Madeira Consorcio

158 Madeira Consorcio meeting 28.3.2026

We saw the video: How tiny experiments can set you free

The speaker, a neuroscientist, points out that in difficult situations, we can get out of mechanical, learned responses by asking: “What can I try?”

In problematic situations, we try to get control which often is simply not possible. Instead, she advocates to do some other action, even completely unrelated, and get a fresh approach to solve the problem. She mentioned Julia Child (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Child), a diplomat’s wife who turned to French cooking at a time when this was not the thing to do by a housewife, and Pierce Brosnan (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierce_Brosnan), an actor who dealt with grief by starting to paint.

This let us into a philosophical/spiritual discussion – some of us are believers and some are agnostic. God (if you believe in the construct) seems to play with us; we are the actors in a movie of his, and although we are not in control, we have the option of Free Will, e.g. we can decide at will if and how we live according to decent behaviour rules or not. Mr. Crazy in the US is a great example of how to NOT have an impact on others, based on egotism. Well…

And yes: following the endless ads in YouTube videos: we have a Tai Chi teacher here on Madeira: https://www.internalartsmadeira.com/ , internalartsmadeira@gmail.com. The Teacher is Larry Frost, he offers classes Sundays from 8 – 9 am in Parque S. Catarina!