mission microbial culture II

stage 2

culture of soil fungi

we used the same culture media- PDA to culture fungi found in soil. i collected a soil sample from near my house and streaked it in a petri dish containing the media. we got two species. i have guessed the first one to be Cladosporium sphaerospermum. the other species has not yet been recognized. i will post its identification as soon as i get it. it was real fun doing this and a great great learning experience. 

species 1(10X)

species 1 (40X)

species 1(100X)

species 2

(Cladosporium sphaerospermum.)

(10X)

species 2

(Cladosporium sphaerospermum.)

(40X)

species 2

(Cladosporium sphaerospermum.)

(100X)

species 2

spores

(Cladosporium sphaerospermum.)

(100X)

Self-Awareness- The Key To Emotional Intelligence

"What distinguishes truly great leaders from those who are just mediocre is their level of Emotional Intelligence", according to Daniel Goleman, one of the world's leading authors in this field. The research he carried out in 1995 suggests that Emotional Intelligence is twice as important as IQ and technical skills. He says,'' the higher up the organisation you go, the more important Emotional Intelligence becomes."
Emotional Intelligence is a blend of self-awareness and impulse control, persistence, zeal and motivation, empathy and social deftness. According to Daniel Goleman, perhaps the most important emotional competence is that of Self-awareness - knowing one's internal states, preferences, resources and intuitions. Or, as some psychotherapists put it," bringing to the conscious mind an understanding of  the compulsions that push us around." I simply call it "the art of waking up, of realizing who you are, and why do you do the things you do the way you do them." 
For all of us, we grow up in life learning to cope as best as possible with less than perfect formative environment - provided through parents, teachers, significant others, etc. And these coping mechanisms, some good, some not so good, get us through to adulthood one way or other. But for most people, these mechanisms then move with us into adulthood and push us around in much the same way as when we were children. So, a child who grew up believing that the only way to elicit loving strokes from his parents was by succeeding at whatever he did. Such a child (well most of us) becomes a highly trained achiever, successfully running many different projects, departments, businesses, acquiring much material wealth through his material success, projecting an image of success and achievement, to the point of not really knowing why is he doing this - simply to gain the positive strokes, to feel worthwhile. He lives by the inner rule that the task must be accomplished, at ant cost.
"But what's wrong with that?" you might ask, "many organisations are run like that!" Not much, i suppose. But now let us consider  that his burning drive for success leads him to contract some serious illness, a break-up of loving relationships, and the signing of the "deal of all deals" which ends up breaking the business; let alone the many broken business relationships along  the way. Now you may start to ask,"why did he do it? Why didn't he stop at a safe level?" The truth was that he probably was not aware of what he was doing. and so, he couldn't stop. Like many of the things we do, we simply don't know why we do them; we just carry-on doing them.
Increasing our own level of self-awareness therefore empowers us to make different choices. Not that we will automatically do things differently. After-all, some habits die hard! But over time, as we build up these levels of catching ourselves doing things, we 'll have the choice to alter our behavior, eventually, before the next repetition.
We can't expect however, to go on a course, and suddenly become self aware like most things in life, it is a journey on which we can embark; a journey of self-discovery, and if we want, powerful transformation. It really depends on how brave we are. After all, we probably find out things about ourselves which we don't really like and may choose to deny.
But imagine being able to make better decisions, get more out of people we work with, communicate more efficiently by tailoring our message to the deeply held convictions of the other person, and being more creative.
Imagine an organisation where its staff members are able to take responsibility of their "own" problems and move to a place of not automatically reacting in the same old inappropriate manner as before. By supporting its employees in their journey of self-discovery, the organisation becomes free-er, fair-er and more creative.
So, in order to transform what you do, you must first become aware of where you place your inner intentions - what you are feeling and thinking, often subconsciously. The more you do this, the more natural and habitual it will become, and the more you'll give yourself the chance to truly change your behavior.