<img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.226447758104792781635363888830%2Fimage5.webp?alt=media&token=3187326e-4b2c-4274-8d05-8648b9533a4e" alt="File preview" width="700" height="466" /> <h3>Is art always tied to commerce?</h3> Again, the answer is yes and no. Art seems to follow the money. Since art typically has no real practical value &ndash; it&#39;s challenging to make a living from creating it all of the time. It often takes many years of practice to develop the necessary skill to generate high-quality work. And while works of art are sometimes judged solely according to their merit, they are often competing for the viewer&#39;s limited attention against a large variety of other works as well. Over the past few centuries, one of the most significant developments in art is the movement away from a patron system to a free market system. In the past, wealthy nobility or the church or government would sponsor artists and commission them to create the work they wished to have completed. The artist was given some freedom to interpret the subject as they wished &ndash; but was not&nbsp;given free rein to choose the overall subject of their work. In many ways, art was often a way for the wealthy to aggrandize themselves or their achievements and let their memory and likeness live on in perpetuity. In the ancient world, art in monuments representing kings or gods were often among the first things that occupying forces would destroy &ndash; erasing the memory of those persons or deities for future generations. The art world is still primarily supported by those with wealth. It is mainly due to simple principles of cause and effect. You need to have enough disposable income or resources to afford to purchase rare objects of little or no practical value. Working-class people often buy mass-produced prints to display that are far more affordable. The uniqueness of an original work of art is part of what makes it valuable. However, art is not always to make a profit. Think of the cave paintings in Lascaux. These primitive artists, as far as we know, did not create such works with an incentive to physically or financially gain something. They made them engage in the act of creation. A more modern example would be Vincent van Gogh, who sold only one or two paintings during his entire career and died penniless. If he only made art for financial gain, he would not have dedicated his life to making it after repeatedly failing to achieve success. In the same way, not all works of art are simply to be sold. Many of the most treasured pieces of art are things that the artist made primarily for themselves to enjoy. This concept is demonstrated well in the portrait paintings by the masters of the Baroque era, such as Rembrandt. He created many stunning portraits of wealthy persons from his day, leaving his unique mark on the genre. However, some of the images he made in private for his own pleasure, such as the many intimate paintings of his lover Hendrickje, are considered among his most significant works that have best withstood the test of time. <img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.226447758104792781635363888830%2Fimage6.webp?alt=media&token=3ee09495-f89a-4076-a88f-2b688fe5ca3a" alt="File preview" width="700" height="466" /> <h3>What about Kitsch?</h3> Kitsch is a German word that literally means &ldquo;trash.&rdquo; Some art is trashy. Some people like looking at trashy art. It&rsquo;s okay. But there is also a reason why certain artworks aren&rsquo;t displayed at important or respected cultural locales. Art does not have to be good to be appreciated. But good art better withstands the test of time. Art is long, and life is short. <img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.226447758104792781635363888830%2Fimage4.webp?alt=media&token=9d83cb72-e015-4e43-8606-fe1b2e17d490" alt="File preview" width="700" height="466" /> <h3>What about censorship?</h3> The history of art is full of instances where censorship occurred. For example, after Michelangelo died, another artist was hired to come and paint drapery over the exposed genitalia of many of the nude figures included in the Sistine Chapel. There is also a stash of erotic drawings by Michelangelo kept under lock and key in the Vatican and never put out for public display. Another example would be British artist J.M.W. Turner. The art critic John Ruskin famously destroyed an entire portfolio of Turner&rsquo;s erotically themed drawings since he considered them lewd and feared they might tarnish the painter&rsquo;s reputation posthumously. The Nazis also destroyed many masterpieces by various artists during their time in power in Europe during the 20th&nbsp;century. Many artists living in Europe at the time and painted in a modern style were considered degenerate by this staunchly conservative political party. It led to many of them fleeing to America or elsewhere to ensure their safety. There will always be artists willing to challenge the social mores of the day with their work. There will also be some artists who try to shock or provoke the public with their work to draw attention to themselves. And there will always be someone who decides they need to take a stand against certain works of art to protect the viewing public from what they consider to be indecent. <img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.226447758104792781635363888830%2Fimage3.webp?alt=media&token=f19430c5-96d7-421d-92bf-cb1669498af1" alt="File preview" width="700" height="466" /> <h3>How is art related to philosophy?</h3> Aesthetics is the branch of philosophy that deals with art and beauty. Famous philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Hegel, Heidegger, and Derrida have all written extensively on the subject. In the late 19th&nbsp;and early 20th&nbsp;centuries, it was quite common for artists to issue declarations or manifestos about the importance of their work and what it meant. Manifestos by artists working in Futurism, Dada, and Surrealism come to mind in particular. In the modern era, many artists issue formal statements regarding the purpose or ideas behind their work to help the public understand it better. While some (probably too many) of these artist statements can often become rather obtuse or pretentious, some manage to fulfil their purpose of being genuinely helpful by providing insight into the topics the artist is exploring in a particular body of work. Next time, take the time to pause and read the artist&#39;s statement at a show or museum event. The message might drastically change how you see the work on display, or at least give you a good laugh if it&#39;s pompous enough. <h3> Is art primarily a visual or an intellectual medium? </h3> Art is traditionally a visual medium &ndash; we enjoy looking at it because it is pleasing to the eyes. But more recently, art can also be used to present ideas in new and challenging ways. Such art is not created to be beautiful, although it may be. When we attempt to compare art that is more formal or purely aesthetic with art that is trying to confront the viewer with a statement of some kind, it is often a flawed comparison since the two are quite different. It would be similar to comparing a textbook with a novel &ndash; the metrics for comparison are too dissimilar to gain any real value. <img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.226447758104792781635363888830%2Fimage1.webp?alt=media&token=8e915595-02f9-428f-81a5-5c269b3ac3b8" alt="File preview" width="700" height="466" /> <h3>Where is art headed in the future?</h3> Art tends to be a cultural product of its specific time period. For example, while a painter could choose to paint in an Impressionist style today, it would not have the same dramatic or shocking effect on the viewing public that similar imagery might have when first exhibited during the 19th&nbsp;century. To clarify, a modern painter could still produce fine-looking work that stylistically imitates the Impressionist movement of the past (which has long since ended). Such work would be retrospective in nature, tied to the successes of the past while linked with currently accepted cultural tastes. There is nothing wrong with exploring and expanding upon the creative achievements of the past. But a painter today can no more accurately call themselves an Impressionist than they could refer to themselves as a Pre-Renaissance or Baroque painter. Those ships have sailed. Art movements tend to shift along with the intellectual aspirations of the times because they act as a mirror that reflects society&#39;s inherent qualities and values. As the world changes and becomes more unified globally and immersed in technology, the face of art will also change to reflect how artists and viewers experience the world around them. Often, art today is tied to political or cultural trends that the average viewer may not be entirely familiar with. It was the same way in the past when the academic Salons in France rejected the Impressionist painters. Public taste often follows far behind those at the vanguard of cultural innovation. Sometimes the art that receives the most public derision is also (but not always) the same art that drives innovation and expression forward today. <img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.226447758104792781635363888830%2Fimage2.webp?alt=media&token=c2c869b3-587c-438a-9832-aa35d9d78b6e" alt="File preview" width="700" height="466" /> <h3>Conclusion:</h3> I&#39;ve always enjoyed looking at art and appreciating beauty. However, there is still plenty of art that I don&#39;t particularly appreciate looking at or perhaps find myself indifferent to. Repeated and regular exposure to good art is the best way to develop one&#39;s unique tastes. If you haven&#39;t spent much time looking at art or thinking about it, it is undoubtedly worth your time to try and develop at least a basic understanding and appreciation. You will end up finding things that you enjoy if you truly take the time to look. And if you already enjoy looking at or making art, perhaps try to develop these qualities even further by thinking, writing and reflecting about the things you notice while looking at it or creating it, using relevant vocabulary and terminology. The better those with an appreciation of art can elaborate on what it is that they find so wonderful about it, the more others might also have a chance to discover its value. It&#39;s hard to think of a world where no art exists when there are so many beautiful things to explore and see. But we have to find the time to look and pay attention as well. Art begins with looking.

