Everyone Has a Little Room

Something about the words in this simple White Stripes’ song we really like. Listen close.

The McGurk Effect

Although we talk a lot in Fishbird about the power of awareness and choice, this fascinating example of our brains’ hardwiring showcases the fact that being aware of something does not always allow us to choose something different. We’ve been watching this video for the past week and we still can’t get over it.

Ba. Ba. Ba.

Los 33: The Chilean Miners, One Year Later

It seems like just yesterday the world was riveted by the heroics and courage of the 33 Chilean miners trapped underground for over two months. One of our first posts on the site had to do with the drilling tactics used to get the men out: a perfect case study in lateral thinking. But what happened to the miners after the camera crews left? What happened after the late night television show appearances and the victory tour? We’ve been wondering about these questions quite a bit here. Shortly after the miners’ rescue, there were a couple of weeks in the Fishbird office where we were making plans to go down to Chile and rally Los 33 to do a free Fishbird session. Get their minds out of the mine and support them in creating a powerful vision for their future.

In the end, we didn’t go. It just didn’t seem like it was the right move. While we felt that Fishbird could help the miners, we also knew, deep down, that these men needed something else first. They needed time and space to decompress, to begin to understand what they went through. So we stayed home, our travel plans left on our computer desktops.

But we kept thinking about Los 33.

And now, there’s this from Al Jazeera: a brilliant correspondence on the struggle to cope.

“I think they should have received more psychological help after the trauma they experienced. They are still at a stage where they can’t sleep, they still have nightmares, some have anxiety attacks, depression … and even so, the insurance company gave almost all of them a clean bill of health,” says Carla Pena, a social worker who helped the miners’ families throughout their ordeal. Seven of the miners are still receiving psychological help, though many more say they, too, are not well.

The article goes on to describe the lavish attention the men first received, and how “sick” Chileans, and perhaps the world, is of hearing about them today.

Maybe it’s time for Fishbird now.