Near-Earth Asteroid and 'Outside the Box' Campaigning

As I write today's blog entry, there is some exciting news from the skies! Earth is due to experience a close shave with an Asteroid, 2012 DA14, which will pass within 17,000 miles of Earth's atmosphere. It all happens a few hours after shock-waves caused by a meteor shower in central Russia have seen at least 500 people injured after glass was blown out of windows. But don't panic, 2012 DA14 is highly unlikely to strike Earth and the two events are a cosmic coincidence, not inter-related. However, if you are lucky enough, depending upon where on the planet you live and if you have clear skies, you may catch a glimpse of it with binoculars.

Coming back down to Earth, I am continuing to explore Contract Finder to look for public sector contracts at Autism Works as well as working on some fundraising events for my Daisy Chain challenge to summit Kilimanjaro and have also been back to the cinema to see No, a film charting the National Plebiscite in Chile in 1988, asking whether General Augusto Pinochet should stay in power. The main character, Rene Saavedra (played by Gael Garcia Bernal), works on a campaign to encourage his fellow Chileans to vote 'no' to another eight years of Pinochet.

Outside the box thinking

In my previous entry, I discussed the ability to filter information and the sort of thinking needed to be able to do this effectively. This week though, I am going to focus on a type of thinking, that as a person with Asperger's Syndrome, I still occasionally have trouble with, but much for which is needed in campaigning and of which there was much of in No - outside the box thinking to encourage outside interest. One of the campaign images that the 'No' team eventually came out with after extensive such thinking, which was the rainbow images, with the colours of the rainbow encompassing a wide political spectrum. As well as flexibility of mind, such thinking on the part of the No campaign team must also have taken a lot of courage, after living in fear for years under a dictatorship where police brutality and disappearances were a regular occurrence.

Where my Daisy Chain challenge is more than just a physical/fitness-related challenge is with the 'outside the box' thinking with the campaigning. The mindfulness practice has helped with this, but I do still occasionally find difficulty in flexible thinking, especially in relation to repetitive phrases and sometimes obsessional thought, usually relating to a fixation or interest. To help with my fundraising campaign, I have organised a quiz night and a charity gig night where local band Sheikh Ya Mojo have a agreed to play a set that includes classics from artists as diverse as Led Zeppelin, the Doors, The Rolling Stones and Ray Charles. These events will take place in April. Stay tuned to Adventures with Autism Works or my Facebook page at http://on.fb.me/NA1RTz  to find out how these and other developments unfold. To find more about my challenge, you can visit my sponsorship page at http://bit.ly/L2eWtp

Hopefully, I can also bring some outside the box thinking to the marketing aspect of Autism Works. Elsewhere, to view Asteroid 2012 DA14, the best chance to spot it from the UK with binoculars or a telescope is around 8.00pm, where it will pass by the constellations of Leo and Taurus, for more detail, see the following link http://bit.ly/ZeyJvK. Happy Asteroid Hunting!