Merce Cardus's Blog, page 52

Use the ‘Plus One’ Technique to Make Your Friend’s Day a Little Better

Social media networks are sometimes criticized for making our personal connections shallower. The ease with which we can now contact anyone makes the effort to do so less impactful. But gaming researcher Jane McGonigal, author of SuperBetter, says that we can use instant, online communication to make a real improvement in another person’s day. Her “plus one” technique is a simple, direct way to make an earnest connection with a friend or loved one, engage them in a genuine exchange, and give...

Learn How To Talk To Yourself

How do both elite athletes and business leaders climb to the top? Contrary to what you might think, it’s effective habits rather than innate talent that are their keys to success.

In Organize Tomorrow Today, Dr. Jason Selk—director of mental training for the 2011 World Series Champions, the St. Louis Cardinals—and star business coach Tom Bartow combine the most effective elements of both their disciplines to offer an organizational improvement plan that anyone can learn and apply immediately...

The Science behind Maintaining a Happy Long-Term Relationship

Plenty of people are pessimistic about the state of relationships in society. Dr. Helen Fisher, author of Why him? Why her? How to find and keep lasting love, senior research fellow at the Kinsey Institute, isn’t one of them. She sees trends like extended periods of cohabitation before marriage and a persistent fear of divorce not only as interrelated, but also signs of a healthy change in attitude toward love.

While marriage was once the start of a long-term relationship, she says, today is...

Fail, Fail Again, Fail Better

When her granddaughter was accepted to Naropa University, the celebrated author Pema Chödrön promised that she’d speak at the commencement ceremony. Fail, Fail Again, Fail Better contains the wisdom shared on that day.

So when Naropa asked me for the topic of my talk, I decided not to give it to them because I thought if I did, they wouldn’t let me do it!

My talk is inspired by a quote from Samuel Beckett that goes likes this. He knew something about waiting with no note cards!

The quote is...

The Essential Difference between ‘Being Curious’ and ‘Taking an Interest’

There’s an important difference among the ways we approach our own lack of knowledge. When we want to know something, are we satisfied once we’ve found the answer? Do we stop reading the detective novel once we’ve discovered who committed the crime, or are we suddenly intrigued by new questions?

Psychological researcher Suzanne Hidi, author of The Power of Interest for Motivation and Engagement, says this difference —between curiosity and interest — can help us understand why some people app...

Living The Law Of Attraction

in Jack Canfield’s Key to Living the Law of Attraction, he shares his knowledge and experience with you and offers you his proven tools and techniques for applying the Law of Attraction in your own life.

Understanding the Law of Attraction is the key to creating the life of your dreams

The Law of Attraction is the most powerful law in the universe. Just like gravity, it is always in effect, always in motion. It is working in your life at this very moment.

Simply put, the Law of Attraction...

LinkFest ~ Best Reads on Writing, Screenwriting & Self-Publishing: Discovering Something Extraordinary

WRITING Scene Structure: Opening Hooks, Live Write Thrive| Tweet

What is a hook all about anyway? It’s a line that snags your reader and pulls them into the story. Often someone flipping through your book or looking at the first page online at Amazon.com will just read the first few lines.

Related content:

Hooked: Write Fiction That Grabs Readers at Page One & Never Lets Them Go

Escalate story tension with dirty fighting, Writers in the storm| Tweet

Dirty Fighting isn’t about som...

Multiple Universes Can’t Explain Reality

One of the prevailing mysteries of quantum mechanics, the vanguard of the physical sciences, is the phenomenon of ‘non-locality,’ i.e.the apparent causal interaction of tiny particles across vast distances of space. The event violates our understanding of causality grounded in Newtonian physics as well as Einstein’s conception of a space-time continuum undergirding all of reality.

One proposition that gets us out of this conundrum is multiple universes. This solution, however, doesn’t explai...

The Power of Nice

In The Power of Nice,through their own experiences and the stories of other people and businesses, they demonstrate why, contrary to conventional wisdom, nice people finish first.

The Power of Nice

For years, we have loved a particular security guard in our Manhattan office building. In fact, most of us at The Kaplan Thaler Group think the world of him. A large, jovial man in his mid-fifties, Frank brightens people’s days by giving everyone who walks into our building a huge, warm greeting....

How-To Guide on Mindfulness Meditation from a Stanford Neurosurgeon

The simple practices of mindfulness meditation can help us accomplish major goals in life. Just concentrating on our pattern of breathing, for example, brings us into a more reflectional state that helps us quiet our inner, distracting dialogue.

In this interview, Stanford neurosurgeon James Doty, author of Into the Magic Shop, reflects on his own experience with meditation and explains how taming your mind and opening your heart can help you reclaim some of life’s most difficult experiences...