Part 2 of 2 - Q&A: Seven (More) Questions About How To Appreciate Art

<img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/article_images%2FLove%20and%20Let%20go_1.jpg?alt=media&amp;token=f2e91140-46c7-419c-bf2d-3fc16ef99a63" alt="File preview" width="740" height="490" />&nbsp; Someone asks you, what is love? And if you start humming in your mind‼ Oh, baby, don&rsquo;t hurt me, don&rsquo;t hurt me, no more‼; then you are born in the 80s or the 90s. The song &ldquo;What is love?&rdquo; recorded by Trinidadian-German Eurodance artist Haddaway from 1993, was a massive hit in at least 13 countries. The catchy lyrics and the nostalgic music of this song are still discussed when a question arises about love. We look at love in terms of happiness. We do not think that love can be risky. Our intentions and expectations are, &ldquo;To love and to be loved&rdquo; - yet in a relationship, we might not be loved back or receive all the love we want, but the relationship would have turned sour. So, what next? <h4>&ldquo;If you love something so much, let it go. If it comes back it was meant to be; if it, doesn&rsquo;t it never was&rdquo; &ndash; Albert Schweitzer</h4> Letting go is an abrupt answer but is it that easy? Considering the time invested in the relationship and the bond developed over the years, letting a relationship go when it turns sour causes extreme distress. Sometimes, giving it a chance does work. The difficult decision is when to give the relationship another chance and when to let it go. Love is a matter of the heart, not the mind. When a relationship goes south, it is time to use our intelligence instead of relying on emotions. Let us first learn about relationships based on the types of love. There are three: 1.One-Sided Love Love is blind; maybe this is why some fall in love mindlessly with someone who will not reciprocate. You may fall in love with a person and never express your feelings. Or you express but face rejection. In both cases, you continue to love the person. The reason for refusal could be plenty &ndash; another lover, not the right type, commitment issues, etc. nonetheless, the love does not recede once it catches on. We need to understand that this love is real, and so is the suffering of rejection in one-sided love. 2.Mutual Love A dream relationship is one where the love is mutual, an understanding based on the bond you develop, and respect for the other&rsquo;s personal - time and goals. Though it sounds so simple and easy, it is difficult in practice. The word &ldquo;personal&rdquo; does not go well with people who think they own their partners. This type of relationship requires the sacrifice of ego, possessiveness, and expectations. Nevertheless, this is the type of love for a long-living relationship. &nbsp;<img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/article_images%2FLove%20and%20Let%20go_2.jpg?alt=media&amp;token=3bcf9885-5e58-4873-911d-1c90afcf4071" alt="File preview" width="400" height="508" /> 3.Toxic Love It takes two people to make a toxic relationship work. One partner will be selfless and will give everything to make the relationship work. The other is selfish to satisfy their insecure needs. In this love, the toxic person feels that only their needs are important. The other partner deeply cares and silently suffers without letting them go. <h2>When to let go?</h2> <h4>&ldquo;Some of us think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it is letting go&rdquo; &ndash; Hermann Hesse</h4> &nbsp;In one-sided love, there is no such thing as letting go, right? There is nobody to let go of. So, what should you let go of? &nbsp;You expressed your feelings, and they rejected them, dreams shattered, despite that your love remains intact. You enjoy the melancholy of rejection and become an amateur poet; with the hope that someday that person will realise your love. You start seeing life differently - a life of nothingness; that nothingness can be seen in your behaviour &ndash; uninterested, unimpressed. Not healthy. &nbsp;You need to let go of the emotions of love and stubborn feelings. Forgetting is not easy, but the future awaits you. Living in the past does not help. Get over your hangover of rejected love and make an effort to move forward. &nbsp;Letting go in a mutual relationship. Why? Sometimes even a perfect relationship can turn bitter. It could be due to lack of time, misunderstanding, or loss of intimacy (all due to too much time and focus on personal goals). Couples get divorced even after more than ten years of marriage. Look at the recent divorces between the Bezos&rsquo; and the Gates&rsquo;. &nbsp;In this case, letting go is not the only option, but giving another chance will help revive the relationship. It may take years to fix the relationship, but it is an excellent option to give several chances as mutual love existed in the past, and the external factors causing problems can be fixed. Letting go should only be taken as a last resort. <h4>&ldquo;It is better to be healthy alone than sick with someone else&rdquo; &ndash; Phil McGraw.</h4> &nbsp;<img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/article_images%2FLove%20and%20Let%20go_3.jpg?alt=media&amp;token=3efe483d-673e-444d-83b4-cb8304af65a7" alt="File preview" width="400" height="599" /> Awareness is foremost. A toxic person carefully chooses a partner who can tolerate the toxic relationship. That person confuses you with a strange behaviour - being toxic at times and then covering it with expressions of love. Their expressions sound so true that you tend to ignore the abuse and dishonesty (signs of toxic relationship) initially. You believe that the toxic person is the victim in this relationship, questioning your integrity.&nbsp; When the toxicity takes a toll on you, you decide to let go, but you cannot. You give several chances for the toxic person to set the relationship right. Nothing changes. It becomes unbearable, and the relationship turns into a nightmare.&nbsp; It is a predator and prey relationship. Giving another chance is not an option. They cannot change. They chose you for a reason, to use you as an emotional punch bag. Toxic people do not know if they are harmful, as they will never feel that their actions are wrong&mdash;no use in waiting for the person to change. If there were love, there would be no toxicity at any point in time.&nbsp;&nbsp; This understanding will help you push yourself to let go of the relationship. Remember, your happiness also matters and is the most important only for you. Relationships are complicated, and it all depends on the love and bond you develop over the years. Knowing when to hold on and when to let go makes all the difference in a successful relationship. Identify what type of relationship that you want and take action accordingly.&nbsp;

