You can make sure your phone is in airplane mode when you drive, never snack when youre behind the wheel, always have both hands on the wheel, and yet still be a distracted driver.

Keeping your head in the game is the greatest challenge professional drivers face when it comes to keeping ourselves and everyone around us safe from harm. Its a delusion to believe we can focus solely on the task of driving when behind the wheel, or that the solution to this challenge is mandated rest.

I firmly believe that road safety starts with the right attitude in your head. For example, you shouldnt be driving if youre filled with any destructive emotion such as anxiety, anger, or depression. The same applies if you are experiencing fatigue, burn-out, or exhaustion.

But is that even possible in the world that commercial drivers move in? How many of you professional drivers reading this have made it through a week without experiencing at least one of the physical or emotional factors I alluded to? And what do you do, if anything, about it?

Im pretty sure that every dispatch office as well as every shipping and receiving office has experienced the angry, irate, or emotionally-charged truck driver. Very often, we drivers are a pressure cooker filled with nuggets of emotion stewing in a broth of fatigue. Woe betide the dispatcher or shipping clerk that pops open the lid without backing off the pressure first.

Having a fellow driver you can call and just shoot the breeze with when anxiety and fatigue start to take hold is important. Im no psychologist, but I know that talking to someone who shares your same experience and background in the industry is a fantastic way to change the channel in your head.

Often, that is all that you need to dissipate the anger or frustration you are feeling. Its a simple way of releasing that pressure youre experiencing. In the two decades that Ive been trucking, I have never sat in a safety meeting that has discussed the everyday emotional challenges that drivers especially longhaul drivers face with any great depth.

The closest to this topic we ever seem to get is when employee benefits are discussed and employee assistance programs are on the agenda.

But what about fatigue, weariness, exhaustion, and burn-out? Well, to be honest, those are things we only talk about in terms of hours-of-service regulations and drivers know those rules are not a magic elixir to eliminate fatigue.

So, in my opinion, distracted driving results from the debilitating emotional and physical responses we experience as a result of the work we do. You get emotionally charged, or fatigued, or both, and your mind wanders off to deal with those issues. Your head is no longer in the game. You are now experiencing a much higher level of risk and you probably arent aware of it.

Eighty per cent of ongoing driver training (if you get any training, that is) should be learning about how to keep your head in the game and how to recognize the emotional and physical factors within yourself that put you at an increased level of risk. I think this is the most important step towards improving the dismal safety record within our industry.

Im raising this topic because for the last several months, I have been feeling a heightened level of anxiety and burn-out. As a result, I have become hypersensitive to requests from the folks in operations that place any additional demand on my time, even if those requests are reasonable and not at all unusual, which is the majority of the time.

I have a high degree of respect for the people I work with. Ive worked with many of them for more than 16 years now, so the last thing I want to do is act like a jerk and be disrespectful or unreasonable.

How our mental well-being affects our personal safety and the safety of others on the job, is a huge topic. I think workplace safety in the trucking industry deserves a drivers point of view from the front lines.

Hopefully I can bring you some of that perspective over the next several months with a break here and there for any hot topics that grab my attention. Be aware and be safe out there drivers.

Al Goodhall has been a professional longhaul driver since 1998. He shares his experiences via his blog at http://www.truckingacross canada.blogspot.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @Al_Goodhall

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The Last Word: Keeping our head in the game - Truck News

The belief that we live in a meritocracy is one of our oldest and most persistent illusions.

It justifies the gaping inequalities in our society by attributing them to the skill and hard work of successful people and the incompetence and shortcomings of unsuccessful people. But this has always been a fantasy, a way of glossing over how the world actually works.

A new book by Yale Law professor Daniel Markovits, The Meritocracy Trap, is a fascinating attempt to poke holes in our conventional understanding of meritocracy and, in the process, make the case for something better.

We typically think of meritocracy as a system that rewards the best and brightest. For Markovits, it is merely a pretense, constructed to rationalize an unjust distribution of advantage.

Heres a clarifying stat: At two Ivy League schools that Markovits surveyed, the share of students from households in the top quintile of the income distribution exceeds the share from the bottom two quintiles combined by a ratio of about three and a half to one. The point: Meritocracy is a mechanism for transferring wealth from one generation to the next. Call that what you want, but you cant call it fair or impartial.

What makes Markovitss book so interesting is that he doesnt just condemn meritocracy as unfair for non-elites; he argues that its actually bad for the people benefiting from it. The trap of meritocracy ensnares all of us, he says, in ways that make life less satisfying for everyone.

I spoke to Markovits about how meritocracy works, what its doing to us, and what a post-meritocratic society might look like. A lightly edited transcript of our conversation follows.

What is a meritocracy, and do we actually live in one?

Meritocracy is the idea that people get ahead based on their own accomplishments rather than, for example, on their parents social class. And the moral intuition behind meritocracy is that it creates an elite that is capable and effective and that it gives everybody a fair chance at success.

Do we live in a meritocracy? Well, maybe the best we can hope for is to live in an imperfect meritocracy. The problem, of course, is that elites cheat and they game the system and they engage in all kinds of self-dealing in order to get ahead.

On a purely descriptive level, though, I think we do live in something like a meritocracy. That is to say, the bulk of the reason why certain people have gotten ahead is that they have genuinely accomplished things. On the other hand, the moral intuition behind meritocracy is not at all realized. This system does not give everybody a fair chance at success and it hasnt been particularly good for society as a whole. And it hasnt even been good for the elite.

Well get to that last point, but first I want to be very precise about the claim youre making here. Theres a simple critique of meritocracy that says the so-called elites arent really elite; instead, theyre beneficiaries of a rigged system.

I dont think you dispute this, but you make a deeper claim, which is that the problem is the kind of society weve built, a society that favors the sort of skills meritocrats are uniquely equipped to have. Can you say a bit about that?

Lets just separate those two things out. And maybe the recent college admission scandal is a good way to illustrate this concretely. In that scandal, some rich and famous people paid bribes to get their kids into college.

Now, Im not saying the scandal wasnt wrong it absolutely was scandalous. But the bulk of the reason why our colleges, particularly our elite colleges, are filled with kids of rich parents isnt that. Instead, its that rich parents spend enormous sums of money not on bribing anybody but on educating their children, on getting their children into prestigious kindergartens and high schools, on coaches and tutors and music teachers, and this means the children of rich people simply do better on the merits.

And so the big problem that we face isnt merely that the rich cheat, its that the meritocracy favors the rich even when everybody plays by the rules.

So youre saying that a world in which meritocracy works is, by definition, a bad world, a world that engineers and reproduces inequalities.

Yes, it exacerbates and reproduces inequalities, so that one thing thats happened is that because the rich can afford to educate their children in a way nobody else can, when it comes time to evaluate people on the merits, rich kids just do better.

Is the meritocratic system itself the greatest impediment to a fair society, which is to say a society in which equality of opportunity is a real thing?

I wouldnt want to argue about whether meritocracy or racism, for example, is the greatest impediment to equality of opportunity.

