Brenda V. Castro

We lose acres of the present saving time (for what?) and planning for a future (that arrived yesterday but also never comes).

Authentic Happiness

Ernest Davis, Verses for the Modern Age

The 37% Rule

When I was one-and-twenty I heard a wise man say “If you would wed a maiden, Then listen to my lay. Let N denote the number Of women you might like First date N over e, And tell them, ‘Take a hike.’

And then you ask the rest To dinner, one by one, And when a girl outranks The others, then you’re done! That way you’ll maximize The probability Of…

Live By Your Values

Whether we’re talking of artists, doctors, athletes, businesspeople, rock stars, politicians, or police officers, “successful people” are typically defined in terms of the goals they’ve achieved. If we buy into this woefully limited definition, then we’re condemned to a goal-focused life: chronic frustration punctuated by fleeting moments of gratification.

So I invite you now to consider a new…

Wealth, shown to Scale

https://mkorostoff.github.io/1-pixel-wealth/

The 400 richest Americans has $3.5 trillion.

“A trillion dollars is such a large figure, that you might as well say “eleventy gajillion zillion dollars.” So in this section, we will try to understand the scale of this figure by looking at what could be accomplished with various chunks of this wealth.”

Algorithms to Live By

Applying the lens of computer science to everyday life has consequences at many scales. Most immediately, it offers us practical, concrete suggestions for how to solve specific problems. Optimal stopping tells us when to look and when to leap. The explore/exploit tradeoff tells us how to find the balance between trying new things and enjoying our favorites. Sorting theory tells us how (and…

Research has shown that relatively mild mental illness can be improved simply by talking to empathic listeners, whether they are trained PhDs or nonpsychologist university professors.

The Mind Club

Talk to a listener on 7 Cups!

Empathy is about more than just dispassionately recognizing others’ suffering; it is about suffering alongside them. Because suffering is aversive, empathizing with another person’s pain compels you to help alleviate it.

The Mind Club: Who Thinks, What Feels, and Why It Matters by Daniel M. Wegner, Kurt Gray

“Are you more worried about doing things right, or doing the right things?”

http://www.marcandangel.com/2009/07/13/50-questions-that-will-free-your-mind/

“The roots of the word “compete” are the Latin con petire, which meant “to seek together.” What each person seeks is to actualize her potential, and this task is made easier when others force us to do our best.”

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (Harper Perennial Modern Classics) by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

“What if different environments lead to different kinds of achievement rather than different levels of achievement? What if we measured intelligence by how knowledgeable individuals are about their own environments? What if we measured intellect by an individual’s desire to know?

What if we realized the best way to ensure an effective educational system is not by standardizing our curricula…

“Studying is important, of course, but the real purpose of study is to enrich oneself as a human being in order to make valuable contributions that will benefit many people. Grades are just one way of measuring progress toward that goal. If study ends up robbing people of their humanity, its purpose is completely destroyed.”

Daisaku Ikeda

For anyone who may like some anonymous support, there is a tool called 7 Cups (https://www.7cups.com/12033798) where you can pretty instantly chat with a listener for free. (The link is my personal one.) So if you didn’t know it exists, I want to help people know it’s available.

Think of your days as easy or challenging rather than good or bad.

7cups.com

Let me make this less metaphorical and outline specifically how problems help us grow. One, problems break down our denial. Two, they free us from the distraction systems. Three, they teach us to ask for help. Four, they help us level up. Five, they teach us how to authentically care for other people.

https://www.7cups.com/7cups-for-the-searching-soul/lesson4.html

Here are some questions to…

Don’t Get Addicted to Accomplishments

“One last distraction: accomplishments. Some of you smarter folks reading this may have already realized the game of grades, corporate ladder climbing, and money. You may be an independent thinker that is focused on accomplishments. I applaud you. However, a warning, just like with the above distractions, be careful not to get addicted to accomplishments. You do not want to achieve things just…

My point is, I don’t understand how people live. It’s amazing to me that people wake up every morning and say, “Yeah, another day, let’s do it.” How do people do it? I don’t know how.

BoJack Horseman