Love and Let Go

<img alt="" src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.106371827230216321636142948157%2Fimage3.webp?alt=media&token=f22dfe36-43eb-49d8-b681-1257a100da82" > A Happy Meal&nbsp;&ndash; A hamburger, a portion of nuggets, regular-sized french fries and a tall glass of an aerated drink. What can be happier than this? One of my friends asked on Instagram after uploading a picture of the happy meal. Her foodstagramming immediately gave me a surge of hunger, and to satisfy my impulsive craving, I felt like I needed to order a happy meal. However, something caught my eye. Her other comment said, &ldquo;A happy tummy makes the mind happy&rdquo;. It made me think. Is your tummy really happy? <h2 class="c2" id="h.9v9nfepbyzst">Effects - Short and Long</h2> A happy meal is a concoction of saturated or trans fats, sugar and salt. Its immediate effects are on your digestive system due to high amounts of fat, sucrose and sodium. Stomach discomfort and lethargy are the short-term effects that some of you might experience after having such a humongous meal. According to Medical News Today, constipation, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart diseases are the long-term effects. They also suggest that a &quot;happy meal&quot; diet may also raise the risk of Alzheimer&rsquo;s disease and Parkinson&rsquo;s disease. Obesity seems to top the list of long-term effects. World Health Organisation (WHO) has also stated on their website that 1.9 billion adults were overweight in 2016, and 650 million obese. Another staggering study conducted on 100 adolescents by the European Journal of Molecular &amp; Clinical Medicine showed that 90% of them consume fast food. Furthermore, out of all the effects of fast food consumption, 37% of the participants had trouble sleeping, 24% had worrying nature or fatigue, 17% had undergone depression, 14% had emotional distress, and 8% showed violent behaviour. In conclusion, a study made by European Journal of Molecular &amp; Clinical Medicine concludes that impact of fast food leads to depression. Therefore, in the long run, fast food affects not only your body but also your mind. <h3 class="c1 c10" id="h.1gsg56sjbdd5">Did you know WHO had challenged food industries in a report on diet and health?</h3> As per a journal from the National Center for Biotechnology Information, WHO had called on the food industry to reduce amounts of certain types of fats as well as salt and sugar in snacks and processed foods. They had also criticized the food and drinks industry for &ldquo;heavy marketing practices of energy-dense, micronutrient-poor foods.&rdquo; The last statement made me question the marketing tactics used by the food industries and I started digging deeper. <h2 class="c2" id="h.v9l2o3oz42d2">How Food Marketing Works</h2> Take the example of a happy meal. The word &ldquo;happy&rdquo; used in the advertisements is quite misleading as it does not necessarily keep your stomach healthy. Still, your mind looking for temporary joy will make you buy the happy meal without a moment&rsquo;s thought. Furthermore, the fast-food companies&rsquo; advertisements typically show a family eating at their chain and a kid enjoying a burger with a smile on his face. They also offer a bunch of toys with the meal making the kid excited and wanting to visit again soon. Happiness is the key focus in these advertisements. These companies make you believe that families are enjoying their time at the fast-food joints without regard for what harm it can cause you? But we know the truth now. It made me question the ethics of the advertising world. <img alt="" src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.106371827230216321636142948157%2Fimage1.webp?alt=media&token=d0412453-fc06-488a-8d24-a9054e8d5d27" > <h2 class="c2" id="h.l5b9y6jinmwk">Ethical vs Unethical Advertising</h2> <h4 class="c1 c10" id="h.dglgg7npd0ks">&ldquo;What is the difference between unethical and ethical advertising? Unethical advertising uses falsehoods to deceive the public; ethical advertising uses the truth to deceive the public.&rdquo; &ndash; Vilhjalmur Stefansson</h4> Yes, it is a confusing quote. I had never thought that truth could be used to deceive, yet this quote made sense. Take the happy meal advertisement as an example again. The truth is that the consumers are happy after having a meal. Families do enjoy their time dining at the fast-food joints, and it cannot be denied. Hence, it is ethical advertising as it shows the truth. But what makes our mind happy is not necessarily the same for our tummy. So, the deceiving here is, not mentioning in the advertisements - the high amount of fats, sucrose and sodium levels that fast food contains and the side effects and long-term effects of the food on our body. <h2 class="c2" id="h.hc31krrseuk8">So, do we just switch to healthy food?</h2> Though you know the ill effects of fast food and how the food industry advertisements are wired to your mind, it is still not easy to stay away from unhealthy food. Your mind wants instant gratification, and so it depends on material things like food to be happy. Marketing professionals are shrewdly aware of this concept, and the advertisements are always there to get you. To deal with this, you need to make a conscious effort to fight the urge to make your mind happy with the food. Ask yourself these questions the next time you want to have a happy meal: <ol class="c15 lst-kix_i3v6b4gmn81l-0 start" start="1"> <li class="c1 c6 li-bullet-0">Will a happy meal make me and my stomach happy?</li> <li class="c1 c6 li-bullet-0">Should I invest in food that is going to make me unhealthy?</li> <li class="c1 c6 li-bullet-0">Is the temporary joy of fast food greater than the long-term illness caused by it?</li> </ol> These questions will make you focus on the larger consequence and help you curb the need for instant gratification through food. Eating healthy is a dire need not only for your body but also for your mind. <img alt="" src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.106371827230216321636142948157%2Fimage2.webp?alt=media&token=01a851e7-7ce2-4fbb-8ffe-dc653d3d38a0" > Don&#39;t forget that what makes you happy does not necessarily make you healthy. So, how do you avoid unhealthy food? Share your experience with us.

