522. Paradox

Sometimes, when seeking the Truth, you will find two or more things that are equally true but also equally utterly opposed to each other. This situation is called a Paradox. It is a rare and golden opportunity for your mind to resolve the apparent conflict. These situations challenge the mind to see the bigger picture. It is only in this way that the paradox can be resolved. By referring the situation to the next level up, the true relationships of the elements in the paradox can be seen. Even when you do this, sometimes the paradox remains. Then the right thing to do is to let your mind rest with it. One of the characteristics of Leonardo da Vinci's mind was that not only was he comfortable with ambiguity, he actively embraced it. He even deliberately used it in his paintings as a conscious technique called Sfumato - smoking.

108. Leonardo's Notebook

At all times keep a Leonardo da Vinci type notebook about you to jot down your ideas etc. Keep drawings, notes and mind maps in it. Save them in a special place and you will always have them to refer back to in the future. They will continue to inform your thinking. Remember that your brain will improve with age if you use it properly. "The desire to know is natural to all good men." - Leonardo. Multiple perspectives yield deeper understandings.The creation and use of mind-maps is one of the most valuable tools you will have. Keep up the practice all your life. 

102. Great Minds

There have been many great minds in the past. Many of them have left behind biographies and auto-biographies. Study these. Learn to think like them. Among these heroes are Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, Alan Turing,Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, Tony Buzan and Buckminster Fuller.

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/turing/
http://www.turing.org.uk/turing/
http://www.turing.org.uk/
http://www.mos.org/leonardo/
http://litemind.com/how-to-think-like-leonardo-da-vinci/
http://www.bfi.org/
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/facts-on-thomas-edison.html
http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventors/edison.htm
http://www.thinkbuzan.com/ie/?utm_nooverride=1&gclid=CIy-lpHQnaMCFRQ8lAod60SbnQ
http://fi.edu/franklin/inventor/bell.html
http://www.alexandergrahambell.org/
http://www.alberteinstein.info/
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1921/einstein-bio.html

80.Heroes

Find good heroes and never lose them or your faith in them. People love to destroy heroes. This is the well-known Irish art of Begrudgery. Do not listen to tales of your hero's human failings. If you lose your heroes and become cynical, you will have nowhere to turn when things get tough. Let your teachers be heroes and your heroes be teachers. Study the lives of great men and women. Draw inspiration from the speeches that have changed the world. Find your own heroes but you may have some of mine : Padraig Pearse, Winston Churchill, Deepak Chopra, Countess Markievicz, Violette Tzabo,Alan Turing, Napoleon Bonaparte, Edward Hopper, Mahatma Gandhi, Catherine de Medici, Leonardo Da Vinci, Buckminster Fuller, Richard Feyneman, Warren Buffett, Anthony Robbins, Paul Golden, Chuck Mellon, Joe Williams, Noel Coward and many more. Here are some links :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es6NIt-Oye8,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkTw3_PmKtc&feature=related, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7OBTiyMoSE, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z8u313eY_c&feature=related, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srSbAazoOr8&feature=related,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHT3phgAurQ, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQ9ar3X_u1k