Elena

"Productivity is most important for things you don't want to be doing. Most people want to increase productivity so they can spend less time on the task.

But before you worry about being more productive, think about being more selective. Rather than focusing on increasing productivity, it may be worth asking, "What would I be delighted to spend tim... See more

A circle of friends, a stable mind and better creative skills are all very useful for a happy life! But happiness consists in taking pleasure from time spent with those friends; from relishing the absence of anxiety that comes with a calmer mind; or from putting those creative skills to use – from cashing in the resources, you might almost say, rat... See more

any attempt at a meaningful existence is undermined if your main focus is always on increasing your access to things – even if the “things” in question are wonderful experiences, deep relationships, and so forth, as opposed to sports cars and jewelery.

“I always say ‘beginnings are easy, endings are hard’. Beginnings get easier and easier [because] there's so much technological assistance [and] so many ways of getting something started like rhythm machines and chord pattern makers.

There are a lot of ways of getting something pretty respectable going quite early on. To quote Picasso, ‘there's noth... See more

Research shows that intuition originates in the nonverbal regions of our brain, particularly the basal ganglia and anterior cingulate cortex. These regions process patterns outside of our conscious awareness.

When we try to put intuitive insights into words, we often end up with rationalization rather than explanation. The verbal parts of our brain,... See more

The impulse to write things down is a peculiarly com pulsive one, inexplicable to those who do not share it, useful only acciden tally, only secondarily, in the way that any compulsion tries to justify itself.

I feel such intense gratitude when I read a book by someone who, for a brief moment, makes me feel less alone in the world and makes these complicated things in my brain feel a little easier to understand.