But Ill say this: the SAT and the College Board reported data in 2016 from which you can figure out how many kids there were that year in the US who took SAT who scored 750 or above, which is roughly the Ivy League median, and whose parents had a graduate degree. And the answer is about 15,000.

You can also figure out how many kids there were who scored 750 or above whose parents had not graduated high school, much less earned graduate degrees. And the numbers are so small, the tail is so thin, that the statistical techniques become unreliable. But if you just grind out the math, the answer, I think, was 32.

So thats a case in which effectively what degrees your parents have determines whether youre going to get a high-enough SAT score to get into the Ivy League. And thats meritocratic in a way but its an incredible block to equality of opportunity.

Is there any way to organize a competitive society that doesnt inevitably tend toward these sorts of excesses?

I think its possible, yes. So one distinction I draw is between excellent education and superior education. Excellent education is education that makes a person good at something thats worth doing, and superior education is education that makes somebody better than other people at something, regardless of whether its worth doing or not.

You can imagine a society which has widespread, excellent education and invests in training people to be good at all the tasks that the society needs and fills up its jobs with people who are excellent at them. And that would be a kind of a meritocratic society that structures its education and work so that once youre excellent, being a little bit better doesnt make that much of a difference.

Germany, I think, is a pretty good model for that kind of society. But our society focuses on superior education: It gives huge advantages to people who are better than somebody else or than everybody else in all sorts of things that probably arent worth doing, like being great at high-tech finance, which most economists think has almost no social value.

But if youre really good at it you can make millions and millions of dollars a year, and to get really good at it you have to master all sorts of difficult skills and you have to get degrees at the top of your class in the very best universities in the country. And thats the kind of system that we have now.

I want to circle back to something you alluded to earlier, which is that meritocracy is toxic even for those who profit from it. That will strike many readers as counterintuitive. Can you explain what you mean?

It takes enormous effort to win and keep winning in this competition, so elite schooling has become enormously more intensive than it was 20 or 50 years ago. And elite jobs have become enormously more intensive. The toll that this takes is quite heavy and I think its destructive of human well-being.

Meritocrats are constantly struggling and being evaluated and tested, and they constantly have to shape and manipulate themselves in order to pass the test. And in a way, its like theyre portfolio managers whose assets include just themselves, and they have kind of an instrumental and alienated attitude toward their own lives because they have to treat their life that way.

You teach at Yale Law. Youre surrounded by elites. Do you find that most or any of them feel like theyre suffering on account of their privilege? Because my sense is that the people with the most to lose from reordering society are usually the most committed to keeping the world the world the way it is. The idea that weary meritocrats will suddenly wake up and find solidarity with the besieged middle class seems a little quixotic to me.

Its nuts, right? I can just give you some of my own anecdotes. There was a survey of the mental health climate at Yale Law School done last year or the year before, and something like 70 percent of respondents said that they felt the need to use and consult mental health services. And there are similar data from other elite institutions that show elite students are not happy, are not doing well.

Twenty years ago when I started teaching here, my students were feeling very good about themselves. They felt like they won the golden ticket. Today, thats just not the case. They feel as though theyve run a gauntlet to get here, and they recognize that when they get out to the workforce, theyre just going to have to run another gauntlet thats just like the one they ran. And they dont want that.

And they also increasingly recognize that their advantages are very closely intertwined with the exclusion of others, and they object to that morally. So I dont think that at the moment this is a student body that is thriving. Its got great career prospects, but the rest of its life as a whole is not going well and I think my students recognize that.

And what is the price that non-elites are paying for the system? How are those marginalized by meritocracy suffering?

I think there are at least three kinds of prices. First, they cant compete and their children cant compete. What a poor or middle-class family is able to spend on education is absolutely dwarfed by what a wealthy family is able to spend.

A second harm is what elites have done to the labor market. Theyve remade jobs in a way that destroys the middle class by eliminating the high-paying positions for people who lack technocratic expertise. Think of a company like Kodak, which, at its peak, employed 140,000 people with good, secure jobs. Now that part of the economy is occupied by a company like Instagram, which had 13 employees when it was bought for a $1 billion by Facebook and those were all super-skilled elite workers.

And then finally meritocracy adds a kind of a moral insult to this economic exclusion because it frames what is in fact structural inequality and structural exclusion as an individual failure to measure up, and then tells you if youre in the middle class, the reason you cant get the great high-paying job is because youre not good enough and the reason that your kids cant get into Harvard is that theyre not good enough, which is complete nonsense. But thats what the ideology tells you.

I take all your points and dont disagree, I just wonder what it would take to move beyond the meritocratic model. Are we not, after all, talking about a complete shift in how we think about political economy and morality?

I think thats probably right. Look, one way to think about this is that if you take a longer historical view, meritocracy in its deeper origins came to the English-speaking world around 1833, which is the date in which the administrative division of the British East India Company entrance and promotion based on social class was replaced with entrance and promotion based on competitive examinations.

And so it took from 1833 to 1980 or so, 150 years, for the whole society and economy to be remade on this model. And that involved changes in institutions, in technology, in government, in policy. And it will take generations and imaginative changes to undo this thing or to get into the next phase of our collective existence.

So I know it sounds like Im asking for something unobtainable, but the reality is that the current setup is increasingly unsustainable. There are going to be fundamental shifts in how we think about our ambitions, our lives, our institutions, and our production and consumption. And the trick in the face of that is to come up with a compelling critique of where we are and charismatic ideas of where we might go.

The sort of change youre after will, for lack of a better word, demand a revolution of individual consciousness. Ultimately, people are going to have to want different things, fear different things, aspire to different things.

People have to realize that the things that they want right now are not making them well. They have to recognize the sources of their dissatisfaction and the sources of their childrens dissatisfaction and then they have to start finding alternatives.

And the job of policymakers is to try to create alternatives that will serve the needs of those who grab onto them. Thats why, for example, one of the policy recommendations in the book is to massively expand enrollments in elite education. The trick is to get many, many more kids from non-rich families into not just the Ivy League, but elite private universities, elite private high schools, and elite private elementary schools, and to do it in a way that does not require excluding any currently rich kids, so that the schools themselves become genuine avenues of opportunity again.

Ill close with a somewhat ominous question: If we dont unravel the meritocracy, if society continues to hum along as it is, if the inequalities persist, what will happen?

I dont have a confident view about the particulars, but we know that societies that succumb to this level of concentrated wealth and privilege generally dont unwind it except through losing a foreign war or an internal revolution. And something like that is in the offing for us. I dont know when or how or what the details are, but thats the kind of fear that one should take very, very seriously.

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Meritocracy harms everyone even the winners - Vox.com

There's a moment in the new musical Only Human in which God, played by Gary Busey (yes, that's right, more on that in a moment), sees his reflection in a mirror for the first time. The look of pure delight on God's face is indelible, and he does a sort of shimmy by way of celebrating himself. It's the most believable moment in the show.

