Medley

Leo Babauta – USA

A simplicity manifesto in the Age of Distraction: Part 13

Slowing Down

“There is more to life than increasing its speed.”

Gandhi

The world most of us live in is hectic, fast-paced, fractured, hurried. What’s more, most of us are conditioned to think this is the way life should be.

Life should be lived at break-neck speed, we believe. We risk our lives in cars and we break the speed limit, rushing from one place to another. We do one thing after another, multi-tasking and switching between tasks as fast as we can blink.

All in the name of productivity, of having more, of appearing busy, to ourselves and to others.

But life doesn’t have to be this way. In fact, I’d argue that it’s counterproductive.

If our goal is to create, to produce amazing things, to go for quality over quantity, then rushing is not the most effective way to work. Slowing down and focusing is always more effective.

Rushing produces errors. It’s distracting to flit from one thing to the next, with our attention never on one thing long enough to give it any thought or create anything of worth. Hurrying produces too much noise to be able to find the quiet the mind needs for true creativity and profound thinking.

So yes, moving quickly will get more done. But it won’t get the right things done.

Individuals who blame karma for their poor health have more pain and worse physical and mental health, according to a new study from University of Missouri researchers. Targeted interventions to counteract negative spiritual beliefs could help some individuals decrease pain and improve their overall health, the researchers said.

“In general, the more religious or spiritual you are, the healthier you are, which makes sense,” said Brick Johnstone, a neuropsychologist and professor of health psychology in the MU School of Health Professions. “

“But for some individuals, even if they have even the smallest degree of negative spirituality – l basically, when individuals believe they're ill because they've done something wrong and God is punishing them – their health is worse.”

Coalsack Nebula

The Coalsack Nebula is located about 600 light-years away in the constellation of Crux. This huge, dusky object forms a conspicuous silhouette against the bright, starry band of the Milky Way and for this reason the nebula has been known to people in the southern hemisphere for as long as our species has existed.

The Spanish explorer Vicente Yáñez Pinzón first reported the existence of the Coalsack Nebula to Europe in 1499. The Coalsack later garnered the nickname of the Black Magellanic Cloud, a play on its dark appearance compared to the bright glow of the two Magellanic Clouds, which are in fact satellite galaxies of the Milky Way. These two bright galaxies are clearly visible in the southern sky and came to the attention of Europeans during Ferdinand Magellan's explorations in the 16th century. However, the Coalsack is not a galaxy. Like other dark nebulae, it is actually an interstellar cloud of dust so thick that it prevents most of the background starlight from reaching observers.

Richard Hiltner – USA

As Dr. Samuel Hahnemann explains, the term “cure” or health occurs when:

“…the spirit-like vital force [dynamis] animating the material human organism reigns in supreme sovereignty. It maintains the sensations and the activities of all the parts of the living organism in a harmony that obliges wonderment. The reasoning spirit who inhabits the organism can thus freely use this healthy living instrument to reach the lofty goal of human existence.”¹

Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann was a German physician, best known for creating a system of alternative medicine called homeopathy

Theoretical physicists at the Université libre de Bruxelles have developed a fully-symmetric formulation of quantum theory which establishes an exact link between asymmetry and the fact that we can remember the past but not the future.

The laws of classical mechanics are independent of the direction of time, but whether the same is true in quantum mechanics has been a subject of debate. While it is agreed that the laws that govern isolated quantum systems are time-symmetric, measurement changes the state of a system according to rules that only appear to hold forward in time, and there is difference in opinion about the interpretation of this effect.

Aboriginal man

Native Americans living in the Amazon bear an unexpected genetic connection to indigenous people in Australasia

Native Americans living in the Amazon bear an unexpected genetic connection to indigenous people in Australasia, suggesting a previously unknown wave of migration to the Americas thousands of years ago, a new study has found.

Leo Babauta – USA

A simplicity manifesto in the Age of Distraction: Part 12

Creating an uncluttered environment

“If your mind isn’t clouded by unnecessary things,

then this is the best season of your life.”

Wumen Huikai (1183 -1260) is a Song period Chán master most famous as the compiler of and commentator on the 48-koan collection The Gateless Gate. Wumen was at that time the head monk of Longxiang monastery

Imagine you’re trying to create your masterpiece — a work that will change your life and perhaps make the world a better place in some small way. You’re at your computer, making it happen, at a desk piled with clutter, surrounded by clutter on the floor and walls, in the middle of a noisy workplace, phones ringing. A notification pops up — you have a new email — so you open your email program to read it and respond. You get back to work but then another notification pops up — someone wants to chat with you, so you go on IM for a little bit. Then your Twitter client notifies you of some new replies, and you check those. Then you see some paperwork on your desk you need to file, so you start doing those.