Self-Improvement

When Resilience Requires Slack

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The traditional approach to understanding complex systems has been reductionist, breaking them into smaller, simpler components. While effective for understanding mechanical systems like clocks, where each cog serves a clear purpose in isolation, this method falls short when applied to dynamic, interconnected systems like living organisms, ecosystems, weather patterns, or even social structures such as economies, organizations, institutions, supply chains, or families. To look at systems like these and only see parts is to miss the force that ties them together. […] You don’t …

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Reading for Knowledge

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Reading is integral to our daily lives, serving various purposes ranging from relaxation to in-depth learning. How we approach reading often depends on our objectives — whether we are unwinding with a novel, seeking specific information, or engaging with academic texts. Reading for Leisure Reading for leisure is an unhurried journey through stories, ideas, and emotions. It allows us to experience pleasure, relaxation, and sometimes escapism through the written or spoken word. The motivation is personal enjoyment rather than academic, professional, or life admin …

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Resources of July 2024 – Procrastination, Generalization vs. Specialization, Ingenious Living and More

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Note: Sometimes, it can take me up to a year to turn a concept into a published article. I noticed this recently with my latest piece, Insights from Bjarne Stroustrup, Creator of C++, published this July. The idea for that article originated when I watched Stroustroup’s video interview for Honeypot last August. This made me consider creating a series where I gather insights from my findings. I would call it something else than a newsletter, as it might not necessarily be news-oriented but ideas-focused. …

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Borges’s Approach to Overcoming Creative Barriers

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There will always be a moment when the journey from conception to creation seems to stall, and the clarity of our goals becomes obscured. Be it analysis paralysis, writer’s block, the paradox of choice, procrastination, burnout, impostor syndrome, or perfectionism, this is a shared experience among us all because virtually everyone, at some point, will face their version of a “wall.” The inertia waves surrounding us become brutal, leaving us questioning our direction and purpose. Consider Jorge Luis Borges, one of the key writers of …

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Exaptation, Nature’s Way to Bridge Past and Future

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Deep in the human unconscious is a pervasive need for a logical universe that makes sense. But the real universe is always one step beyond logic. Frank Herbert – Dune  Exaptation, a term coined by palaeontologists Stephen Jay Gould and Elisabeth Vrba, refers to repurposing a trait during evolution. Initially serving one specific function, a trait can be co-opted for a different purpose. Charles Darwin was the first to propose that a trait’s function can evolve and change over time. This idea was initially referred to as “preadaptation”. However, because …

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But What Use Is It – Judging the Value of New Ideas

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If you could transport yourself back to the 1840s and ask the people what might improve their lives, it’s unlikely anyone would have responded, ‘How about some blue sparks leaping between copper spheres?’ Yet, that’s what Michael Faraday presented in his experiments before a puzzled audience. When Chancellor of the Exchequer William Gladstone, having witnessed Michael Faraday’s demonstration of the newly discovered phenomenon of electromagnetic induction [a fundamental force of nature most commonly used to generate electricity], asked: ‘But what use is it? Faraday famously replied, …

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Tending the Garden of Our Soul

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Frog was in his garden. Toad came walking by.  “What a very fine garden  you have, Frog,” he said.  “Yes”, said Frog. “It is very nice, but it was hard work.”  “I wish I had a garden,” said Toad.  “Here are some flower seeds. Plant them in the ground”, said Frog, “and soon you too will have a garden”.  “How soon?” asked Toad.  “Quite soon,” said Frog.  Toad ran home. He planted the flower seeds.  “Now seeds,” said Toad, “start growing.”  Toad walked up and down a few times. The seeds did not …

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Interoception, the Sense that Builds the Mind

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Our five senses are seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching. Proprioception is frequently called “the sixth sense”, which helps us with body position, movement and action. This sense allows for walking in the darkness without losing balance. The finger nose proprioception test is a bedside test to check if a patient can touch their nose with the finger while the eyes are closed. Patients with proprioceptive impairment will miss the tip of the nose.   The vestibular system is a sensory system occasionally called “the seventh sense”. This system …

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