Anyway, back to Busey. To be accurate, his character is referred to only as "The Boss." Although to be sure you understand who he really is, the program helpfully clues us in that he's God, and that the characters named Jay (Evan Maltby), Lou (Mike Squillante) and Maggie (Kim Steele) are supposed to be Jesus, Lucifer and Mary Magdalene, respectively. Apparently, the show's creators felt we otherwise wouldn't quite get it.

The first act of the world-premiere musical is set in "Heaven's front office, before time was time," which probably explains why time seems to stand still while you watch it. Considering the workplace's heavenly status, it's pretty bare-bones, containing little more than some office chairs, a wheeled metal staircase and some large cubes. In addition, God sorry, "The Boss" has a small private office upstairs, where he sits behind a desk at a boxy, vintage computer. Because after all, Steve Jobs, or any human being for that matter, hasn't been born yet except, for some reason, Mary Magdalene.

The story begins with Lou proudly unveiling his idea for the creation of the human race, followed by Maggie arguing that it needs more women and Jay making a case that the essential ingredient for people should be niceness. As anyone who's ever worked in an office can guess, tensions arise, until The Boss eventually fires Lou. In any case, mankind does get rolling, as signified by a fig leaf-wearing Adam and Eve (ensemble members Ben Bogen and Lili Thomas) who engage in a pas de deux.

To say that the book by Jess Carson (based on a story by Jesse Murphy and Squillante) is far from divine is an understatement. At one point, God announces he's short on time, saying, "I've got walking on water lessons at 3:00." Later, when Jay staggers into the office wearing only a loincloth and looking decidedly worse for wear, a concerned Maggie asks him, "What happened?" His reply, "They nailed me to a cross," is apparently intended to be a laugh line.

The nonsensical, unfunny proceedings also include a generic, forgettable pop/rock score composed by Squillante, who, as his bio informs us, is the singer/guitarist of a band named Running Lights. In true would-be rock star fashion, Squillante gives the lion's share of the musical numbers to himself, and even indulges in an electric guitar solo. He also certainly looks the part of both rock band frontman and Lucifer, sporting scruffy facial hair, a black leather jacket and appropriately ripped tight pants.

Of course, it's Busey whom audiences are coming to see whether for nostalgia over films such as The Buddy Holly Story (for which he received a best actor Oscar nomination), Lethal Weapon, Under Siegeand the cult classic Point Break or a perverse desire to gawk at the notably eccentric star of Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew, Celebrity Apprentice and Dancing With the Stars.

The actor's mental issues, stemming from his devastating 1988 motorcycle accident and his substance abuse problem, are well documented. He's certainly a sight to see onstage, looking quite healthy and spry at age 75. Wearing a sharp, light blue suit, he doesn't so much give a performance as project an above-it-all attitude, which admittedly feels appropriate for his role. You can see him visibly struggling at times, even as he gives the impression that he's typecast as God.

Occasionally, the actor throws in one of his trademark "Buseyisms," such as, "FunFUN stands for Finally Understanding Nothing." Some of his lines are prerecorded, and despite his singing experience (he impressively did his own vocals playing Holly), he barely manages to get through his sole showcase number, the title song performed as a duet with Maltby. Much of his performance consists of intently looking through the contents of file folders, of which there seems to be an inordinately large amount in heaven.

Still, Busey is the most compelling element in a show that otherwise probably wouldn't (or at least, shouldn't) have seen the light of day in an off-Broadway production. There's also no faulting Steele, whose powerhouse vocals make the songs sound better than they are.

In the program title page, Only Human is labeled "A Blessed New Musical." That may or may not be true, but there's no doubt that audiences are going to feel cursed.

Venue: Theatre at St. Clement's, New YorkCast: Gary Busey, Evan Maltby, Mike Squillante, Kim Steele, Ben Bogen, Lili Thomas, Charles WestBook: Jess CarsonMusic and lyrics: Mike SquillanteStory: Jesse Murphy, Mike SquillanteDirector: NJ AgwunaChoreographer: Josue JasminSet designer: Andrew MoerdykCostume designer: Avery ReedLighting designer: Eric NorburySound designer: Ben ScheffPresented by Jesse Murphy, James Sears Bryant, Joseph Wolnick, Gylden Entertainment, James Raby, Dick & Mary Meisterling, Steven Becker, Whitney Wood, Amy Hassinger, Jela Okpara

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'Only Human' Theater Review - Hollywood Reporter

Research at all levels of education highlights the fact that flourishing relationships are at the core of effective teaching and learning, and thriving communities.

They are also fundamental to mental and emotional wellbeing. How relationships are addressed in the early years is going to greatly influence children at each stage of their development.

The relational dimension needs to be conceptualised not only at the level of the teacher and student but also with all those who play a part in a childs development directors of education and care services, parents, grandparents, and the wider community.

I argue that we cannot have flourishing relationships without gratitude, which I define briefly here as giving back out of acknowledgement for what we receive, in ways that are not necessarily reciprocal.

In our research, gratitude is therefore conceptualised not only as what we are grateful for, but how we can express this gratitude in action.

In the midst of our busy lives we often forget to recognise the gifts we receive from each other. Our relationships suffer if we approach them with an intention of what we need to get from another rather than first acknowledging what we are grateful for from them.

Rather than focusing on teaching children to be more grateful, I take the approach that it is the modelling and the inner attitude of the adults in the childs life that has the greatest impact. This is particularly the case when the child is in their early years, as the formative influence of the adult is stronger at this point than any other.

Although the most important place to start, gratitude research has barely touched the early childhood education context. To bridge this gap, a book club has been initiated with some of the Gowrie Training Tasmania Team. Our process was for the group of eight participants to read chapters of Gratitude in Education: A Radical View (Howells, 2012), and to come together at regular intervals to discuss the relevance of gratitude to early childhood education. We also explored the challenges.

Many wonderful stories of gratitude arose from our group. Participants shared experiences of deepening their joy and commitment to their work through gratitude practices such as recognising children and their parents more fully by thanking them often; and modelling gratitude in the way they teach early childhood educators.

One particular story speaks loudly about the place of gratitude, and was shared by a member of our book club, whom we will call David.

David encountered a family who were struggling with a range of financial and social stresses. Their child had many developmental and behavioural issues, and staff identified that as a child they found difficult to like. This was also mentioned in relation to the childs parents, who seemed downhearted when they arrived at the centre where they would predictably hear complaints about the difficulties caused by their childs behaviour that day. They seemed resigned to only hearing bad news.

One day David decided to take a different approach with this family. He looked for what he could be grateful for about this child. When the parents arrived, David made a special effort to go and thank them for what he noticed, for the wonderful attributes he could now see in this child since he consciously changed his perspective. He also decided that he was going to be the first one to approach the parents before others got to them with their complaints.

When David did this over time, he found there was a noticeable difference in the relationship, not only with the family and the centre but also with the way the family interacted with their son. For the first time, gratitude also flowed from these parents to the early childhood service and the other educators.

