Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.
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| — | Thomas Edison (via happyhealthyheidi) |
From “Science’s ‘most beautiful theories’” (by Sharon Begley on mnn.com)
Psychologist Alison Gopnik of the University of California, Berkeley, is partial to one that accounts for why teenagers are so restless, reckless and emotional. Two brain systems, an emotional motivational system and a cognitive control system, have fallen out of sync, she explains.
The control system that inhibits impulses and allows you to delay gratification kicks in later than it did in past generations, but the motivational system is kicking in earlier and earlier.
The result: “A striking number of young adults who are enormously smart and knowledgeable but directionless, who are enthusiastic and exuberant but unable to commit to a particular work or a particular love until well into their twenties or thirties.”
Read the entire article here.
For seven years in the 1980s he ate lunch at Bob’s Big Boy every day, which consisted of cup after cup of coffee and a single chocolate milkshake while scribbling notes on Bob’s napkins. He arrived at Bob’s at precisely 2:30 p.m. each day. The reason: “If you go earlier, at lunchtime, they’re making a lot of chocolate milkshakes. The mixture has to cool in a machine, but if it doesn’t sit in there long enough, it’s runny,” he said. “At 2:30, you’ve got a chance for it to be just great.” Only 3 perfect milkshakes out of more than 2,500.
“The coffee and the sugar would really get me going. And I would try to catch ideas.” (He doesn’t eat sugar anymore). Mapped out, at least in part, on Bob’s napkins–was Blue Velvet.
[Source: thecityofabsurdity.com]
A man who creates his writing routine around attaining the perfect milkshake. Lovely.
Every day we slaughter our finest impulses. That is why we get a heartache when we read those lines written by the hand of a master and recognize them as our own, as the tender shoots which we stifled because we lacked the faith to believe in our own powers, our own criterion of truth and beauty. Every man, when he gets quiet, when he becomes desperately honest with himself, is capable of uttering profound truths. We all derive from the same source. there is no mystery about the origin of things. We are all part of creation, all kings, all poets, all musicians; we have only to open up, only to discover what is already there.
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| — | Henry Miller (via nitors) |
… it’s possible to get unstuck by realizing that capabilities are wonderfully elastic:
No matter the ability—whether it’s intelligence, creativity, self-control, charm, or athleticism—studies show them to be profoundly malleable. When it comes to mastering any skill, your experience, effort, and persistence matter a lot. So if you were a bright kid, it’s time to toss out your (mistaken) belief about how ability works, embrace the fact that you can always improve, and reclaim the confidence to tackle any challenge that you lost so long ago.
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Harvard Business Review Read more: http://www.utne.com/The-Sweet-Pursuit/When-Smart-Kids-Grow-Up.aspx#ixzz1fSV2iA37 |
One ending is another beginning.
One year ago, on November 12th, I moved from my home in New Jersey to a little apartment in Texas. I had so many reasons, but mainly, I was not happy. I am still searching for, but getting closer to happiness. There is no rule that says you need or are entitled to happiness, I have just decided to pursue it. I have also decided to log my progress here as I tumbl along toward my happy “ending”.
I have a few gazillion goals:
