Neil Gaiman makes books sound metal:
“Books are the way that we communicate with the dead. The way that we learn lessons from those who are no longer with us, that humanity has built on itself, progressed, made knowledge incremental rather than something that has to be relearned, over and over. There are tales that are older than most countries, tales that have long outlasted the cultures and the buildings in which they were first told.”
Roughly one-fifth of the difference between athletes can be put down to practice. That’s still quite a lot, and although the article implies that the remaining four-fifths is probably inherent skill, I can think of other possibilities: quality of training, personal attitude, context (how good you were compared with the people you first competed against)…
We can’t just map this straight on to creative pursuits, either. I think there probably is a talent component, but how large it is… that’s another question.
Originally shared by Art Markman
A research-based approach to dealing with cravings by letting them go past rather than trying to “turn them off” – either by an act of will or by giving in to them. Basically, it’s about creating a space between the thought/feeling and the action, and being OK with pausing in that space.
This is very similar to the “welcoming practice” that I’ve used to deal with powerful feelings.
I happen to believe that good writing and being happy in life are not mutually exclusive. (I have to believe this, because otherwise I would be doomed to be a bad writer, and that would make me unhappy.)
This post is wordy – you can skim – but it’s a useful pointer to what psychologists who study happiness have found about things you can do to improve your happiness. A surprisingly large proportion of our happiness is able to be changed by these techniques (I forget the exact figure, but it’s tens of percent), so even if you’re a naturally unhappy person, there are things you can do to improve your experience of life.
Originally shared by Tim Brownson
#happiness #happy
An amazing interview with an angry, generous old artist.
Originally shared by Daniel Swensen
“The fight in order to make a real art movie is enormous because everything is against that. It is an awakening of consciousness and all of the industry is against the awakening of consciousness.”
http://www.theawl.com/2016/03/an-eagle-fighting-with-flies-an-interview-with-alejandro-jodorowsky
This (hour-long, fascinating) talk by Daniel Siegel covers nine functions of integrated minds, definitive of mental health (all located in the middle prefrontal cortex, which is physically close to and very integrated with all other parts of the brain):
1. Body regulation (rebalancing the body after stress).
2. Attuned communication with others (feeling close and connected).
3. Emotional balance/affect regulation (being able to feel negative emotions without being overwhelmed, and change your own emotional state).
4. Response flexibility (being able to pause before acting and choose a response).
5. Empathy (conscious awareness of another’s perspective).
6. Self-insight.
7. Modulation and calming of fear.
8. Intuition (registering the input from neurons in the heart and gut).
9. Morality (being able to think of, and act for, the larger social good, even when alone).
“Mindfulness training” focuses on these as both goal and path. Regular practice of an integrated state – being aware of your awareness, paying attention to your intention – creates an integrated trait.
The alternatives to integration are rigidity or chaos – various forms of mental illness are characterized by a lack of integration, and manifest as a disturbance in the nine functions.
There’s value in proceeding with confidence in your process, even when you don’t have clear evidence yet that it’s going to produce results.
Originally shared by Art Markman