It is important to note here the distinction between praise and gratitude. David was not just offering positive words to make the other person feel better or to motivate them to behave differently. Inherent to gratitude is the cyclical flow of giving and receiving. It is important that we find this gratitude for before we express gratitude to in order for it to be experienced as authentic. It is also important that we express gratitude in ways that are meaningful to the other person, not just the way in which we would like to receive it.

Davids expression of gratitude to these parents exemplifies this beautifully. His actions also rotated the giving and receiving cycle from the parents to the early childhood service, which in turn was likely to be returned from the educators back to the parents and from the parents back to the child.

This is the power of gratitude from just one educators powerful action. If we turn such actions into gratitude practices, they have more impact particularly whentrying to express gratitude towards those who have hurt us, or whom we find negative. The notion of a practice means that we are not yet proficient in our gratitude, that we are reflecting on ways in which we can improve. They are actions that we repeat over again until they become part of our character.

Davids gratitude to these parents wasnt just a simple action. Nor was it a one-off expression of gratitude. He first needed to reflect on what he could be gratefulfor, what he appreciated in these people and their child. He then started to greet them with an inner attitude of gratitude. After doing this for a while, he then thanked them for what he appreciated in their child and did this often over time.

Without gratitude, relationships suffer. We know what it feels like not to be thanked in meaningful and authentic ways. We also know how life-giving and motivating it can be when people thank us, and particularly if those people are in a leadership position where we work. Let us not forget simple acts of gratitude in the midst of our busyness and weightiness of high performance objectives.

This article was first shared in Gowrie AustraliasReflections magazine and has been reshared with publisher permissions. To access the original copy of this article, please see here.

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Enhancing relationships through gratitude in the early childhood context - The Sector

Aaron Berg takes his stats seriously. "Comedy is a numbers game. I think I'm one of those fortunate guys that has my batting average up higher because I focus on the audience so much," the comedian told Newsweek ahead of the release of his new documentary, 25 Sets, set to premiere on Amazon Prime on October 15.

It's not uncommon for a working comedian in New York to perform four or five sets in an evening, but in September 2015 Berg, 47, set out to break the record for most shows performed in a single night. The documentary follows the Canadian-born comedian as he darts between clubs across the the city in his bid to complete 25 sets by morning. Between performances, fellow performers including Janeane Garofalo, Impractical Jokers' Sal Vulcano, Billions' Dan Soder and others pop in to riff on Berg's record attempt and what it takes to stand out in New York's comedy scene.

With humor that is sometimes raunchy, sometimes revelatory, Berg talked to Newsweek about the documentary, working the crowd and pushing the limit.

The previous record for most sets in one night was held by Steve Byrne, but he only had 13 sets. Why did you want to chase 25?

Initially, I'd set out to do 18. Once I found out Steve's record, I was like, "I think I could do 18." I started putting the schedule together, and the numbers got up to 23, and I go, "I may as well push more." I had scheduled 26 sets. At that point, I was like "Oh, if this goes well, I could double his record," which seems mind-blowing to me. I did want to double it, but I knew as the night progressed, there's no way we're getting that 26th set. I just knew it couldn't happen. It was in Times Square, and we had spent so much time below 14th Street that to zip up there would've just shot us in the foot, and it would've cost us two more sets if we would've done that.

Was there any mental or physical preparation before doing the sets?

The most I'd done prior to that was nine, so I ran seven the Saturday before just to get a feel, and it hit me that by [the fifth set] I was tired. I was like, "This is weird. I usually do five, and I think I've been in my head."

Physically, I did not go to the gym that day, because I was like, "I want to save up what energy I have." I ran stairs for 20 minutes, just to feel better in terms of cardiovascular. Mentally, I basically said, and this was the mantra for the whole night, "In New York comedy, everything works out." I had this very positive attitude that if I was late, there would be another comic that would be able to go on and buy me time, or if I was early, comics would shift around. That was the mental attitude I went in with: It's all going to work out no matter what. There were highs and lows. Exhaustion kicked in around 18 sets. If you watch, you'll see where the comedy just became so base at best, where I was literally pointing out what people are wearing, like "You have a black shirt on" and trying to find something funny in it. It is exhausting in that regard.

When did you start leaning into crowd work [improvising jokes about audience members]?

I was like, "I can't keep doing the same act," because comedically I wasn't evolving. I saw there was more stuff to talk about than just my personal life being a middle-class Jewish immigrant who became a stripper. It was about the 12 year mark, where I basically threw everything away, and I'm like "I'm just gonna work by the seam of my pants," and I kinda leaned into that. It works beautifully for New York, because the volume of sets that you're doing, so you get to really get comfortable onstage, and you get to talk to people from all backgrounds, all different walks of life, all different countries. That's the beauty about New York. It's what makes New York comics stand out more. It's this ability to be on your heels and be in the moment and crush in front of any type of crowd. It was about six years ago where I was like, "Yeah, I'm gonna throw everything out and just focus on this."

I think comedy club audiences tend to hang onto what they hear from crowd work more than prepared material, because they feel like they're part of the show.

That's exactly what I think. They feel more invested in it. Even if you're doing insult comedy, the people that aren't insulted will be like "Hey, why am I not getting insulted?" They'll feel insulted that they're not getting insulted.

In the documentary, you do one set for a group of 3 tourists from Holland. Is doing a crowd work for an audience like that a lot more difficult? Do you have fun doing those sets?

I tried my best, but I'm not going to lie. That's like doing crowd work for three of your family members who don't speak English. I'll have fun onstage all the time, because there's also this glamour about New York City comedy like, "Hey, it's still New York City. Anything can happen. This guy could be a huge exec from Holland who wants to sign me to open for the Dutch Carrot Top." When it's bad, it's still bad, but New York comedy teaches you. That bad one, you don't hang onto, because you have another set in an hour. Comedy can't run you down, because whatever you learn, you keep your mouth shut, you take it to the next set and you just keep going.

Do you worry that comedy audiences have changed since you've filmed this in 2015?

There is an inkling of change happening in terms of live performances right now. Outrage online would lead you to believe that it's changed drasticallyit hasn't. I do standup every night in New York City and across the country and in Canada as well. It hasn't really changed. People are more vocal with their disapproval in a live show now than they were before. That's because they feel empowered by online presence. If someone doesn't like a joke, if it falls into one of those buzzword categories: if it's stereotypical or it deals with race or trans-rights or sexism or misogyny, people will vocally say, "I disagree with that." They will say that out loud, whereas people didn't use to say that. They would not laugh or they would groan. It's becoming more commonplace to deal with these incidents as they occur.

The beauty of it is that it does open up conversation, which is the goal of provocative comedy. Above and beyond laughter is to open up discussion, and it's doing that. I do believe in evolving. I do believe comedy does have to evolve, and I do believe that words have to evolve. Language does have the right to evolve, but I still have the right to offend people, and I still have the right to be provocative. The fortunate thing without going too far is it's shocking but it's funny.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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Meet Aaron Berg, the Comedian Behind the New Amazon Documentary '25 Sets' - Newsweek

THERE is always a lot happening in October.

