Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/people/marcodisce/ / Foter.com / CC BY-SA
For the last couple of weeks I’ve posted thoughts over on Postach.io. These are not really worthy of publishing on this, my main blog, as they are not fully fleshed out; rather I use Postach.io as way of quick and dirty way of recording a stream of consciousness with minimal commentary, little cross-blog chatter, the barest whiff of a finished published work, almost pure editing…really just a way to vomit out an opinion on the “stuff” that I read every day on the web!
Every so often I’m going to summarize them just for the sake of completeness:
happiness and meaning in life
This article reinforces at least a couple of the points made by the book I’m currently reading: The Chimp Paradox. The first point is that we pick-up habits (some helpful, some not so) and store beliefs, behaviours and patterns which allow us to act without thinking. We also use these as a frame of reference to frame our thoughts to events which unfold in our daily lives. These store beliefs, behaviours and patterns should be challenged if they are not constructive or helpful, see the figure … Read More
your wandering mind diminishes your happiness
If you maintain a focus on the present then you’ll be a lot happier as opposed to daydreaming about what may or may not happen in the future or wallowing in a nostalgic haze about the past. We’re often happiest when we’re lost in the moment (this is what Flow is: sometimes referred to as being “in the zone” or “in the groove”) and to do this ….We confront tasks we have a chance of completing; We must be able to concentrate on what we … Read More
the science of our optimism bias and the life-cycle of happiness
It seems that we’re programmed to be optimistic as opposed to realistic. This contributes to our well being but this bias gives rise to a “superiority illusion”: we all subconsciously believe we perform better than everyone else and we also selectively remember events …. “The brain has a highly selective memory system that typically has a bad memory for negative experiences.” … which impacts on our ability to predict future events to … Read More
how ‘free will’ is implemented in the brain and is it possible to intervene in the process?
I’ve written about free will before and this article seems to back-up my conclusions: “Ultimately, current scientific understanding strongly suggests that ‘will’ has to be orchestrated by neurons in our brains (as opposed to magic or religious beliefs or other notions).” Here’s what I said previously: Ultimately, the discussion on free will is of academic interest. For me my musings on it have reinforced the physical nature of … Read More
searching for happiness: what makes life meaningful?
What makes your life have meaning? Or indeed what makes you happy? Some change in your external environment? This article summaries some interesting research as follows: “… as long as my basic needs are met, how I feel inside is going to be a bigger determinant of my happiness than any external factor such as the view from my window.” So what is (or should be) this “feeling inside” then? Well, this article possibly sheds some light: … Read More
you only live up to the standards you set
A rally against being humble: “If you’d like to become a better person, you need to constantly push yourself to achieve more, behave better, and learn to consistently outperform past versions of yourself.” This, of course, requires time for reflection on how well (or badly) you achieved your pre-defined values. The next step is to work towards being the ultimate embodiment of your values. This is where books like The Chimp Paradox are … Read More
lord sainsbury and geoff mulgan come up with overlapping proposals for the future of capitalism
So, this “progressive capitalism” seems to be similar to “conscious capitalism” but this has to be an oxymoron. As one commenter says: “The most dis-heartening aspect of today’s state of affairs, is the lack of any meaningful dialogue that offers a systemic alternative to capitalism. Instead, we are subjected to “reformist drivel” which only espouses the perpetuation of the system which has “bankrupted masses,” and enriched their … Read More
how to walk away
An article on The Sunk Cost Fallacy: Quote: “Putting in a lot, only to end up with nothing to show for it, is just too awful for most of us to seriously consider. The problem is one of focus. We worry far too much about what we’ll lose if we just move on, instead of focusing on the costs of not moving on: more wasted time and effort, more unhappiness, and more missed opportunities.” What the article suggests is that you should: … Read More
it’s good to tut
A summary of how we all have a role to play in trying to enforce societies norms and perceived regulations. Quote: “Daily life, from this perspective, is a finely calibrated system of justice, with violators constantly sanctioned by a volunteer police force, to which we all belong.” What is scary is that: “… we feel the social order’s less threatened when the person violating the norm is powerful.” Why should that be? The rich and powerful … Read More
Read any good articles recently? Leave a comment below:
