Psychology
-
Guilted into trying
•
1 min read
Things are never perfect the first time around, a bit better the second, and mind a few tweaks, they seem to be just about right in the third and fourth efforts. The fear of failure is good quality control. It ensures that in the process of disrupting ourselves, we appreciate the challenge of ascendancy. Riding…
-
Thinking less to do more
•
1 min read
Rhythm builds thoughtlessness. Work can become more natural out of mechanical motion, a kind of doing without thinking. Employees can’t make one hundred sandwiches in a couple hours without silencing the monkey mind. The process of unthinking begets a chorus of action. Similarly, we can’t dribble a basketball nor soccer ball effectively while focusing on…
-
What your thoughts look like
•
1 min read
To be in your own thoughts — language, like headphones, delivers a sense of privacy. Of course, no thinking is linear. Neurons are always crashing into each other, trying to connect and build new avenues of ideas. The whole of brain waves is greater than the sum of its parts. Neurons that fire together, wire…
-
Finding aim through purpose
•
1 min read
Some people need that motivational voltage to get them going. So they collect positive quotes on Pinterest, post inspirational tidbits on Facebook, and believe — albeit mistakenly — that the law of attraction will get them on the cover of Forbes. The barest encouragement, even if forcibly imagined, provokes enough optimism to keep the wannabe…
-
Imagination is a mental scratch pad
•
1 min read
Imagination is a mental scratch pad, a place to delve into the urges of the non-existent. It is only there can we see what’s more captivating than reality’s everydayness. Imagination not only protects us from boredom, it also protects us from ourselves. It acts as a neuroprotective stimulus for brain expansion — we are only…
-
Relishing the doubt
•
1 min read
Enthusiastic in the front, skeptic in the back. The dialectic of mind enframes the rational man. When we peel off the plastic of certainty, we uncover the beauty of chasing ambiguity. When we see that the true bearers of consciousness are patterns of continuous variation rather than preprogrammed automata, we relish our idiosyncrasies. Naïveté is…
-
The hidden power of music
•
2 min read
Music doesn’t need thought. It is innately powerful in its ability to galvanize emotions. As Oliver Sacks penned in his book, Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, “Music is part of being human.” Music is a form of therapy. Familiar sounds can trigger memory in Alzheimer’s patients to help them feel like their former…
-
There is a time for everything
•
2 min read
The time you spend away from your task still qualifies as work. That includes doing the dishes, running errands, and taking care of the kids—whatever responsibilities you think to impede your central occupation contribute to its success. British novelist Jon McGregor gives a good example of how he manages his writing despite making time for…
-
Wants and needs
•
1 min read
We always want things we don’t have and disregard those same things when we do have them. This is the paradox of desire, which also manifests itself with items we think we need. We don’t need anything other than food, water, and some proper rest. Yet we often take these physiological needs for granted. If…
-
All talk is self-talk
•
1 min read
We hold a private voice and a public voice. There’s the unfettered words we think and say internally versus the preselected words we speak out loud. Somewhere along the way adulthood dictates that we mute inner speech to self-talk and constrain outer-talk. People choose their words carefully when speaking to others. Both narratives inform our…
-
A sober risk to deny reality
•
1 min read
Alcohol and coffee are a study in consciousness — they both trigger experiences beyond the normal architecture of aliveness. Neither beverage medicates problems away. Rather, they open the door to other choices and chapters in life that we may not have otherwise made. That second beer gives us the courage to ask that girl to…
-
Tokyo runs 13 billion passenger trips each year, making its train stations some of the busiest in the world. Using sound design and various other psychological nudges, rail stations are able to bring some order to the chaos. One of the most effective tactics has been its use of blue LED mood lighting to prevent suicide…