The countries most publicised music festivals like In The City and Rocking the Daisies take place. Matrics say goodbye to their respective schools to prepare for final. It is breast cancer awareness month and something just as important, Mental Health awareness month.

Mental health is something that not only affects the youth, but also older generations who probably werent taught the complexities on mental health on social media and other walks of life. Although I feel we shouldnt isolate mental health awareness to one month, its something we should make others constantly aware of.

Its a crisis, especially if The South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG) states that nine percent of all teenage deaths are due to suicide and that only car accidents and homicide account for more deaths than suicide in youths in the age bracket of 15-24. Which is a very alarming assessment.

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Mental Health awareness month shouldnt be limited to social media discourse. There should be some active groundwork such as introducing it into the Life Orientation curriculum which would be brilliant.

Another thing young people should take note of is regularly checking up on yourself as well as friends and family who suffer from a wide-range of mental illnesses. As difficult as it may be, ask for help because no amount of stress is worth your health.

ALSO READ:Consider the mental state of Influencer kids

Vocabulary is also important when talking about mental health awareness month. Refrain from using ableist language to describe basic things or events.

Using ableist words like crazy or insane can offend people who are struggling with mental health and have been called those words in a derogatory manner. Ableist language can devalue people with mental disabilities.

One thing that has impact is social media users being brave enough to share their struggles with mental health on various platforms.

Other users need to be empathetic and understand that it isnt a trend. Users that share their struggles need our everlasting support.

Lethu: I think Mental Health Awareness month would be great if it really helped bring awareness. I think people dont take mental health seriously so it becomes one of those things. We definitely arent educated enough about mental health and I think theres an attitude of not being interested in learning either way. Which is unfortunate.

Brandon: Millennials have found themselves in turmoil with the worlds silent killers depression, anxiety and insomnia. Being a generation with such a bright future, the plight of mental health issues has dimmed things down, including our ambitions, self-esteem, confidence and the undying light we grew up having. We want to revolutionise, yet we carry a burden of ourselves and of the world. Its frightening seeing so many young people suffer silently, but we will heal, we will get better.

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My Wave: Mental health in spotlight this month - Highway Mail

With at least three suicides by police officers so far this year, grave concerns have risen over whether the irregular work pattern of thepolice is taking a psychological toll Rajib Dhar/Dhaka Tribune

Why our police are in need of mental healthcare?

Selim Jahangir, attached to a police outpost in Kurigram sadar upazila, wore his uniform proudly for over 12 years. But on the afternoon of August 28, he killed himself.

With his parents, his wife, and his eight-year-old son in the house, the 35-year-old police sub-inspector (SI) went up to his bedroom and shot himself with his service revolver.

He was declared dead on arrival at the local hospital.

The domestic help told the media that there were no discernible marital conflicts in Selims life. With at least two other confirmed suicides by members of the police this year, grave concerns have risen over whether the irregular work pattern of the police is taking a psychological toll.

Men and women in the police force are in with the long standing stigma in society when it comes to mental health.

On June 2, SI Sudip Barua, 45, of Gowainghat police station in Sylhet, hanged himself in his quarters. Similarly, on May 7, Constable Sharmin Akter, 22, of Tangail Police Lines, hung herself in her quarters.

Following Selims suicide, Kurigram Superintendent of Police(SP) Mohibul Islam Khan posted his reaction on Facbook: Selim was supposed to sit for an exam to be a full inspector the next day. His parents came to support him for this test We have learned that Selim was suffering from depression for a year, but his colleagues might not have known that.

This is a reminder of the need for regular psychological counseling for our police force. It is a widely available facility in other countries.

SP Mohibul further noted that although instances of suicide are filed as unnatural death cases, the reasons behind them are seldom investigated.

What is behind the stress?

SP Mohibul said many police have to live away from their families, which could possibly be one of the reasons for suicides in the police force.

Dhaka Tribune reached out to several other men and women serving in the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, who agreed to speak on condition of not disclosing their identities.

An additional deputy commissioner of police said that workload, duty hours, and pressure are major issues, noting that police work is more criticized than appreciated or thanked, in comparison to other professions. Furthermore, the senior police officer identified monotonous duty, shorter periods of rest and leisure, risk in the line of duty, and lack of internal facilities as contributing factors to mental stress among the police.

A sub-inspector said: I have to patrol for 12 hours everyday. And then I have to investigate the cases assigned to me or help file General Diaries. Sometimes I have to forego leisure or sleep to work on the cases.

And if I give up a nights sleep for duty, the pressure continues for several days, and it begins to reflect in my attitude.There are no limits on working hours for the bosses or us. And some people take drugs, even though it is a crime, but they use it to cope with the stress. They need treatment, the SI added.

Another SP also said there are some members of the police who abuse drugs, which in their opinion, also aggravates the stress of depression.

A traffic sergeant said: I get stressed out when citizens do not follow the rules of the road and traffic conditions fall apart. Sometimes people in high positions abuse their power, and if I ask them to abide by the law, they push back. You cannot imagine the mental stress that hassle can cause just because you are trying to do your job.

A senior police officer said where police are posted is a major factor among junior police, constables in particular, as sub-inspectors and above can afford to keep their families close to them. But constables and naiks are cut off from their family support.

The officer also pointed out long shifts, and irregular eating and sleeping patterns, as leading factors in the poor mental health of many in the police force. The inability to find any meaning in their duties was also noted, in addition to a lack of professional and respectful interaction between senior officers and lower-ranked members of the police.

Several police constables concurred with the officers latter remark, saying that many officers maintain a colonial, dismissive mentality towards the service people they command.

What can be done?

SP Mohibul suggested regular counseling programs and psychologists could be attached to police units. He also urged that there be a swift recognition of the hazards of mental stress in the occupation.

A senior police officer suggested reforming officer attitudes and the recruitment process, saying: If we recruit more people, the shifts can be more evenly divided and it will ease the pressure on our service members.

A police constable said they hoped for higher authorities to conduct research into what is causing the stress and to act accordingly.

The Police Staff College recently conducted a study titled Factors influencing police personnel's behavior in professional work.

Contacted, Additional Deputy Inspector General Md Golam Rasul, a faculty member at the staff college, refused to disclose any information on the study as it is yet to be published.

Helal Uddin Ahmed, associate professor at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), said: Police should be trained to cope with stress from the first day of their training. The stress levels vary, but one form of stress is not greater or worse than another. Hence, the training should also be variable.

He also suggested that the NIMH and other concerned government bodies can help with stress relief and promote mental health welfare around the country.

Sohel Rana, assistant inspector general (AIG) (media) at police headquarters, said: Policing is a challenging profession. Every member of the police has to go through unexpected and unusual circumstances throughout their career, which leads to a lot of stress. Stress can build up to all kinds of physical and mental problems and police training centers are providing workshops and separate sessions to learn how to cope with stress. But in order to ensure the greatest benefit, we are working to turn it into a fully-fledged module in the training regimen.