What Makes You Happy, Does it Also Make You Healthy

<img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.102809502103431431634384762413%2Fimage1.webp?alt=media&token=252ffbd9-e7e2-4c60-81eb-836f08101c52" alt="File preview" width="700" /> In one perspective, time could be easily seen as a homeless person: ignored, despised by some, where only the wise and the goodhearted pay attention and try to help. The result of a system that is too busy counting money and not caring about death because &ldquo;diamonds last forever&rdquo;. But time (as a homeless person) is on the streets, constantly showing us that there is something wrong with the world and that beyond all distractions, suffering still is the infrastructure of mankind. Time will stop you on your way to work and ask for just a spare change, and you may ignore it, but the uneasiness of being indifferent will stick with you, and you&rsquo;ll be anxious. Or maybe time can also be the soldier in the field, fighting against chaos and ensuring our liberty because time is what secures our present since even against all odds, existence somehow manages to thrive in a universe of uncertainty. It is also possible for time to be an artist on the street, ignoring the before or after, living in between. Because what is real can only be real in the present, what is in the past is merely a memory. And what is the future, if not only speculation?&nbsp;The artist, when playing his art, carries the wisdom of living according to existence. Often underestimated and seen as stupid or unimportant, however, with the flow of events the strokes of paint and the agressive hits at the Canvas that one day was foolish suddenly becomes what is called &ldquo;a masterpiece&rdquo; and finally taken seriously. In the same way, time flows constantly and wipes out entire empires. Time could be seen as the baker who gives us our daily bread, but it can also be seen as the cop that will throw you in a cell at the slightest mistake. (As we can see in people who spent years of their life with something they regret, and they can feel nothing on their deathbed but resentment) <img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.102809502103431431634384762413%2Fimage2.webp?alt=media&token=37c8ba1b-df8f-49ce-809e-ab7d06574765" alt="File preview" width="700" /> The truth is that time is what you make of it, your ally, your enemy, bliss or a curse and the only thing known for sure is that it eventually outruns everyone and everything. The choices we make are responsible for building the persona that time will incorporate into our lives. Ten minutes of sleep may be minimal, but ten minutes of excruciating pain is unforgettable. And the reason why we should have that in mind is that, in the end, a desensitized life guided only by what is convenient and emptiness is arguably worth less than a single moment of virtue and authenticity. To make good usage of time is not only to be productive but to make every second count. Of course, in the 24 hours that a day has, we won&rsquo;t be able to make each second worth a lifetime, but unfortunately, the opposite is possible, and it is rather common: 24 hours can be easily wasted. In our last seconds, time serves as a judge and although the sentence is inevitably death&nbsp;the difference will be: The verdict of some will be a shameful one (for those who have completely wasted their life), and others will have glory as because they wisely lived while they could.

What if time was a person?

<img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.9327426980005721628072884736%2FHRM%20and%20Happiness_IgnjatMilinkovic_1.webp?alt=media&token=33329d4c-41ad-4382-95bb-fc985dde9228" alt="" width="765" height="510" /> Capitalism as an economic system is pulling strings all around the world. The world is becoming increasingly interconnected as an outcome of massively enlarged trade and cultural exchange. Corporations are spreading their business and manufacturers to other countries in search for nominal costs and expenses. Acquisitions are more frequent today than ever before.&nbsp; The world is much faster, stumbling and rushing towards higher revenues, no matter what. CEOs have only one aim- higher income, with lower expenses. In that rat race, we all forget the primary resource, without which we couldn&rsquo;t accomplish any of these. Hands, minds, and motivations of all of those who are making teams and personnel of the big and small corporations have become secondary objectives. They are taken for granted, exploiting every pair of hands they can. Of course, not every company is alike. Some of those are trying to refocus on people, understanding that only those people, which we call employees, are the only ones relevant and capable of building up the quality and quantity of products and reputation to the organizations and institutions. Research is still trying to find out how to motivate, encourage and increase the happiness of the workers to fulfil their self-accomplishment and employee satisfaction. Many of the theorists from different backgrounds share their views, which are applicable and relevant for today&rsquo;s business problems. Let&rsquo;s peek at the most suitable ones. <h2>The hierarchy of needs</h2> First, conceptualizations of motivation and general happiness, which we will reveal, explain motivation from satisfaction with basic human needs. The study of organizations is streaming their attention to the idea that people are motivated to use their job to satisfy their own needs. The most famous theory of human needs in organizations is possibly the one according to Maslow. His thesis was that if people grow in an environment and collective which does not meet their necessities and demand, they will not function as healthy, happy, and well-adjusted individuals. If people don&rsquo;t have their needs met on the job, they will not be efficient. Consequentially, the product on which they are working will not satisfy the needs of corporations or users. According to this theory, people have five types of needs: physiological, safety, belongingness or love needs, and esteem needs which lead to self-actualization, and self-fulfilment, which is equal to happiness in the widest possible sense. On the other side, Alderfer&rsquo;s ERG theory of needs is correspondent to Maslow&rsquo;s five needs theory, and he is choosing: Existential, Relatedness, and Growth. In both cases, happiness is a concept that could be equivalent to higher accomplishments in a working environment. <h2>How are managers applying these theories?</h2> Since self-actualized and happy workers will use their maximum creative potential, it is reasonable to reach this state by allowing them to meet their essentials. Some companies allow their employees to meet physiological needs with various incentives to support their health (physical activity, team sports). To meet the social needs of their employees, some corporations are organizing a family outing near the office, hiking, or different types of team building. An essential way of meeting the needs of respect and esteem is to recognize employee achievements. Some companies reward their employees who have found a way to improve customer service or improve company performance. <h2>What the numbers tell us</h2> As we can see, the human resource factor is relevant for the companies outcomes on the market. Employee happiness is the most important value if you want your business to flourish. Actively engaged employees are emotionally connected to and invested in creating value for their organizations. <img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.9327426980005721628072884736%2FHRM%20and%20Happiness_IgnjatMilinkovic_2.webp?alt=media&token=6b9501e0-a4bf-4ddb-8972-4238b60d1790" alt="" width="764" height="574" /> According to Gallup&rsquo;s research, only 13% of people worldwide actively engage at work. This number might or might not be correct, but certainly, it tells us that the vast majority of workers are not giving even their 70% of energy and skills while they are on the job from the beginning to the end of the workday. That means that companies are doing a poor job of creating an emotional bond between employees and the organization. Although many companies may be doing their best to address this problem, that number has barely budged since 2015. Maybe you may never have thought about it, but you are in the business of creating happiness. If you do it well, you will not only be highly profitable, but there&rsquo;s a good chance you&rsquo;ll be a bit happier yourself.

