapter I will try to explain these powers of silence respectively. 1 Silence is creative: In his article, Tony has defined creativity as creating unprecedented and unexampled things into being. He expressed that Creativity is not found within the known. Creativity means to bring the new into being. * Tony Cuckson is a writer on learning to be enough in the 21st Century. He is author of the ezine -an electronic magazine- Irish Blessings Subscribe to Irish Blessings Matter ezine a FREE weekly input of inspiration to lift the heart and heal the soul. With this sense creativity is a required quality in all fields. We need creative employees, creative writers, creative teachersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ and more importantly creative students. Man is creative by nature; however, we often destroy this quality by some unhealthy habits. For instance, doing a task, homework or writing an assay while listening to music or television, surely will affect our concentration and consequently will affect the quality of the work that we try to accomplish. Yet creativity needs silence and quiet environment. A quiet environment allows the creative person to develop his talent and to think deeper. Inspiration always comes in silent environment. For instance, intellectuals, thinkers, poetry writers, inventors and creators in all fields always seek absolute silence and quiet environment so that they could work comfortably and get inspiration. Imagination also springs from silence. Silence and quiet are to an artist, an author or inventor etc, what fertilizer is to crops. In conclusion, it can be said that Silence and creativity are one Tony asserted. By relating silence to creativity, he has insisted on the idea that silence is the wellspring of creativity. 2 Silence promotes the inner and builds trust: When we silence we turn our thoughts and focus inwards and gain the power we need to refuel our minds Steven Aitchison* has stated. Our ego** is temporarily switched off or at least made to be quiet for a bit, and we start to see the real world as it should be (he continued). Our thoughts get in the way of our reality sometimes and we dont see the beauty of the world around us. When there is silence there is time for introspection and to allow your true-self to speak, not the ego, not the conscious mind but the true-self connected to the flow of energy around us (Steven added in his online Blog). Tony Cuckson agrees with Steven Aitchison by saying that through silence we could trust our selves. Silence enables us to listen to our inner voice and to detect our unique methods of thinking. It gives us a chance to understand our selves better. Consequently, we improve and re-establish our relationships with our selves. We simply used to think that others know better than we do. We have been taught this for most of our lives. Listening silently to the promptings of our hearts we begin got know our own voices. We become our own masters. To put it more simply, we could say that silence helps us to find our values, understand our strengths, identify our tendencies, acknowledge our limitations, set our goals and then establish our direction. * Steven Aitchison currently lives in Scotland working as an Addiction Worker, helping clients with alcohol and drug issues. He has a degree in psychology, a sense of humour, and a down to earth approach to self help. ** The self of an individual person; the conscious subject 3 Silence gives rest: The lack of silence in our modern life results in lack of comfort. Anuradha Vashisht* has expressed this idea by saying: The fidgetiness, the restlessness we see in the majority of people these days indicates how far removed they are from the silence of the body Anuradha wants to say that people nowadays cannot be still or calm in one place for a considerable period of time mainly because of the hyperactivity phenomenon. The problem of hyperactivity is increasing as most people constantly need a prop for their bodies like shuffling feet, shaking a leg while sitting in a chair, swaying their bodies, inane scratching, constantly doing something with their hands, asking for tea or coffee to get over boredom, and so on. Most of the physical activities that have been described above often reflect the clatter and the noise one has in his mind which would prevent him from enjoying his rest. To overcome this hyperactivity we should devote a considerable period of time for silence in order to give ourselves a deep rest. In silence the *Anuradha Vashisht, Delhi-based journalist, researcher, writer and media professional, has over 15 years experience in the media. Having trained as a journalist with the Times of India Group, some of her major assignments were with Financial Express, Indian Express and The Pioneer. body slows. The rate of breathing slows. Our heart rate drops. We just forget about the past and future to live the present moment. We enter our essential self. There is no need to go anywhere. There is no place to go. This is our time for relaxation. This is our time for simply catching a breath and recharging our batteries. 