Continue reading here:
Mental help for the police: The only solution to an emerging peril - Dhaka Tribune

Dont expect to see positive changes in your life if you surround yourself with negative people-Anonymous

Planning your future is pointless with people who dont have a future plan. Never plan a future with people who dont have future plans. Some people are just okay living permanently in the present. They dont have the big picture of the future. It is impossible to feature in a future that you cant picture. Never build your life around a man without future plans.

One of Nigerias most respected and eminent men of God, Bishop Francis Wale Oke, once said; Nobody must be the reason why you fail in life. It has been spiritually and psychologically ascertained that when a man fails in life, his friends and associates are the first set of suspects. One of the marks of great leaders is the ability to surround themselves with very competent people. An authentic companion and associate must be willing to hurt you with the truth but never comfort you with a lie.

Kevin Eiken Berry said, Look carefully at the closest association in your life, for that is the direction you are heading John C. Maxwell captured it better and succinctly by saying, Your network determines your net worth. One of the infamous Roman emperor and the last emperor of Rome, Emperor Nero, blundered his way to oblivion by surrounding himself with people and advisers that were not in harmony with peoples hopes and aspirations. Ancient sources confirmed that when the young emperor surrounded himself with Romes brightest minds to include the great philosopher Seneca, the result was five years of exemplary government, but the moment he chose a wrong detour in bringing in intellectual invalids, his empire fell like a pack of cards. A pathetic summary of the emperors reign reads: Nero, the emperor that fiddled while Rome burned! Our company will ultimately determine what accompanies us in life.

Not everyone you lose is a loss! Trying to keep people in your life when they have overstayed their season of relevance in your life can be seriously inimical to your growth. There are some sets of people you must avoid planning your future with. No matter how seemingly important they are, they will eventually bankrupt your future.

#1 NEVER PLAN YOUR FUTURE WITH SHALLOW-MINDED PEOPLE:Life is deep and simple, and that is why we must never plan our future with shallow and complicated people. Eleanor Roosevelt once said,Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.You cant have deep conversations with shallow-minded people. Shallow minded people are unable to see beyond their nose! Never plan your future with people who cant see with anything other than their eyes. Dont say deep things to shallow people and dont talk about shallow things with the deep people. The price of shallow conversations may be a corresponding loss of capacity for deep thinking.

#2 NEVER PLAN YOUR FUTURE WITH AN INSECURE PERSON:The greatest threat to your future is an insecure companion. An insecure person will always short-circuit your growth and advancement simply because they are threatened by it. An insecure person will always ruin other peoples happiness just because he cant find his own. Baylor Barbee said,Relationships fail because people take their own insecurities and try and twist them into their partners flaws. Insecure people would always put an unhealthy demand for you. Their unhealthy demand for excessive validation and attention can cripple you emotionally. Insecurity would make your partner compete with you, instead of complimenting you.

#3 NEVER PLAN YOUR FUTURE WITH PEOPLE THAT ALWAYS FIND FAULTS IN YOU:You would definitely need sincere feedbacks from people, but not from people with keen eyes for faults and are psychologically blinded to the goods in others. Spend more of your time with people that help you find solutions and remedies to problems, not faults.

#4 NEVER PLAN YOUR FUTURE WITH PEOPLE THAT DONT KNOW THEIR WORTH:When you plan your future with people that dont know their worth, they will eventually infest you with worthlessness. People that dont know their worth will always settle for less and will also help you do the same.

#5 NEVER PLAN YOUR FUTURE WITH PEOPLE THAT DONT HAVE INNER DRIVE:Life is not about what you drive, but what drives you. What drives people matters. When you plan your future with people that lack inner drive, they will bankrupt you in your journey of destiny fulfillment. The world is moving so fast that it is only people that are driven from within that can catch up. When a man is driven by values, things of value will ultimately come to him.

#6 NEVER PLAN A FUTURE WITH SOME THAT CANNOT PICTURE THE FUTURE:You cant feature in a future that you cant picture! There are some people that are just unable to conceive or picture the future you are planning with them. Many dreams have been stifled and many latent potential have been perpetually buried just because some people planned their lives with people that lacked the big picture view.

#7 NEVER PLAN YOUR FUTURE WITH PEOPLE THAT CANT TELL YOU THE TRUTH: Great people surround themselves, not only with people that say what they want to hear, but with people that say what they ought to hear. To finish strong in life, you will need people that can always give you sincere feedback even when it is hurtful. Andy Stanley said, Leaders who dont listen will eventually be surrounded by people who have nothing to say.

#8 NEVER PLAN YOUR FUTURE WITH NEGATIVE PEOPLE:Dont expect to see positive changes in your life if you surround yourself with negative people. You cannot hang out with negative people and expect to live a positive life. When the wrong people leave your life, the right things start to happen. Tom Ziglar said, Negative people dont want solutions. Solutions mean they have to work to find something else to be negative about. Negative people have problems for every solution.

#9 NEVER PLAN YOUR FUTURE WITH PEOPLE WITH BAD ATTITUDE: Thomas Jefferson said, Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude. No matter how buoyant you are, staying around someone with a bad attitude can significantly bankrupt your life. The greatest liability in life is a bad attitude. A man with a bad attitude is a liability to himself and every other person around him. Zig Ziglar said, A bad attitude is like a flat tire; you cant go anywhere until you change it.

#10 NEVER PLAN YOUR FUTURE WITH PEOPLE THAT CANT SEE YOUR WORTH:Your value does not decrease based on someones inability to see your worth. Try spending more time around people that affirm your worth and help you nurture your potentials. I have often said that when you learn how much you are worth, you will stop giving people discounts. Tim Fargo, If you want to improve your self-worth, stop giving other people the calculator. In order to avoid emotional trauma before they happen, we must constantly detoxify ourselves from four categories of people. Eliminate anyone who constantly lies to you, disrespects you, uses you, and puts you down.

Dont go into the future with a liability. Go into the future with people that will add value to you and increase your worth. You will need people that believe in you; people that invest in your dreams and goals. People that will bring the best and not the stress out of you. Mark Twain once said, Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great. When you are seeking to bring big plans to fruition, it is important with whom you regularly associate. Hang out with friends who are like-minded and who are also designing purpose-filled lives. Similarly, be that kind of a friend for your friends.

You must be willing to let go of people that are short-circuiting your growth and progress. The wrong people are not necessarily bad people; they may be good people that are not going in your direction. Moving with people that are not going in the same direction as you will greatly set you back in life. Look out for people of like-minds and like-values. Dont follow people blindly.

The future belongs to those who see possibilities before they become obvious- John Sculley

Originally published onLinkedIn

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Never Plan a Future With People Who Don't Have Future Plans - The Good Men Project

Continue to learn and find new challenges: Even if health issues keep you from engaging in the type of challenges you enjoyed in earlier years, studies show that the mental health thrives when we continue to learn and challenge ourselves throughout life. Rather than staying with the same activities or old routines, its important to carve out time to embrace new learning experiences and challenges.