Happiness and Human Resource Management

<img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.0321242839574068561628682884185%2FThe%20History%20of%20Art_1.webp?alt=media&token=492fd2a3-6df3-4bc5-850d-ba4b2dcfe727" alt="File preview" width="741" height="493" /> There have been times where words were not sufficient to convey a message; in such a situation, one sought help from art. Art is a constant, a means of communication for humans from the stone age to the twenty-first century. Art, along with humankind, has significantly evolved.&nbsp; We can broadly classify the different phases of evolution in the art world in eight periods: 1.STONE AGE ART(30,000 BCE- 3,000 BCE): The earliest art belongs to the stone age period. As the name suggests, stones were prominent. Petroglyphs, carving on hard protected surfaces like cave walls, were the most common. People refer to the period as prehistoric art as it existed before recorded history.&nbsp; We further divide the stone age into three periods; with development in tools observed over time: <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Paleolithic period (30,000 BCE-10,000 BCE)</li> </ul> &nbsp;The term palaeolithic means old stone age. The artworks of this phase mainly consist of small sculptures, carvings on walls and paintings. In this period, people put stone tools to use for something other than survival for the first time. The structures were mainly figurines of animals, small but realistic.&nbsp; The primary materials used were ivory, bone, stone, and clay&mdash;Bhimbetka Petroglyphs, the oldest known prehistoric art discovered in India's quartzite caves.&nbsp; <img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.0321242839574068561628682884185%2FThe%20History%20of%20Art_2.webp?alt=media&token=28fd4ef4-f17d-4aed-9f73-9bc51049b768" alt="File preview" width="740" height="555" /> Bhimbetka Petroglyphs&nbsp;&nbsp; <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Mesolithic period (10,000 BCE- 3,000 BCE)</li> </ul> &nbsp;This period marked the end of the ice age and a switch to more temperate conditions. Due to this change, the humans had to adapt to a new type of living, leaving behind their caves. They switched to more settled agricultural communities. The art now provided keener details and better narration. Ceramics also started gaining popularity in this period. The most intriguing artwork of this time consists of rock art, similar to the palaeolithic period on vertical cliffs or natural rocks. <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Neolithic period (8,000 BCE- 3,000 BCE)</li> </ul> &nbsp;In this era, weaving and pottery became prominent as civilization settled and people shifted from nomadic to permanent settlements. The most exciting creations from this time were the architecture that featured large stone structures called the megaliths. This period, however, mainly focused on pottery, the majority found in the region of Mesopotamia.&nbsp; 2.BRONZE AGE ART (3,000 BCE-1,100 BCE)&nbsp; This period highlights the production of bronze, an alloy of copper and tin. With advancements in the production of metalwork, there was a rise in skilled workers. The use of stone became less popular. The art world saw some agile development as metals were more flexible, the sculptures and artefacts made were more detailed and charming. People observed the earliest art in the Mesopotamia region, Sumerian art. Writing first began in Mesopotamia as the nation greatly prospered, and people started focusing on art, literature, culture and religion. Egyptian art also rose in the form of monumental architecture. Lost wax casting was one of the most common ways used for making sculptures out of bronze. The oldest cast bronze sculpture is the 'DANCING GIRL' in Mohenjo Daro. <img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.0321242839574068561628682884185%2FThe%20History%20of%20Art_3.webp?alt=media&token=73ec9296-48f2-4e19-9ecc-28561fbcbf7a" alt="File preview" width="400" height="776" /> The Dancing girl in Mohenjo Daro 3.IRON AGE ART (1,100 BCE-200 BCE) As the name suggests, the use of iron became more prominent in this period. It was the last phase of the prehistory period. It was more economical to mine iron than bronze, and it was more substantial, making it extremely popular and abundantly available. In this reign, greek art gained attention in the Mediterranean basin. However, near the end of the iron age, greek art started declining, and Persian and Egyptian art became more dominating. 4.MEDIEVAL ART (5th- 15th century) Medieval art was produced in Europe during the middle ages; it includes sculptures, paintings, illuminated manuscripts, mosaics, and metalwork.&nbsp; Based on time, we can classify medieval art into: <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">The Romanesque (11th-12th century)&nbsp;</li> </ul> Its name comes from the fact that its primary basis is on early Christian art in Rome. The architecture built in this reign, mainly churches, monasteries and temples, symbolized the growing wealth in Europe and the power of church monasteries. The characteristics of these buildings are thick stone walls, semi-circular arches with durable construction. Sculptures were also famous; made out of stone, based on the iconography of the bible. Thousands of artisans from Rome and Greek created an eastern, Christian image known as byzantine art. Other types of popular art include illuminated manuscripts and stained glass.&nbsp; <img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.0321242839574068561628682884185%2FThe%20History%20of%20Art_4.webp?alt=media&token=21720770-9d02-4897-a52c-fd2ce753cc65" alt="File preview" width="400" height="515" /> Chriatian Byzantine Art <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">The Gothic (12th-15th century)&nbsp;</li> </ul> It derives its name from the Goths that ruled France. The gothic architecture offered revolutionary structural advancements such as flying buttresses, ribbed vaults(formed by two arches across diagonally) and decorative pinnacles, contributing to taller and lighter buildings. Sculptures in the gothic period were more realistic images; they characterized angels, saints and biblical figures.&nbsp; Paintings also became more lifelike, and with the gradual development in Europe, artists soon started taking an interest in non-religious subjects.&nbsp; 5.THE RENAISSANCE (14th-16th century) The renaissance dominated Italy and the majority of Europe; the people in this reign made their appearance different from that of the medieval period. There was a great revival of learning of ancient Greece and Rome. The artist started rejecting the byzantine form of art and preferred a more realistic depiction of humans and space. The art from this time also represented other aspects, such as mythology. Some of the most famous masters of this time are Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael.&nbsp; 6.THE POST-RENAISSANCE (16th-18th century)&nbsp; This reign was followed by: <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Mannerism (16th century)&nbsp;</li> </ul> Mannerism, opposed to naturalism in art, was notable for its artificiality. The mannerist artist took paintings established during the renaissance and added a twist by exaggerating them, giving them an extravagant aesthetic to classicism. <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Baroque (17th-18th century)&nbsp;&nbsp;</li> </ul> The main principles of art in this reign was extravagance, ornateness and decorated details. The link between the catholic church and this art form was inseparable.&nbsp; <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Rococo (mid 17th-18th century)&nbsp;</li> </ul> Rococo, unlike Baroque, emphasized opulence, gratefulness and lightness. It emerged in France. Unlike another art form, it depicted light-hearted romance and carefree aristocratic life.&nbsp; 7.MODERN ART (18th-19th century) The Industrial Revolution led to the birth of modern art. In previous art forms, the art depicted religion and mythology. However, in the 19th-century, artists created art based on their personal experience and their chosen topics. The art produced in this reign showcased the artists' interest in re-imagining, interpreting and rejecting previous art styles.&nbsp; Some famous artworks are Les Demoiselles d'Avignon by Pablo Picasso, The Large Bathers by Paul C&eacute;zanne and Impression, Sunrise by Claude Monet.&nbsp; The different types of modern art are:&nbsp; <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Impressionism&nbsp;</li> </ul> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Post Impressionism&nbsp;</li> </ul> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Fauvism&nbsp;</li> </ul> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Expressionism&nbsp;</li> </ul> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Cubism&nbsp;</li> </ul> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Surrealism&nbsp;</li> </ul> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Abstract Expressionism&nbsp;</li> </ul> &nbsp;8.CONTEMPORARY ART (21st century) Contemporary art means art; painting, sculpture, photography, video art, installation and production are performed today. It allows the artist to reflect upon the social issues related to humanity in today's world. High-end technology and cultural diversity globally surrounds artists in today's time. This form of art stands out because of its lack of organization, uniformity and ideology.&nbsp; The different types of contemporary art are: <img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.0321242839574068561628682884185%2FThe%20History%20of%20Art_5.webp?alt=media&token=460edc0d-69c6-4de1-a10a-74c749f22f79" alt="File preview" width="740" height="555" /> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Pop art&nbsp;&nbsp;</li> </ul> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Photorealism&nbsp;</li> </ul> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Conceptualism&nbsp;</li> </ul> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Minimalism&nbsp;</li> </ul> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Performance art&nbsp;</li> </ul> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Installation art&nbsp;</li> </ul> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Earth art&nbsp;</li> </ul> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Street art&nbsp;</li> </ul>

