Dave accidentally invents Virtual Psychotherapy

by | Sep 18, 2006 | Uncategorized

Dave the lifekludger can’t help himself. He *thinks* he’s been having an emotional breakdown. But what he was *really* doing was re-inventing an entire industry.

I ended up spending my days with my head switched off in Second Life (SL). And it was my answer in this period, my therapy. I needed something that didn’t take any analytical brain power and yet could occupy me enough just to relax. I found a whole new side of me, a side that had been buried under that rock I talked of for 25 years. I knew from outset that the word ‘expression’ was a key, but didn’t know what that meant. SL gave me a new way of expression and of freedom from the constraints that come with my disability and those constraints I’d built myself as a way of either escape or coping.

I predict that years from now there will an entire industry and a shelf full of books about using virtual worlds such as Second Life as a path to therapy for all kinds of emotional and psychological problems. And Dave just happened to invent the whole shebang while he thought he was having some downtime. You just can’t stop some people. Even when they think they are chilling out they are breaking new ground. 

Catching up with the other Daniel McPherson

by | Sep 16, 2006 | Melbourne, Uncategorized

Dan used to sit next to me at Microsoft Melbourne all those years ago. I remember when Dan bought this massive Creative mp3 player, I think it was 6Gb or something, was about the size of a bread plate, way back in 99 or 00. We thought it was the bomb. Cost him a week’s pay. I was extremely envious. Five years ago DanMc moved to Microsoft London and when we caught up for a quick coffee last Thursday he told me he has recently chased a skirt to Amsterdam where he tells me he will continue to put off his true dream of bringing webcams to Africa, even though he’s now 30 and looking every day of it. Apparently he’d ratherbuy a beer in a movie theatre and, Dan, remember….. it breaks down like this: it’s legal to buy it, it’s legal to own it and, if you’re the proprietor of a hash bar, it’s legal to sell it. It’s legal to carry it, which doesn’t really matter ’cause — get a load of this — if the cops stop you, it’s illegal for them to search you. Searching you is a right that the cops in Amsterdam don’t have.

Dan (left), and Richard Sockpuppet Giles (right)

Dan’s sparse blog.

It’s The Questions You Ask

by | Sep 16, 2006 | Uncategorized

One of the secrets I learned a few years ago was that it’s the questions you ask yourself in times of adversity that determine your paradigm.

For example, when the shit hits the fan, my previous programmed response was to think

"Oh you idiot, how could you let this happen?"

"You shouldn’t have done x, y or z. Why didn’t you do a through d like so-and-so told you?"

 "How could this happen to me? How could he or she do that to me?"

From these questions, a domino effect happens of victim mentality. The thoughts that follow are all pity party thoughts. It’s a simple biological reaction. The neurons in the brain that are associated with fear and flight stimulate each other. One you trigger one of them, a predictable chain of event occurs.

And then suddenly, out of the blue, one day my questions changed. Since that time, when the shit hits the fan, I ask myself:

"How can I use this as an opportunity?"

"How can I benefit from this?"

"How can I profit from this new information?"

"What unpleasantness has this event rescued me from?"

And my favourite:

"What would Napoleon do?"

Again, the neurons in the brain that are associated with creativity, discipline and passion also stimulate each other. Trigger one of them and watch what happens. It’s simple biology.

In Adversity.

by | Sep 16, 2006 | Uncategorized

It isn’t how you handle success that I’m interested in. It’s how you handle adversity. Anyone can look impressive when they are rolling in the good times. But it takes true strength of character to handle the rough times. I’m interested in being around people who have what it takes. Life’s too short to spend with spineless people.