Desperately Seeking Self-Improvement: A Year Inside the Optimization Movement
measurable, like memorizing 1,000 digits of pi,
André Spicer • Desperately Seeking Self-Improvement: A Year Inside the Optimization Movement
husband is cheating on them, because they know deep inside
André Spicer • Desperately Seeking Self-Improvement: A Year Inside the Optimization Movement
flooding out from my nostrils and my head was spinning.
André Spicer • Desperately Seeking Self-Improvement: A Year Inside the Optimization Movement
“So what should we talk about with the therapist?” I asked André as we were having breakfast in a classically Parisian bistro. “Hmm. She seems really keen to talk about behavioral patterns, so I guess we could talk about that.” I laughed.
André Spicer • Desperately Seeking Self-Improvement: A Year Inside the Optimization Movement
wasn’t over. Tomorrow was going to be worse. André, April 29
André Spicer • Desperately Seeking Self-Improvement: A Year Inside the Optimization Movement
Mindfulness, right? That’s just rebranded meditation—something Buddhists have done for thousands of years. Waking up at five a.m.? Millions of Muslims do that every day. Chanting aphorisms to yourself? Hindus have done that for millennia. Taking long contemplative walks? Christian pilgrims have been doing that for centuries, too.”
André Spicer • Desperately Seeking Self-Improvement: A Year Inside the Optimization Movement
Self-improvement today is so integrated into our society that it is hard to know where it begins and ends. Yoga is taught at elementary schools. Mindfulness is used in prisons. Life-coaching is promoted as a way of combating poverty.
André Spicer • Desperately Seeking Self-Improvement: A Year Inside the Optimization Movement
She said nothing. “You see, for me, this project is
André Spicer • Desperately Seeking Self-Improvement: A Year Inside the Optimization Movement
to find out more about the faith through reading.