Sublime

Compared to other scientists, Nobel laureates are at least twenty-two times more likely to partake as an amateur actor, dancer, magician, or other type of performer.

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience BY MIHALY CSIKSZENTMIHALYI

A germane finding in cognitive psychology for gaining that control is to make visible the things you need regularly, and hide things that you don’t.

the central executive as a unitary entity, in fact it can be best understood as a collection of different lenses that allow us to zoom in and zoom out during activities we’re engaged in, to focus on what is most relevant at the moment.

because this kind of close listening is the source of my pleasure as a consumer of music.

People at the top of their professions, in particular those known for their creativity and effectiveness, use systems of attention and memory external to their brain as much as they can. And a surprising number of them, even in high-tech jobs, use decidedly low-tech solutions for keeping on top of things.

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Yet our brains evolved to receive a pleasant shot of dopamine when we learn something new and again when we can classify it systematically into an ordered structure.

William James referred to our “susceptibility to music,” and while music can affect all of us—calm us, animate us, comfort us, thrill us, or serve to organize and synchronize us at work or play—it