Mission Beach
By Silvia Damiano on 31 October 2010
While taking a few days rest south of Cairns – Mission Beach to be exact – I met artist Sal Badcock, who was born in Tasmania. A trained nurse until 1988, she moved to this area 9 years ago and is fully dedicated to making the world a more beautiful place. Her colourful pieces are ins …
The Chalk Urban Art Festival
By Silvia Damiano on 14 October 2010
Last Sunday I went to the Chalk Urban Art Festival where Julie Doye, our featured artist for the 2011 Brain Art Exhibition was doing a great piece of chalk work about Jimmy Hendrix. Congratulations Julie, your artwork was phenomenal! Despite my science background, I have always been a …
Over Think
By Silvia Damiano on 7 October 2010
Undoubtedly, our brains process many thoughts and bits of information per minute. The question is how long do we ruminate over the same thoughts, or how far we go in allowing certain thoughts to guide our decisions. In a metaphoric sense, how loud is the small bird on our shoulder whi …
Think Design – With the Brain in Mind
By Silvia Damiano on 18 August 2010
Last Friday, I attended the 'How to Apply' Symposium at Billy Blue College of Design. The purpose of this Symposium was to bring together design educators, industry, and business to share, exchange, and challenge ideas relating to contemporary design practice, across all design discip …
Feeling Creative?
By Silvia Damiano on 10 August 2010
Last night I was invited together with Ralph Kerle, Executive Chairman from the Creative Leadership Forum to conduct a session on “The Creative Brain and how it works” for the Sydney Facilitators’ Network. Approximately 60 – 70 professional facilitators attended this 90 minute present …
Nostalgia
By Silvia Damiano on 4 August 2010
For those with an intact inner child, you may enjoy watching the short clip from the 2007 film called Ratatouille. This is the story of Remy, a rat, who dreams of becoming a chef.
The Take
By Silvia Damiano on 24 July 2010
Last Saturday, I participated in a fantastic presentation on Appreciative Inquiry (AI) by Robyn Stratton-Berkessel. Even though I became familiar with this methodology some years ago, Robyn reminded me of the importance of continuously looking for the best in people: in their organisa …
Dyslexia
By Silvia Damiano on 4 July 2010
Watching the 2005 film “In her shoes” with Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette reminded me of dyslexia. My daughter showed signs of dyslexia when she was around 6 years of age so I have been quite close to it. Many parents usually ask me how we navigated through it. Here are some ideas for …
Social Rejection
By The About my Brain Institute on 26 June 2010
Today’s animation was designed to illustrate some new findings within the field of social cognitive neuroscience. Most people will experience at some point in their lives what scientists called “social pain”, caused for example, by exclusion from a group or by being ignored by a frien …
The Value Of Being Grateful
By Silvia Damiano on 20 June 2010
Reading this thought provoking book called “The Me Myth” by Andrew Griffiths reminded me of the importance of cultivating gratitude.
Are You A Control Freak?
By The About my Brain Institute on 1 June 2010
In his latest book “Drive” author Daniel Pink talks about the importance of giving autonomy to people to improve their engagement and performance. This concept scares many leaders in business; particularly those who have difficulty in letting go and want to control everything that cro …
A Good Laugh Fosters Creative Thinking
By The About my Brain Institute on 23 May 2010
Creative thinking is not only for people working in the field of arts. Anyone can be creative by developing a new way for handling customer's complaints, solving a conflict or improving a process.