The History of Art

<img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.10951663473921981628072883027%2FMEDIA%20AND%20LOVE_AanviJain_1.webp?alt=media&token=5dc42055-2f14-400a-b2aa-cde4c8b21b38" alt="" width="764" height="573" /> Love is an abstract concept, a complicated emotion. The greatest men of all time couldn't answer what love is. Many tried to give us a definition, but many believe it's beyond our understanding.&nbsp; So how much does the media know? Media made all of us believe that a perfect person is waiting for us. Someone whom the day we meet, our lives will be complete&mdash;a person who answers all our problems All the hope they have given us without any solid proof. Can our life also be a fairy tale like Cinderella with our soulmates going around the globe looking for us? The honest answer to this is a bummer for all; not all love stories are like Cinderella. While growing up, we saw perfect couples with romantic bickering. Many filmmakers and authors tried to capture the true essence of love by providing us with pieces such as The Notebook or Fault in our stars. Such creations did give us a desire for a dreamy love story and the perfect relationship but what it did not show us is that no relationship is perfect. Love is not as simple; it takes more than the presence of two individuals attracted to each other. It includes trust, selflessness, compromises from both ends.&nbsp; The best graphics we see on searching about love are people smiling with red hearts all around them. But as it is rightly said, all glitters are not gold. People can be in love and yet fight; they are not always happy with each other. There are disputes and conflicts.&nbsp; Another aspect of love we see in the media are couples celebrating their love by giving thoughtful gifts, going out for romantic dinners, and always spending time with each other. But in reality, that is not the case. Two individuals might not make romantic gestures regularly, but that doesn't change the fact that they love each other. They can still be as happy as other couples. The media cannot filter the toxic relationships, they have failed to highlight this issue, and those suffering are afraid to speak up. Love can make a person blind to the damage they are causing to their partner. It is a must to make everyone aware of the red flags to prevent them from the worst. Similarly, even abusive relationships are a subject of great importance. Not everyone is happy; some are hurting mentally or physically. Media is an integral part of our lives; it greatly influences our beliefs. But what we see there is not always true. Love is not all rainbows and glitters; it's not all smiles. The media only shows what they think the people like to see, and not what's true. Hence, we shouldn't be quickly captivated by everything they show us. What has been your experience with love?

Media and Love

<img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.38291449564924561628072884245%2FThe%20Philosophy%20of%20Love_IgnjatMilinkovic_1.webp?alt=media&token=d674f6c3-560e-41c3-809a-4caf2fb455aa" alt="" width="765" height="478" /> <h2>Mysticism and Illusion of love</h2> One of the essential topics that interested humans from the very beginning is Love. As social beings, people seek relationships. They write unfulfilled and even tragic love stories. Most of these stories become legends, and some remain myths.&nbsp; &ldquo;Like a waver of fine cloth, they spun the tales and legends of love into an amazing tapestry of the human psyche.&rdquo; From the story of Eros and Psyche, across the troubadours of the 12th century to Shakespeare&rsquo;s Romeo and Juliet, we can see that love is the impulse to live. Lovers are the greatest utopians, and their Love is the most wondrous utopia. In love, we feel more than we should, we ache more than we think, we dream more than we live, and we say the things in which we reasonably doubt. In love, there is nothing reasonable. Love is a state of mind without balance and without rethinking. That is why the ancient Greeks considered love to be sickness and those in love to be sick. Even the oath lovers took, had no judicial value.&nbsp; &ldquo;Take good care, my son, that you never sacrifice your reason for the love of a woman&rdquo;, Creon says in Antigone. While he speaks about Antonio and Cleopatra, Plutarch says: &ldquo; The soul of the one who is in love lives in the other one&rsquo;s body&rdquo;. Love cannot be spoken of wisely, for love is not a matter of the mind but the senses and feelings, and because love is true only when it is blind, it is not subject to any measure of reason. A man in love is a mystic who lives by illusion, who believes in miracles, but not the obvious, who invents fortunes and misfortunes, and finally, who builds plans without proportion and logic, quite contrary to everything he would have done if he had not been in love. In love, man seeks destiny in divination. He is encouraged by words, and he does not believe his eyes and ears. <h2>Love and religion</h2> <img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.38291449564924561628072884245%2FThe%20Philosophy%20of%20Love_IgnjatMilinkovic_2.webp?alt=media&token=9f7c992c-9752-4021-8978-2f1bdf4d95ac" alt="" /> In love, as in religion, it all starts with a feeling and believing in the unbelievable. Love is proof of intelligence because a man without ideas cannot love since love is the greatest wisdom and the finest spirituality. St. Teresa tells Lucifer that he is unhappy because he cannot love, and St. Francis made women out of snow. In the Christian world, the saints were in love, but in the pagan world, the gods were also in love. Even the goddess Rhea, the mother of Zeus, loved Phrygian young man, the handsome Attis. One of her sons, Pluto, was dying of love for Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, and the other son, Zeus, was sowing love through all the Greek roads through which he passed. &ldquo;Love to be loved. For God punishes according to justice&rdquo;- Here with the Greek lyricist, philanthropy and love are the same; and indisputably, those feelings are inseparable.

