“When you think about it, the vast majority of conscious, thinking creatures in this kind of universe will be single individuals who have fluctuated into existence all by themselves—just long enough to think, ‘Hm, I seem to be all alone in this universe,’ and then die.”
This is a very approachable self-development read, with a witty sense of humor, and a very fun way of communicating ideas.
My fascination with neanderthals has to do with apparently being 2.8% neanderthal myself (genetically speaking).
“It is not death that the very old tell me they fear. It is what happens short of death—losing their hearing, their memory, their best friends, their way of life. As Felix put it to me, “Old age is a continuous series of losses.” Philip Roth put it more bitterly in his novel Everyman: “Old age is not a battle. Old age is a massacre.”
“We are stardust brought to life, then empowered by the universe to figure itself out—and we have only just begun.”
For an Italian, time considerations will usually be subjected to human feelings. “Why are you so angry because I came at 9:30?” he asks his German colleague. “Because it says 9:00 in my diary,” says the German. “Then why don’t you write 9:30 and then we’ll both be happy?” is a logical Italian response. The business we have to do and our close relations are so important that it is irrelevant at what time we meet. The meeting is what counts. Germans and Swiss cannot swallow this, as it offends their sense of order, of tidiness, of planning.
Every single epic or terrible idea that you have ever had in your life, has never been your own.
In fact, every idea in human society, has been a collection of ideas that have ‘evolved’ from a long history of ideas.
this is a complex book that ties together quantum mechanics, the universe, chemistry, biology, human psychology, sociology, and philosophy into one ‘big picture’.
He has a funny video on youtube talking about his dating life. In it he talks about texting with a girl for a while, back and forth, and every time, she responds readily, and quickly. But when he asks her out on a date, she completely drops the conversation.
If you read ‘Salts, Fats and Sugars’, you understand that the food industry is only out to make as much money as possible. That involves feeding you as much junk as possible, and especially, get you addicted to that crap. Even if it’s ABSOLUTELY not healthy for you.
The news will tell you that the world is fucked up.
Wars not too far away, murders just down the street in our community, corporations screwing over the little guy, viruses and diseases infecting everyone around you, etc etc. Right now sounds like a pretty bad place and time.
It’s REALLY hard to find information about mindfulness and meditation that isn’t filled with pseudo-advice such as ‘align your spiritual energies’, ‘respect for the perpetual sacredness’ or some other hyper-spiritual nonsense. I’m not of the school of ‘yoga pants’ meditation, or reaching some kind of mystical, godly spiritual enlightenment.
While ‘The Mindful Athlete’ focused more on combining meditation with sports psychology, ‘The Champions Mind’ combines sports psychology, motivational stories from world-class athletes, and routines for becoming top-level in your game.
Alright, so you probably already know that meditation is good for you, and you sometimes say ‘I should probably do it’, but you don’t get around to it. Whatever your excuses, you NEED to meditate. All of the science that has come out showing the benefits of meditation, just can’t be procrastinated on anymore.
A lot of really interesting stories about why the checklist is the difference between life and death… literally. The author is a surgeon who realized that having a checklist to avoid errors, saved lives, and prevented lawsuits (saving millions of dollars).
This is a planning book, that has a heavy emphasis on staying motivated through developing a vision. The concept involves dividing your 1-year goals, into 12-week segments instead. Most people procrastinate until the end of the year to accomplish big goals. Instead, we baby-step things into 12-week segments, with accountability after each week.
The author touches on the most powerful topic of all… how your own subconcious influences you on absolutely everything you do, how you look, how you feel, how you think, how you see, hear, perceive the world around you, and within yourself.
This book is fluffy like a cloud. It’s full of fluff content that could be condensed into a much smaller book. The author needed to fill 280+ pages, so this is what you get.
If sugar is the methamphetamine of processed food ingredients, with its high-speed, blunt assault on our brain, then fat is the opiate, a smooth operator whose effects are less obvious but no less powerful. ~ Michael Moss
Pain and pleasure controls us in everything we say, think, or do. But, why do we feel pain when we are left out?
Does pain encourage us to stop feeling left out, and start connecting?
Well, yes it does.