As a part of my series about the 5 Things You Should Do to Optimize Your Wellness After Retirement I had the pleasure of interviewing Clinical Psychologist Dr. Carla Marie Manly. Dr. Manly is a practicing clinical psychologist and aging expert with a passion for helping others optimize their lives. As an author and speaker, Dr. Manly enjoys creating greater awareness and wellness throughout the world. Her latest book, Aging Joyfully, guides readers into finding vast fulfillment in the more mature years of life.

A former investment manager, I returned to the field of psychologymy passionin my 40s. Having spent the first few decades of my adult life raising children, managing a very successful business, and creating financial wellbeing, I wanted the second half of my life to be spent focusing on creating internal successfor myself and others!

One of the most interesting stories is my new-found fame among older and younger populations. Those in their 20s are discovering me as a guiding light for their future, and those in their 40s, 50s, and beyond are also gravitating toward my work as a light for their more mature years. This story is stunning to me for many reasonsnot the least of which is having youthful minds be star-struck as a result of my humble life learnings and offerings.

During my first speaking engagements, the learning curve was rather large. Looking back, I realize that my greatest mistake was in over-preparing for my engagements. I quickly foundafter a few humorous stumbles that were embraced with kindness by the audiencesthat the events were more successful when I kept things simple. By showing up as authentic me, learning and growth were abundant for all.

My parents have passed away, yet I now seemore than everthat they were both truly bright lights in my life. As the ninth child in a family of ten children, my mom and dad (both children of immigrants) had their hands very full. And, although they were imperfect, they taught me the important of integrity, lifelong learning, and hard work. These skillsand so many morehave helped me achieve the success I have today.

Every person has unique needs when it comes to fulfillment and optimal wellness. Yet, we often consciously and unconsciously look to others we admiretheir schedules, routines, and goalswhen creating our own life goals and routines. Unfortunately, what might work beautifully for the man across the table or the woman in the magazine might be too muchor too littlefor our own needs. Thus, I suggest that my colleagues take the time to focus on their own unique needs. It is certainly wise to embrace the wisdom of others, yet there is nothing more profoundly helpful than learning to notice what works right for YOU. And, when you determine what works well for your lifedo more of it. As you determine what is harmful or not beneficial for youdo less of it. This concept is simple yetfor many of usextraordinarily difficult to due given internal and external pressures. Yet, the price we pay by not listening to the inner self is highwhen we get on a treadmill without taking note of what is appropriate for oneself in the here and now, chronic stress and burnout occur. Research shows that chronic stress and burnout take an enormous toll on our physical, mental, and emotional health.

Think outside the box when it comes to creating a fantastic work culture. Dont be afraid to get out of the routine that may have molded your business environment for decades. If you want your work culture to be amazing, you may need to make some profoundly amazing changes. Employees love working in environments that are open, honest, and uplifting. When employees feel valued and honored, theyll give extraordinary gifts through hard work, new ideas, and commitment. Sadly, Ive seen so many employees mired in anger and resentment when employers dont create a team-oriented, open work culture with clear, achievable goals. If in doubt about what to do to create a fantastic work culture, reach out for insights from a specialist who is able to view the issues with objectivity and keen awareness. Life tip: Reach out for insights from others. Give excellent training. Be present to support your employees on an ongoing basis. Your employees are part of your family; appreciate them. Give up micro-managing and give your employees the freedom to soar. Yes!

As a clinician and researcher, I have found that retirement can negatively impact ones health if the retiree has not adequately prepared for the many changes that can come with retirement, such as loss of social connections, changes in daily routine, and a lack of activity and challenge in post-retirement life. All of these issuesand many morecan lead to depression and irritability. As well, if post-retirement life is sedentary, the decline in activity can contribute to a host of debilitating health conditions including cardiac concerns, diabetes, and stroke. In addition, primary relationshipssuch a marriagecan also be negatively impacted due to the changes and stress that often accompanies post-retirement. When a primary relationship is negatively affected, the individuals general well-being is certainly impacted.

My most recent book, Aging Joyfully (Familius, 2019) made a huge impact on my own life. Although nowhere near retirement myself, the research and discovery involved in writing book has had a profound impact me. As the author, I found myself delving deeply into medical research, clients case studies, and the lives of friends to learn more about the upsides and downsides of aging and retirement. Through this intensive process, I learned a great deal about myself, about ageism, and need for us as a society to RE-ENVISION AGING.

If I could start one movement, it would be a movement to TEACH OTHERSchildren and adultsabout the power of integrity and respect. By introducing basic concepts such as these to children AND adultsmany of whom have no idea what real integrity and respect look likewe could change our world for the better. I so believe thisfrom my heart and soul.

I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul. (Invictus, Henley). This quote from Invictus reminds me that, no matter how challenging my life might be at times, I am responsible for the outcome of each moment. I am responsible for my thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors. This truth guides me.

Ariana Huffingtonshe shines and radiates vibrant, beautiful agelessness. Oprah Winfreyshe radiates intensity and commitment to good. Yitzi Weinerbecause you strive to do good in the world; I truly honor that about you. Gavin Newsombecause he has the power in California to institute programs in our schools that could change the future of our state-and the world.

Website: https://www.drcarlamanly.com

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/drcarlamanly

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drcarlamanly

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carla-marie-manly-8682362b/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drcarlamanly/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQmSoiWGJEBasrIV3lrPsXw

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Women In Wellness: Continue to learn and find new challenges With Dr. Carla Marie Manly & Beau Henderson - Thrive Global

As they near the end of their first year, Beyond Mental Borders-comprised of Armand Antony and Alexandra Brynn-has seen their act go farther than they could have anticipated. Their live show CONNECTION, held twice monthly at The Rec Room, has become an incredibly popular event that's sold out it's last few shows with no sign of slowing down.

On a cool autumn morning, Antony and Brynn were already tucked away in a cozy corner of a downtown Toronto caf when I arrived. They're young, friendly, have great chemistry (based on how often they could finish each other's sentences), and don't subscribe to the stereotypes other magicians and mentalists often fall into-making our conversation about their whirlwind of a year all the more interesting.

Let's start at the beginning; how did you both get into mentalism?

Antony: I started off with card tricks just to mess around with people at work, and eventually learned how to flip that around into the concept of mind reading, and realized just how much more of a reaction I got from that. I got to see a couple different mentalists and see their performances, and there's something just way more intriguing about someone who can influence an audience in that way, so I started learning, trying to figure out what could be done and what was possible.

Brynn: I'm an actor, so I had a weird introduction-magic and I came together without me really knowing it. Back in the UK I was performing in a Hollywood Special Effects show produced by the company that does Champions of Magic; I was around all this magic so it kind of rubbed off on me. Fast forward to this year, Armand was looking for a partner to develop the act, so we just came together and it all sort of worked out.

What was that act that you were working on?

Antony: The act originally started with myself and a friend of mine, because I was petrified of doing a variety show slot I was offered alone; I had never done anything like it before. And my friend had done some assisting before, but I decided I didn't really want to do the clich magician-assistant thing. When Alexandra came on, it started off as the two of us trying things out, and it just worked out for us.