The Philosophy of Love

<img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.065927279545930921628072884125%2FScience%20Behind%20The%20Smile_IgnjatMilinkovic_1.webp?alt=media&token=d4862162-8ba2-4dfa-ab5b-2c7a24b4b3e4" alt="" width="764" height="509" /> Before you start reading this article, take a moment and ask yourself: &ldquo;How do I feel now?&rdquo; Is it happy, joyful, excited or sad, sorrowful, helpless, pessimistic? Whatever is the answer, you should give yourself another moment to recall all the situations that eventually triggered your actual feelings. Tap your back and know that mostly those feelings are transitory and that they are just visitors of your previous actions and reactions to certain situations that you were in. Happiness is becoming mainstream and a norm that all of us are reaching for. Society is expecting us to feel happy, to feel free. It&rsquo;s pushing us towards positive thinking, constantly burying down the true specter of feelings that we have in use and which we are sensing consciously or unconsciously. <h2>But what does science says about happiness?</h2> Psychologists define happiness as a subjective state of satisfaction with a current life situation, related to the feeling of self-fulfillment and enjoyment. An absence of negative emotions and stress. It is important to unpack this concept.&nbsp; We should know one basic thing, we could not feel happy if we don&rsquo;t feel sad. We could not feel joy if we don&rsquo;t feel despair. All of those are just extremes of a continuum. A dimension with two poles. The negative and positive sides. They are driving life as most humans know it. As aware beings, we have the luxury of consciously experiencing feelings. To think about them, recall them, learn how to overcome them or how to enjoy feeling them. <h2>Pleasure vs. Happiness</h2> Have you ever thought about the distinction between pleasure and happiness? Let&rsquo;s take a look what are the differences because the majority of people are misusing these concepts. First of all, pleasure is connected to our sensory level. According to a time dimension, it&rsquo;s short-lived, while happiness is long-lived.&nbsp;&nbsp; How to achieve it? Well, mostly by taking consumables (ex. food). On the other side, happiness is attained by giving and sharing (ex. human interactions, altruism). How it&rsquo;s experienced? Pleasure could be experienced even when we are alone, but happiness is shared in a group setting. <img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.065927279545930921628072884125%2FScience%20Behind%20The%20Smile_IgnjatMilinkovic_2.webp?alt=media&token=6fe16e36-5f13-4bcd-a0f6-225896234534" alt="" /> <h2>Neuroscience and Happiness</h2> On a physiological scale, a neurotransmitter in charge of pleasure is Dopamine. The one responsible for happiness is Serotonin.&nbsp; When taken to extremes, too much pleasure could lead to an addiction. You can&rsquo;t be addicted to happiness, right? Still, it&rsquo;s very hard to measure happiness because of its subjectiveness. But neuroscientists have discovered the brain parts and neurotransmitters, they have found the &ldquo;neuroanatomy of pleasure&rdquo;. They&rsquo;ve divided it into three major substrates: motivation, pleasure or &ldquo;liking&rdquo; and learning. From a thing that motivates or encourages someone to do something (it defines what we want), through conscious pleasure and hedonic impact, to cognitive processing and associative learning. All three of these have their own structures and areas in the brain which are duty-bound for different actions. Those areas are interconnected, they have functional connectivity between the anterior cingulate cortex and orbitofrontal cortex, hypothalamus, amygdala, and hippocampus. Affective neuroscience research on sensory pleasure has revealed many networks of brain regions and neurotransmitters activated by pleasant events and states. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that mediated satisfaction, happiness, and optimism. For example, Serotonin levels are reduced in depression, and most modern anti-depressant drugs, known as serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI), act by increasing the amount of serotonin available to brain cells. <h2>Common sense&nbsp;</h2> After all, we should know that happiness is a process, not a destination.&nbsp; To achieve it, we need to go through the pitfalls, we need to feel the burden of negative emotions, we need to let all of those feelings come through us, to analyze them, see where our blind spot is, and overcome them. We need to be proactive in our search for happiness because only then we can rip our chains and feel free again. Research shows that much of the happiness is under personal control. Regularly indulging in small pleasures, getting absorbed in challenging activities, setting and meeting goals, maintaining close social relationships, and finding meaning beyond oneself all increase life satisfaction. It isn&rsquo;t happiness per se that promotes well-being, it&rsquo;s an actual pursuit that&rsquo;s a key.

Science Behind the Smile

<img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.067500485203443981630900523657%2FVirtue%20ethics%2CUtilitarianism%20and%20Deontology_1.webp?alt=media&token=e33a80b9-8b93-47b4-aeab-48fcb9e30288" alt="File preview" width="740" height="493" /> Morality is a term coined to separate the good or bad thoughts, the right and wrong actions. Morality is subjective; many great philosophers like Aristotle, Plato, and Kant have given us their approach.&nbsp; To understand the basics of morality, let us take an example, you find a 20 dollar note on the floor, the exact amount required for you to buy that pretty new top you saw yesterday. Here, morality will guide you to ask the people around if they lost a twenty, and if nobody claims it, you give it to the police. Even if it is just a twenty note, it is immoral to keep it with you and spend it. The three main approaches to morality are Virtue ethics, Utilitarianism and Deontology.&nbsp; 1.VIRTUE ETHICS: Virtue ethics theory was given to us by Aristotle. It emphasizes virtues and moral character. It says happiness is our highest goal, and it is achievable by cultivating moral virtues. Once we have developed moral integrity, they can be employed automatically. Let us get a deeper understanding by taking an example: You visit your friend's house for dinner, she has recently learnt how to cook, and wants your opinion. Upon taking the first bite, you feel like the flavour is very off; it is bitter and salty. She is looking at you with excitement, waiting for an opinion. You are in a dilemma; being a good friend, you believe if you are honest, she can work harder and improve, but it might end up hurting her feelings. If you lie, she will be happy, and it might make her day. After contemplating the consequences, you decide to be honest with her. You chose honesty; you took a moral decision. As per virtue ethics, it soon becomes a personality trait if you decide to be honest at times.&nbsp; Virtue ethics can also be summed up as "fake it till you make it." 2.DEONTOLOGY: "An action, to have moral worth, must be done from duty."- Immanuel Kant. Immanuel Kant is one of the most famous philosophers associated with this approach. In Deontology, one is given a set of duties based on what their intuition believes is right and wrong, and one obeys them. Deontology eradicates subjectivity by focusing only on following the duties and not weighing the consequences of one's action. For example, you are a software engineer, and only you know how to hack into the system to stop the missile launch. Hacking is unethical; even if it might save thousands of lives, Deontology will prevent you from hacking. As previously stated, it does not weigh the consequences of the action and only focuses on following the suitable duties. 3.UTILITARIANISM: In Deontology, we studied that we need to obey the duties irrespective of the consequences; however, in utilitarianism, it is otherwise. It believes in taking the action that has the outcome benefiting the majority. It is a species of consequentialism; It evaluates the activity on the possibility of its consequence. In utilitarianism, happiness or pleasure are the only things that have intrinsic value. Continuing the example from Deontology, if we apply the utilitarian approach to the situation, it would suggest that since the one immoral activity will allow thousands of lives to be happy, the software engineer should go ahead.&nbsp; However, the only limitation here is that we cannot always be accurate on the possible outcome. The engineer might hack into the system successfully but fails to prevent the missile launch.&nbsp;So which school of thought do you think we should live by?&nbsp; Share your thoughts in the comments.