4 Silence allows listening: Silence gives us the opportunity to listen to others and more importantly to ourselves. When others speak or during a conversation, silence could be used as sort of politeness and respect that would make the communication successful (we will tackle this idea in depth in the next chapter (Examples of When to Use Silence)). Yet the inner-silence also is very important. Since, it gives us a chance to listen to our inner voices. It helps us to turn our thoughts and focus inwards and live the present moment now not the past not the future. The inner-silence enables us to save our minds from the inane thoughts and eliminate all mental noises. Thus we make our minds calmer. Consequently, we can work and study more efficiently and our productivity will increase. The mental silence should be the prime goal in our daily life. If we can be mentally calm we can solve many problems of life and find ways to do difficult tasks. Finally, we could say that by listening to others we will gain respect and by listening to ourselves, we will not be afraid of the battles of life, because internally we will be very strong. By developing the virtue of inner silence, we should be broad like sky (tolerate others thoughts) and deep like ocean (where all life problems will be sunk). The importance of silence for students Besides all the silences powers that we have mentioned earlier which all are so important for all people, students can get much more from silence. As we know, our education system encourages students to get ahead of their competition and to get excellent marks so that they could conserve their chance to get a respectable job. Naturally when we are competing each other we can never be at ease. We become bound to be stressed and this pressure will keep on increasing with every passing day. Silence and meditation are the perfect tools to release this pressure and feel at ease with ourselves. In fact today every student- whether from engineering, management, business or arts- needs meditation more than ever. Connecting with ones deeper self leaves him refreshed and regenerated so that he can move forward in life without being exhausted or stressed. As any other part of our bodies; our minds need rest too. We must just think what would happen to our bodies if we keep on working for example for 16 hours or more per day and never get a chance to take repose? Automatically we will be tired, exhausted and unable to master any kind of work. Same is the case with our minds, they need break likewise. Thence, we could say that silence and meditation are more essential to students in particular as all their tasks demands great mental efforts. It can be concluded from what we have seen till now that silence is not mere an absence of sounds or noises but also a technique and a therapy that all people and students in particular are in-need of. After recognizing the key powers and benefits of silence, the question now is how could we reconcile and re-establish our relationship with it? This is what we will see in the next chapter. How could we improve our relationship with silence? Before starting this chapter we have to remember that people do not have an absolute control over all the noises they hear daily in the street or in places where they work, study etc; however, they do have control over their own private environment. In this private environment we can reorganize ourselves, reconsider our habits and attitudes towards silence. In our private environment we could cultivate a good friendship with silence following several steps. In this chapter, I have selected from Mike Moores advices the most important, simplest and applicable ones that we could -as students living in Meknes- easily follow. Firstly, we should change the negative image that we have in our minds about silence. In other words, we have to learn about and extend our knowledge about the value of silence. We can do that either through reading psychological books, asking the psychologists or searching in the internet about the benefits of silence. To put it more simply, we should prepare ourselves morally and mentally for practicing Mike Moore steps. After changing your attitudes towards silence, you should try to change some of your habits. For instance, when walking to school avoid using your MP3 player or any other such devices and try to walk in silence. When you read a book or prepare for an exam, do it in silence. If you used to read, write and prepare for exams while listening to music or watching television you should try silence. You will find it much helpful. When you are alone in your residence, try to turn off all noise sources for a specific period of time. Begin with fifteen minutes of silence a day and gradually increase the duration. If you succeeded to change your habits and attitude towards silence then you should enlarge your experience with silence by learning how to meditate. Attempt to schedule a ten minute for meditation and contemplation period once or twice a day. Then extend your meditation time gradually. Mike Moore concluded by saying: Soon you will begin to cherish the periods of silence you have built into your day and long for more. You will quickly discover that you are becoming more relaxed and less tense even in the midst of our noisy world. You will have made an invaluable new friend of silence, a friend which can comfort, heal and soothe your spirit. What a gift you will have given yourself. In conclusion, it can be said that if we followed Mike advices we would reconcile our relationship with silence and certainly would discover the restorative power of silence that students are in need of it. Examples of when to use silence Silence is often mis-characterized as unimportant or awkward. As a result the modern conversations become chaos in which two or more people racing to see who can speak