Pay Attention! (Your Body Will Thank You) - Freakonomics
It means realizing that the world is three-dimensional and multi-sensory and that, like it or not, we will be influenced by our environment, so our best bet is to take control of that influence by paying attention to everything that surrounds us. We may not be able to emerge with the entire situation in hand, and we may end up making a choice that,
... See moreMaria Konnikova • Mastermind
Kaustubh Sule added
.psychology
But here’s the problem with modernity. We live in a time where we are surrounded by stressors. Right now, I have 56 emails in my inbox that need my attention. My body is responding to that with stress (this body of ours is also not great at knowing the difference between life-and-death stressors and the kinds of stressors that won’t kill me). My un
... See moreMegan Anna Neff • The Zoomies and This Week’s Round Up
Keely Adler added
But most days, if you’re aware enough to give yourself a choice, you can choose to look differently at this fat, dead-eyed, over-made-up lady who just screamed at her kid in the checkout line. Maybe she’s not usually like this. Maybe she’s been up three straight nights holding the hand of a husband who is dying of bone cancer. Or maybe this very la... See more
jamesclear.com • "This Is Water" by David Foster Wallace
Lillian Sheng added
Attention, on the other hand, just is life: your experience of being alive consists of nothing other than the sum of everything to which you pay attention. At the end of your life, looking back, whatever compelled your attention from moment to moment is simply what your life will have been. So when you pay attention to something you don’t especiall
... See moreOliver Burkeman • Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals
The most effective way to sap distraction of its power is just to stop expecting things to be otherwise—to accept that this unpleasantness is simply what it feels like for finite humans to commit ourselves to the kinds of demanding and valuable tasks that force us to confront our limited control over how our lives unfold.Some Zen Buddhists hold tha... See more
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals
Alex Wittenberg and added
Stress happens when something you care about is at stake. It's not a sign to run away - it's a sign to step forward.
Kelly McGonigal • The Upside of Stress: Why Stress Is Good for You, and H…
sari added
Some Zen Buddhists hold that the entirety of human suffering can be boiled down to this effort to resist paying full attention to the way things are going, because we wish they were going differently (“This shouldn’t be happening!”), or because we wish we felt more in control of the process. There is a very down-to-earth kind of liberation in grasp... See more