"As part of your earliest remarks, make sure to talk about some kind of link you have with the audience. Preferably something the audience knows more about than you do. Give them something to feel good about, and feel good about listening to you. This opens up their ears & will make them care around 100 times more about the rest of your presentation."
This is sound advice, from someone who knows what they are talking about, 100% yes.
Another thing I've noticed recently is that my natural noises for effort or exasperation or upset are really quite feminine, which I was mocked for endlessly ... I would say as a child but the offender continued to do it long after.... Anyway, I've noticed that I can finally make those natural sounds, authentically, and not cringe (conditioned trauma) internally. Because now, to me, they make sense. And I'm not trying to fit who I am sexually or gender-wise into some dumb paper model.
#trans
#revelations
#authenticity
This week, I have discovered something important about myself: I am AuDhd — autistic and ADHD.
A few years ago, close family suggested that I might be autistic. I started to wonder too, but life kept moving and I pushed it aside. Recently, my psychologist recommended a full assessment. I decided it was time to find out.
Now it’s confirmed. I’m officially diagnosed.
It’s life-changing.
It’s a revelation.
It explains so much about who I am and how my brain works.
I finally have answers to the questions I’ve carried for years. Why I think the way I do. Why I experience the world so intensely. Why things that seem “easy” for others cost me so much energy.
I’ve already spent time grieving the parts of my life shaped by misunderstanding — both from others and from myself. This diagnosis doesn’t change who I am. It simply gives me language for it. It makes sense of a lifetime of being “too much,” “too sensitive,” “too intense.”
I’m not broken.
I’m not a failed version of normal.
I’m neurodivergent — and there is strength in that.
I'm still learning what Unmasking for me means, but here are a few things i plan to start doing:
• Asking for clarity instead of masking confusion
• Setting up my life around my brain’s natural rhythms
• Refusing to apologise for my sensory needs
• Speaking plainly about how I experience the world
Getting this diagnosis is not an end. It’s a beginning.
If you’re walking this path too — late-diagnosed, learning who you really are underneath the masks — you are not alone.
We are allowed to exist as we are.
I’m AuDHD.
I’m proud.
I’m building a life that finally makes sense.
Effective Leadership Through Sound Connections: A Conversation with Jem Fuller – Part 2
Effective Leadership Through Sou
https://voiceoversandvocals.com/blog/health/effective-leadership-through-sound-connections-a-conversation-with-jem-fuller-part-2/
#Health #Music #authenticity #Commonalities #communication #connection #CoreValues #Ego #HumanConnection #HumanEvolution #Isolation #leadership #music #pandemic #SharedExperiences #sound #understanding #UniversalLanguage #VirtualWorld
#Authenticity today has been domesticated, groomed, & monetized. It's no longer the dangerous, destabilizing force the 19th century Romantics dreamed of. It's a curated aesthetic, an algorithm-friendly posture. What passes for authenticity now is simply strategic vulnerability, the influencer crying on camera with just the right lighting. "Authenticity" has become the most effective form of branding.
We've replaced truth with relatability, & integrity with engagement metrics.
#likeability
A personal reflection on how trust and professional capabilities are being destroyed by the use of genAI tools. Precise and nuanced. 100% yes to every sentence in this article.
Honesty.
It's that simple. Try to be honest. In what you think, in what you say. Say it as it is.
Be honest. Nothing is harder. This is the battle.
(What you do
in private, what you do in public, that's annother question.)
Accept your mistakes, explain how they came about. Learn.
Don't let cliches or AI speak on your behalf. (Aren't they the same?)
The last part of the book Talk: The Science of Conversation and the Art of Being Ourselves discusses conversations between people who may not agree. Other books have tackled this subject at length, so I won’t rehash the ideas here.
While some of the ideas in the book aren’t new (to me), I think they could be applied to collective benefit, both in person and on social media. Less one-upmanship, fewer “gotcha” questions, less correction, less ego. More question asking, more connection, and more kindness, most of all.
end
My 12yo daughter is into the Young Sheldon series right now. Sometimes she invites me in for a shared viewing. (I treasure it while it lasts.) So it came to pass that I saw young Sheldon's too-good-to-be-true grandma quoting Sissy Spacek to Sheldon, as a role model of Texan resilience.
That made me remember and cherish how much I love the work of Sissy Spacek.
Sissy Spacek is right, whatever she does. A real actor, flawless, giving life and depth to every character she plays. I know next to nothing about her, but I do know that she has the magic touch.
Thank you, Young Sheldon, and thank you, my daughter, for this reconnection.
"I do not want a computer to summarise texts sent by my friends into shorter sentences, as though the work of being updated on the lives of those I love is somehow strenuous or not what being alive is all about."
Writer and painter Joseph Earp nails it in this Guardian essay.
Why AI Writing Will Never Worry Me
I believe this dystopian wake-up call will ignite the human soul Continue reading on The Writing Cooperative »
https://writingcooperative.com/why-ai-writing-will-never-worry-me-56f69d5d562
#creativity #ai #authenticity #creativewriting #aiwriting
@indieauthors
@sysop408 don't forget the little white detail cards next to each artefact.
So much of my life is performative, it's annoying. Like even my studying. I just want to get to the end of the flashcard stack and am not focused on actually being honest with myself and learning anything. What a waste of time. This shit is going to take a while to overcome.
In a world where we chase likes, let's not forget the real connections. If dogs can teach us to live in the moment, maybe we should take a cue from them. Prioritize authenticity over popularity. #SocialMedia #Authenticity
As the political landscape shifts, the Democrats' plummeting favorability is a stark reminder: messaging matters. In a world where authenticity is currency, are they still speaking the language of the people? #Politics #Authenticity
Since COVID, it seems we've lost our minimum bar: there are no parameters to define acceptable behavior anymore.
A lot / enough of society thinks whack-a-doos like this are some form of "normal". They're not! 
In the movie Ryan's Daughter, Michael, a man from the village and played superbly by John Mills, was an honest genuine soul that understood respect, in spite of all his challenges. A novel concept for many these days ...
Canadian politics isn't about who gets to play banker and real estate agent and he/she who bankrupts all the other players is the winner. It's about making a level playing field for all as we help those in need.
Undisguised and Naked: The Poet in Nature
The #poet goes into #nature to strip away the layers of disguise that society demands, but we cannot sever the connections to other humans.
#authenticity #identity #nature #poetry #society #WaltWhitman #essay
“But although the cliché says that power always corrupts, what is seldom said ... is that power always reveals.
“When a man is climbing, trying to persuade others to give him power, concealment is necessary.
“But as a man obtains more power, camouflage becomes less necessary.”
- Robert Caro (2012)
The AI craze in higher education has no bounds and knows no shame.
Today we received a message from our education working group (who are all regular academics, not EduTech hires). An invite to a workshop on genAI and its wonderful uses in teaching, personal tutoring, assessment, you name it. There's the token reference to risks and potential dangers, but the tenor is unbridled enthusiasm.
The invite comes with a picture of this very workshop, which (quick look at the calendar) is still in the future.
The future genAI workshop is being advertised by a genAI image of itself.
My colleagues collectively have lost the plot.
#Pope rebukes #Trump administration over #migrant #deportations, and appears to take direct aim at #Vance.
#Catholicism #Christianity #faith #authenticity #compassion #HumanDignity
https://apnews.com/article/pope-trump-migration-09a89091f8e7dc3270099f0947d04e90
Götterdämmerung 