more without paying any attention to the other. Yet, people forget that silence can be used as a technique of communication, kind of respect and as an anti-gossiping. I- Silence as a technique of communication As a technique of communication silence could be used in daily conversation, during arguments and job interviews. To get a better conversation, one must use brief pauses to give the other person a chance to think, get better understanding of the topic and then react effectively. Just as he needs in return a chance to absorb and process all that information the other person has just said. Another best time to use the power of silence is during an argument. For instance, when someone is shouting at you, looking for an argument you can literally take all the power away from him and save all your energy by simply looking back at them saying absolutely nothing. Yet it is extremely difficult to do but very powerful. Students also can use silence to their advantage in job interviews. Students often do not consider silence as one of the most valuable interview techniques that can be used both by the job candidates and the interviewers. For many interviewees, the silence of the interviewer is seen awkward because it tends to imply that they have been found lacking and do not satisfy or fit the interviewers standards. However, good interviewers use silence when listening attentively to what the interviewee is saying; so a job candidate should not be frightened if the interviewer does so. Also, a job candidate can use the same silence to demonstrate critical thinking skills and an ability to remain poised in difficult situations. Here are a few tips* to help you use silence in a job interview to your advantage. A Use brief pauses (no more than 15 seconds) when you need to collect your thoughts, recall the information the interviewer requested B Introduce a silent pause when several questions are asked in rapid succession before you have had a chance to answer the first one. Repeat the first question and answer it; then request the interviewer to ask subsequent questions. C Avoid any urge to fill the silence with unsolicited information about your background or experience. Many interviewees have lost the job by impulsively blurting out details that led the interviewer to ask questions for which the interviewees were unprepared to answer. D Finally, do not forget to remain mentally alert during the silence. *To get more information about how to use silence in a job interview follow this link: http://www.ehow.com/how_5093570_use-silence-advantage-job-interview.html 2 Silence as kind of respect Silence could also be used to show respect in many occasions. It has long been recognized by many religious groups as a key component of an ascetic path to spirituality. For example, we as Muslims we silence when we hear someone reading the Quran. We also recommend silence in the funerals. Moreover, silence has become a universal practice used in all over the world. As we used to held one minute of silence as a remembrance of the people died in a natural disaster or an important person died recently. During conversations silence also may be used to express admiration and esteem. Just let people talk and listen to them and use your facial expressions and movements to acknowledge that you are listening. Thus, you will imply that you are respecting them and you will gain their respect in return. In contrast, when you do not listen to or interrupt people before they have finished, you are essentially indicating that the other persons thoughts are not that important. What could be considered as a kind of impoliteness and discourage him/her to continue talking. 3 Silence as an anti-gossiping When there is a crowd of people in the workplace while the boss is absent or in classroom before the coming of teacher there are always gossipers who speak about other people. What makes gossiping dangerous is that it is contagious. When we dont like someone and someone else starts speaking about him we naturally tend to voice our opinion, Ive done it lots of times and have to stop myself. Try and stop yourself from catching the virus of gossiping and use the power of silent whenever it occurs. If you are a gossiper yourself and people around start to notice that you are not your usual self, do not give an explanation just ignore them or say that silence is golden. Be still and know the restorative power of silence. (Ideas we should keep in mind) Besides, isnt it nice to say nothing when you have nothing to say? We need to rediscover the power of attention and we do that through silence the concentration that we use in prayer can be used in everyday life, THE QUESTIONNAIRE 1-In few words, what comes to your mind when you hear the word silence? 2-Silence is golden Agree? Silence is boring Agree? Golden Boring 3-Do you find sometimes that you are talking just to break the silence? Answer options Never Sometimes Always 4-Do you think that silence is important for your health balance? Absolutely not To some extent yes Of course, yes Could you justify your answer? 5-Have you ever thought to get regular periods or moments of silence? Never I have 6-Do you actually allocate regular periods from your time for silence? Absolutely no from time to time weekly daily If you do not answer by no, could you explain why or for what purpose? 7-Do you prefer silence while preparing for exams or soft music? I prefer silence Soft music It depends on the subject being prepared