The more choices you make throughout the day, the harder each one becomes for your brain, and eventually it looks for shortcuts, usually in either of two very different ways. One shortcut is to become reckless: to act impulsively instead of expending the energy to first think through the consequences. (Sure, tweet that photo! What could go wrong?) The other shortcut is the ultimate energy saver: do nothing.
“Basically, poets who eventually commit suicide use I-words more than non-suicidal poets.”
our ability to shift perspective reflected in our use of pronouns is correlated with our mental health in Scientific American
Jonah Lehrer interviews Davi Johnson Thornton on her new book Brain Culture: Neuroscience and Popular Media
“All of the time you have to constantly think “How is this affecting my brain? What is this going to do to my brain, and hence my future self?” and at the same time you also have to think “How is my brain influencing my current mood, behavior, state? Is my brain functioning optimally, or am I failing to live up to my fullest potential–and hence need to work on my brain?” You are always diagnosing your brain based on your mood or behavior, and at the same time always trying to mold your brain by giving it the appropriate inputs. It really seems exhausting.”
you can start blaming yourself again: rethinking social contagion theory
photo: stephen beadles
play therapy pioneer hanna segal dies at 92
on psychoanalysis:“ and while all science aims at truth, psychoanalysis is unique in recognising that the search for truth is, in itself, therapeutic.”
image from film Ponette (1996)