Brynn: We had our first meeting in here, at that table over there!

Antony: Basically when we met, we had three weeks before our very first show. So that was fun!

Brynn: It was a lot of reading, a lot of rehearsing, but you're a fun person to work with.

You both seem to have a great connection (pardon the pun), so I'm curious-what was the dynamic like when you first started working together?

Brynn: One of the first things when I came into it, I hadn't seen his show previously, but was I saying that especially in this day and age, the whole girl coming onstage with a Vegas showgirl attitude and assisting or being sawed in half was not for me. There are a few jokes in the show about it, and how that's not our deal. We were coming at it from an equal partnership, and having a strong female character onstage is really important to what we do and in making our audience comfortable.

Antony: I think also-Alexandra's said this, too-you can probably count the number of female magicians in Toronto or in Canada on one hand, which sucks, and I'm glad that we have a...

Brynn: Platform?

Antony: Yes!

Brynn: Yeah, a platform to try and promote females in magic or mentalism. I forget what show it was, but there were these two little girls off to the side of the stage who were bouncing around and dancing throughout the whole thing, and after they came up to me and gave me a big hug and said "That was so cool, we wanna do that!" which was so nice because in the past magic or mentalism was more of a thing that boys did with a deck of cards.

My main thing was I wanted to make our show accessible. When I was younger and thought about magic shows I'd think about David Copperfield or older men doing this big thing-and David Copperfield is amazing, I'm not saying he's not-but I wanted to make our show a thing where people could come and see it even if they didn't know anything about magic or mentalism. And it's not a guy in a suit and a woman in a sparkly dress; it's more like jeans and a leather jacket, and just being cool instead of stuffy.

Now for anyone reading who might not understand mentalism, what would you say is the best way to describe it?

Antony: My favourite way of describing it is, where magic is sleight of hand, mentalism is sleight of mind. Our goal is to create the perception of mind reading, and mind reading isn't real. For us it's just using a variety of different skill sets, so it's using body language, micro expressions, psychology, it's a lot of reading that goes into just trying to look at a concentrated thought and peel that apart, and reveal it to yourself or the audience or whoever.

Brynn: We say right at the beginning of the show, you know we're not psychics, we're not mediums, we're not fortune tellers. We don't claim to do any of that stuff. All the stuff that we're doing is just studying who comes into the room. It's a lot of people watching and trying to gleam what we can, or using psychology and some of those mental tricks to try and influence what choices people might make. It's pairing (the science) with what goes into making a show, and what goes into theatre.

Does your expertise in mentalism have any effect your relationships outside of work?

Antony: I'd say anytime I have something I'm working on, I take it to my dad. The atmosphere changes from 'we're having a good time,' to just 'no, no, no, no,' (laughs) because while he finds it fun, he has to walk away for five minutes to try and process it and he's always like "I can't figure it out."

Brynn: My family lives in BC, but even my mom who's a huge magic skeptic, looks at what we do and thinks it's interesting because of the psychology behind it. She finds it really cool to see how the mind works.

And outside of family-is it something you always have running in the back of your mind, or can you shut it down pretty easily?

Antony: I personally don't look around the room and study people. I will say there are certain components that you start to learn over time, there's a fun little routine where you try to determine what someone's tells are when they're lying. Even being on a date I've found my mind could be going through a million things and I have to step back and say, I need to turn this off right now because I'm just not paying attention to what I'm supposed to be.

Brynn: One of the funniest things happened on a walk-around at an event. There was this big group of guys and we were messing with their heads a little bit, and this one came up and was like "Oh man, I don't know if I'd want to date you because you'd totally get in my head, you know what I'm thinking right now!" So it is funny, and you learn to anticipate what people are going to think or say, but I'm not sitting here watching you and going like, she's going to do this when she gets home later, and she's going to take the TTC (which, for the record, I did do) but you definitely do get more aware of people's emotions or reactions to things.

Let's talk a bit more about CONNECTION. You mentioned you tend to alter the act on a month-to-month basis-could you walk me through that development process?

Brynn: I think it changes, so sometimes one of us will come into the room and go "Hey, wouldn't it be really cool if we did this thing, but we did it completely different in this way?" Then we workshop things, try to figure them out, but it is very hard with the nature of what we do for us to be in a room working together without people to test things out on-so we use some of the other shows we do around the city to test those things out, workshop them, and then bring something into CONNECTION when we feel confident with it.

Antony: We've been looking into 2020, and there's been a lot of us saying "Wouldn't it be cool if we did this, this, this and this?" But there's no method-

Brynn: No, we're not looking through a handbook of how things are done, it's more like "This would be a cool idea, why don't we figure something out with this?"

Antony: And then we have three months to figure out exactly how we're going to do it.

Brynn: It's not like we're writing a story; we have to figure out how it's going to be done, how it's going to look to the audience, will these steps make sense to them-because the audience needs to understand what we're doing in real time. We've had times where we've tried to do something and explained it to a person and they go "Wait, that step is confusing, and that step is confusing," and we have to take a step back and realize that we need to explain more, or in a different way.

I guess directing audience members and having them involved has resulted in some tests not working out exactly as planned?

Antony: Oh, what an interesting time to ask that question!

Brynn: First of all we have people on stage, and these people-all the venues that we perform in are venues where alcohol is supplied-and you never really know who's been drinking. And we never say, you know, if you've had more than five drinks don't put up your hand. So, there is that aspect when people come onstage, you never really know what they're going to say or what's going to happen, or if they're going to drop something. But because our show is real and it's done in real time, some things are going to be different. Sometimes things go wrong, and when they do we have to rely on our connection-no pun intended-and our style as performers to carry it through and just say, you know, this stuff is not science, it's an art form-things go wrong, but that's often when things are the funniest, I think, and when the audience has the most fun because they see us poking fun at ourselves.

Antony: I think it also makes us, the whole performance, a little bit more human. We say right from the beginning that mentalism isn't about illusions, or us making something disappear-this is us using a variety of skills to try and figure out what people are thinking. And believe me, if we could do that at 100% accuracy, we'd be in a great place! Not just in this act, but in life in general! So, I mean, sometimes it's just as honest as saying "Okay, cool, we didn't get that right and that's totally okay, but we also have another 59 minutes of the show where everything has gone right."

Brynn: Exactly.

Antony: I think it doesn't really ruin any credibility, but if we were missing everything it'd be a different story!

You can see Beyond Mental Borders monthly at The Rec Room, 255 Bremner Blvd., Toronto, ON.

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit https://www.beyondmentalborders.com/tickets

You can also keep up with Beyond Mental Borders on Instagram and Facebook

Photo courtesy of Beyond Mental Borders

This interview has been edited and condensed.

Go here to see the original:
BWW Interview: Beyond Mental Borders' Armand Antony & Alexandra Brynn Are Redefining Mentalism In Toronto - Broadway World