Virtue Ethics, Deontology and Utilitarianism

<img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.048438063517993961630902440187%2FProcrastination_1.webp?alt=media&token=8f9134e8-755b-402a-b71f-653b2809f51f" alt="File preview" width="400" height="601" />There are times when staring at a blank wall is interesting. And mostly, these are times when your desk nearby with its papers, sticky notes, and laptop screams for your attention. As much as you want to sit staring at the wall, which is not even the part with the pictures on it, but just white paint, your desk won&rsquo;t let you grant its opponent all the attention you wish to. You keep denying your desk&rsquo;s call, but you also don&rsquo;t feel so good about your response. It drives you into a battle between the rebel in you not wanting to sit at the desk for work vs the work itself. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s okay. Everybody procrastinates&rdquo;, you would think as you turn your eyes back at the wall.&nbsp;The term procrastination has been so often used for any scenario where critical work is not given enough importance that it has become a metonym for laziness. We closely associate it with one&rsquo;s inability to manage time, lack of willpower, and the like. But is it the paucity of your time management skills that keeps you hanging indefinitely between responsibility and your action? Procrastination indeed looks like a regulation issue. But what if it isn&rsquo;t about the regulation of time but of your emotions instead?Tim Pychyl, an associate professor of psychology at Carleton University, believes that &ldquo;Procrastination is not a time-management problem, it&rsquo;s an emotion-management problem.&rdquo; In his book &lsquo;Solving the Procrastination Puzzle,&rsquo; he defines procrastination as &ldquo;a voluntary delay of an intended act despite the knowledge that this delay may harm us.&rdquo; As much clarity and truth it holds, this very definition is also one of something that is against human nature. We are inclined to seek satisfaction and happiness and perform deeds that bring us closer to these. Why would you sense danger and still choose to delay your tasks if ticking them off your list is what would make you happy? There could be times where even after allotting a specific slot of your day for a task, you do not find yourself doing it very efficiently.Though time management plays a crucial role in meeting deadlines, it is not the only reason someone slacks off. When properly looked into, procrastination doesn&rsquo;t look like a problem with your time management. Instead, it seems like an emotion-focused coping strategy, wherein your inner critic comes into play. Self-judgment naturally follows, but you should channel it tastefully such that you move forward, offering self-compassion rather than questioning your abilities and sinking in guilt.As Pychyl says, &ldquo;to the extent that I can deal with my emotions, I can stay on task,&rdquo; handling your emotions is essential for working, regardless of how petty it sounds.Gathering ideas to overcome procrastination often results in rumination and self-loathing, taking us further away from the solution. But what is &lsquo;the&rsquo; solution? It is unreasonable to expect to find a single solution to such a complex issue as procrastination. The cause and resolution are not the same for everyone. What could be possible reasons behind this issue that becomes a &lsquo;suffering&rsquo; in the long run?<img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.048438063517993961630902440187%2FProcrastination_2.webp?alt=media&token=569ee435-64b8-4434-969a-19d1fe29692b" alt="File preview" width="739" height="492" />Another psychologist named Piers Steel from the University of Calgary wrote a paper called &lsquo;The Nature of Procrastination: A Meta-Analytic and Theoretical Review of Quintessential Self-Regulatory Failure&rsquo;, wherein he reported four major possible causes of procrastination:i) Low Self Confidence: Your willingness to do a task is likely to drop if you are not confident enough about the process and outcome. Being afraid of your inability to meet your expectations and those from others is a cue for your procrastination to rise. Reduce negative self-talk, as this will add layers to your anxiety. Forgive yourself if you make mistakes, but more importantly, appreciate yourself for every move you make.ii) Pleasure derived from the task: It's less probable that you&rsquo;ll delay a task if it's exciting or rewarding enough. The boredom associated with the task plays a higher role than its difficulty in foreseeing the level of procrastination. When you don&rsquo;t feel like working on something, try to find what could be holding you back. Face your negative thoughts related to the task at hand, don&rsquo;t try to run away.iii) Distractibility: Sometimes, it could be that you want to finish a task, but your environment hinders your focus and forces you to do otherwise. Putting away things that are likely to distract you and finding a new domain or modifying your present one to suit yourself will help you stay focused on completing the task.iv) Relaxed deadlines: It's pretty natural to want to take more leisure time before starting a task when you know there is enough time to do it. Doing so might be helpful to relax if carefully worked on, but procrastination usually takes over, dominates, and makes you haste in the last moment. To manage a distant deadline, break it down into smaller deadlines and tackle them every day. Train yourself to finish the work first, and enjoy the remaining time as leisurely as you want.Other factors like denial of consequences and rebelliousness do support these causes.Bringing in some math to his theory, Steel has put the above coworking factors in the form of an equation. The product of your self-confidence and the pleasure from the task, divided by the product of your distractibility and time till deadline, gives your chances of not procrastinating on your task. In simpler terms, the first two factors need to be increased, while the latter two need to be decreased to improve your productivity.People procrastinate differently. The key is to identify your vulnerability and work on it. Hence, this equation can only be used as a guide and not as the final solution to solve the issue. Keep tuning these factors and the others that support them until you are satisfied with the level of mental and situational comfort.Do not see procrastination as a personality problem. It is only an inner critic trying to talk to you. So listen, and communicate through actions!

Procrastination - What is it trying to tell you?

<img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.192300571967987551639975398191%2Fimage1.webp?alt=media&token=345bf1ba-12ba-44c5-9f09-351b423c8341" alt="File preview" width="700" height="466" /> Ask yourself: When was the last time you stopped to think about the origins of your morning coffee, or how does the Bluetooth work on your smartphone, or really, when was the last time you stopped to try and understand more about your reality? How often do you really think? The complex problem of thinking is: There are many ways of thinking and too many things to think about. When you try to understand the best route to get to someone&rsquo;s house, are you thinking? You could say so. However, would you say the same thing when you stop to understand the meaning of your life? Yes, you could also say so. However, there&rsquo;s a fundamental element to this problem. At Queen&#39;s University in Kingston, Canada, psychologists did research that showed the average person has about 6,200 thoughts per day. And throughout your day, you make lots of decisions; each of those requires previous thoughts that you may not even be conscious of. So let&rsquo;s draw a line: When Socrates says, &ldquo;The unexamined life is not worth living&rdquo;, he&rsquo;s referring to the conscious process of thinking. <img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.192300571967987551639975398191%2Fimage2.webp?alt=media&token=4fb27fca-e95c-45d5-84d1-f292c64037a7" alt="File preview" width="700" height="466" /> Along with that, one of the most rebellious phrases of philosophy is: &ldquo;I think, therefore I am.&rdquo; To wonder is to make something out of existence. When you look around and consciously perceive the world, you&rsquo;re a different part of what you would be if you weren&rsquo;t thinking. The sky won&rsquo;t be as beautiful if you don&rsquo;t look at it, even though it is the same sky. The wind will pass almost unnoticed if you don&rsquo;t appreciate it. &ldquo;You will die without living if you don&rsquo;t think about it.&rdquo; So ask yourself: What is life? Get a good answer to this question, and then: throw it away. The point is not to find a pretty little answer but to dive into deep thoughts. And then, ask yourself again and again because everything is constantly changing, and you&rsquo;re part of the changing process. So, embrace the various definitions you can think about. You&rsquo;ll find uncertainty in your search for answers to complex questions such as: &ldquo;What is life?&rdquo; The way to deal with uncertainty is to have faith because nobody knows the truth. Maybe truth, as we conceive it, is not even something we conquer by &ldquo;knowing&rdquo;. And to understand what life is, you&rsquo;ll need more than logical assumptions. If we take as an example the axiom from Rick Sanchez - from the animated show Rick and Morty - &nbsp;&ldquo;What people call Love is just a chemical reaction that compels animals to breed&rdquo;. Some may agree that indeed this is love. However, we could also agree that something is missing in this assumption. It is too reductionist, lacking the metaphysical aspect of love and its applications in the way we think and perceive the world. So, in the end, one needs the courage to think because along with answers, there&lsquo;ll be suffering and other questions to answer. However, it is necessary to consider to make life worth living: So go on to ask yourself: What is life? -writing one answer in the comment section might help you think things through-

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