Jay Matthews

how to have more fun: 

1. focus on the ingredients: playfulness, connection, and flow 

2. reduce distractions

3. increase connection by interacting more with others 

1. step by step by step 

4. find opportunities to rebel 

1. playful deviance: break rules of responsible adulthood

5. prioritize it: make it a priority 

1. carve out time in schedule 

2. treat

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Monochronic cultures may be more “efficient” in their use of time, but in their treatment of time as a commodity, they lose the richness that comes with allowing tasks, conversations, and interactions to move forward at a more natural and sustainable pace.

The experience alone is not enough for the learning to be valued. An understanding of the ways in which the learning is arrived at is integral. This does not mean that learning is predetermined, rather that t hose observing and/or evaluating the process need to be aware of and open to the variety of meanings that can be placed upon experience. It... See more

... just a reminder

And there’s a lot of positive evidence. It’s not that there’s some metaphysical concept of beauty that rules the world — beauty is a human experience. It’s something that has to do with how humans react to the world and perceive the world. And it’s notoriously thought to be subjective, but it’s not entirely subjective. There’s a very rich history... See more

The French psychologist Jacques Salomé talks about the need to develop a personal intimacy with one’s own self as a counterbalance to the couple. There is beauty in an image that highlights a connection to oneself, rather than a distance from one’s partner.

"A lot of people no longer do work that has any meaning to them, since humans are productive creatures... we are meant to create. When we do work that is not creative, that doesn't reflect who we are, that imposes depression, anxiety, a sense of meaninglessness. When we have a sense of meaninglessness, we will want to substitute the meaninglessness... See more

modern societies are filled with institutional rules which function as myths depicting various formal structures as rational means to the attainment of desirable ends.

The lack of any clear positive relationship between rising income and rising happiness has become one of the most powerful findings in the modern social sciences. Once our income reaches an amount that covers our basic needs, further increases add little, if anything, to our levels of life satisfaction.