Less is More (information overload)

[Jamie]

EDIT: title should read 'Less is More'


As my interest in personal development grows; I find myself absorbing more and more information from more and more authors, and I'm not sure this is always a good thing.

In that, it disturbs my sense of stillness within; by that, I mean, a connection to my own spirit, my own higher self. I believe that connection is the brightest, when we don't have so much mental noise going off in our heads, when we have quiet, peace. This silence, queitute, is very important, if we are to tune in to the little voice within us.

Part of the problem is this notion I have that if I can take on more and more information, I'll be a better, happier, more successful person. This is not always correct. It's an assumption, and also, perhaps a consequence of buying in to the hype (sales-pitch) of some self-development gurus.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not slating personal development; or any authors, I just make a point that bombarding ourselves with too much information can be a bad thing, and have the opposite effect to what we intend.

Also, a second thing, somewhat related; occurs to me.

A lot of PD material is generic, and deals with broad areas, and issues we have as humans. It's like one size, fits all; but our own individual problems and issues, are specific to us. If we tune in to our spirits (meditation?), we can intuit what our own issues or problems are at any given time, and come to realise what specifically, we need to work on (i.e. refining the issue down).

To use an analogy; if a piece of equiptment we own, is not working; rather than replacing the entire thing, we can examine closely, and we may find (through introspection) that only a single screw, is missing, and needs to be replaced.

Ok!! Maybe not the best analogy in the world, to get my point across, but I hope it makes some sense?

[henry1949]

Hi,
Indeed the mantra less is more is very applicable. I would say that the "less" refers to focusing on the essential summary. Brevity and relevancy go a long way to make better use of our time. The fact that we are exposed to the increasing streams of information calls for smarter and more efficient ways to filter that information and quickly extract the essentials leaving the rest as background.

Personally to effectively cope with the incoming streams of information including e-mail, I’m using my summarization application. At a click of a button I get to see the main keywords and the most important sentences. Over period of time I found that looking at the instant information capsules gives me quite useful insight and saves me a lot of time.

If you would like to try out summarization this is the product link: Context Organizer from Context Discovery Inc.. Context Organizer summarizes web pages and Google search results giving the user an instant overview of the key ideas.

Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.
Warm regards from Ottawa,
Henry

[Jamie]

In terms of feedback; and forgive me if I misunderstant you Henry, but it seems to me, that your post is just an opportunity for you to pitch your product (is it your product?). In fact, it seems as if you derail my thread, with the specific intent of reframing and refocusing attention on to your product.

A product, that I may well NOT need, and would only add to the ever growing list of things pulling at my attention.

I feel, simplification, and refining things down, doesn't require the use of a computer program, its more of an emotional or mental thing.

Further more, companies are always seeking to convince us that we need their product or service. A large percentage of the noise we recieve in daily life comes from advertisements, either blatant advertisments, or more subtle ones, like yours.

A key issue, I believe, is to block (fire-wall?) advertisements, and I try only to go looking for a product or service, when I have a specific need (that originates with me).

I hope this isn't unfair on you Henry. I appreciete the needs of small business to find customers, as I'm somewhat in the same boat as you myself. However, I do think I'm addressing a valid issue here.

Welcome to the forum, hope you can stick around.

[Jamie]

Actually, I feel that was unfair and unkind of me; and your product looks very professional and well put together. I with you the best of luck with it Henry.

Appologies if I was a little sharp with you.

[Liara Covert]

In my mind, its not the quantity of material you absorb that matters, but the quality of material. You can be selective. You can read a lot or a little and choose to retain what seems most relevant to you at this moment. Its an exciting adventure. You can savor every step of your personal journey.

[fwellers]

I hear you on that Jamie !! I have been thinking the same things lately.

I'm going on vacation tomorrow for 4 days, and am really really looking forward to the quiet of no phone's and especially no email.

It seems that lately, I am under a constant barrage of 'stuff'. Most of it is advertising junk. I am forced to rip up half a tree a week out of my mailbox, I delete tons of messages from my email, I take useless phone calls, and it is just too much.

Now lately, I've found the world of blogs, and am wading through tons of generic crap, to find something that really interests me, that hasn't been said a thousand times before.

It all adds up and I think does take a toll.

Since the whole blog surfing aspect of the information age is still relatively new to me, I am kind of assimilating myself to it, and haven't totally decided how I am going to best deal with it all.
I am getting pretty good at manually sifting through the weeds to find a few nice juicy stalks to nibble on here and there.

Currently I am thinking that it is necessary to learn how to "breathe" in the "NOW" throughout the day, in order to deal with it all.

If I do the discipline of some meditative type exercise once or twice a day for about 5 minutes a time ( for now ), then it becomes a bit easier to do little 30 or 60 minute "presence" exercises at various times througout the day.

I think my aim toward that end would be able to actually stop the thoughts and let my brain breathe for a minute or two here and there, and then the info won't tire me so much. At the same time, I am hoping to learn to deal with it all better.
I have a sneaking suspiscion that in the end, "less is more" is going to be a big part of the answer.

Funny thing. I have 3 books by Eckhart Tolle. I am convinced in the truth contained within them. There are plenty of exercises in those books that I haven't begun to master yet. There is plenty of content within them to be able to re-read and understand it better.

yet what do I do ? I still browse and search for more things that corelate with my growing consciousness. But I am feeding my thoughts and I think avoiding the reality behind the thoughts. Taking a solid truth and robbing it of it's power to feed the ego-based thought process.

Oh well, you really opened up a can of worms with me on your post, as you can probably tell from this very long and probably nonsensical post. I'll leave it alone for now.

Peace.
Floyd

[Jamie]

You make sesne Floyd!

I think it's that quiet place, or time; that's what I miss. That space inside of me, that is silence. That's what I want to connect with; but I find myself looking for it in the world of noise.

Being sat at a computer all day doesn't help, it's like a window to vast amounts of information. Yet, there's something in me, ego maybe, some part of me, that (albeit erroneously) seeks to find what I'm looking for, out there in all this 'noise of the world'.

I think some time away from the computer would do me good, wild camping or something, connect with nature. I once read about a guy who camped out in the wilds in the USA somewhere, for like a month, and had profound sense of deep love for all life, way more than he said he could describe, when eventually he returned to 'civilisation'.

[fwellers]

Yea me too Jamie, I am behind a computer all day. And then at night when I'm watching TV ( boring shows that my wife likes ), I sit there with my blackberry, surfing. <shrugs>.

I wonder how the sages of old were able to obtain such PRESENCE, without all of this info.

I have little doubt that if you and I are feeling a little overloaded with info, that some adjustment, to restore balance is indicated. :-))

Cheers.

[ZHereford]

Jamie, I think the key with everything is balance.

Too much of anything is not good - even meditating. I've read that if you do too much of it you can lose your mental acuity.

Too much information indeed results in overload and you end up not absorbing anything. So it's good to vary your activities because you actually end up more productive. As Aristotle said "Everything in moderation".