Merce Cardus's Blog, page 65

Surprise: Embrace the Unpredictable

Do you prefer when things go according to plan or when the unexpected happens?

Most of us pick control and predictability. Yet research reveals a counterintuitive truth: Our best memories are the surprising ones. We feel most comfortable when things are certain, but we feel most alive when they’re not.Surprise: Embrace the Unpredictable and Engineer the Unexpectedis also the little-known key to growth, attention, and connection.

Embrace the unpredictable:

Build resilience

Surprise operates...

When To Use ‘Me’, ‘Myself’ and ‘I’

Me, myself, and I. You may be tempted to use these words interchangeably, because they all refer to the same thing. But in fact, each one has a specific role in a sentence: ‘I’ is a subject pronoun, ‘me’ is an object pronoun, and ‘myself’ is a reflexive or intensive pronoun.

You know the authors’ names. You recognize the title. You’ve probably used this book yourself. The Elements of Stylehave conveyed the principles of English style to millions of readers.

Emma Bryce explains what each role...

Symphony For a Youthful Brain: Three Movements and a Coda

Staying Sharp is a practical guidebook for building and maintaining a sharp, healthy, and vibrant mind.

Why movement works

Movement helps to keep a brain youthful in two very important ways:

It tones down the stress response, thereby enhancing the survival of existing neurons. It provides brain fertilizer to improve the growth of new neurons.

The First Movement: Andante

The termandanteliterally means ‘at a walking pace.’ This first and most essential aspect of movement can be summarized...

How Some People Face Tragedy Every Day and Don’t Burn Out

Working for a nonprofit or NGO can be incredibly rewarding. It can also lead to debilitating mental exhaustion, especially for folks on the ground in areas where strife is the status quo.

How can the most driven, mission-oriented people keep their heads above water?

According to philanthropy advisor Jenny Santi, author of The Giving Way to Happiness: Stories and Science Behind the Life-Changing Power of Givingthe first step is realizing they’re not Superman — one person cannot do it all. Th...

How To De-Stress: I Want to Be Calm

I want to be calm is abeautiful and useful book on how to live a calmer, more peaceful, and mindful life. With the stress and strains of modern life, it is increasingly difficult to be the peaceful and serene spirit that we all wish to be.

Modern Life

When was the last time you sat quietly with only your thoughts for company and fellt happy about it? When was the last time you didn’t feel you should be doing something–your mind casting round anxiously for what you need to do now to stay on...

If the Novel is Dead, So Are We All

Literature, explains Pulitzer-winning writer Junot Díaz, author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Waoisthe closest that we’ve come to telepathy. It’s through literature that we educate our souls by transporting ourselves into some other character’s mind. It builds empathy. It allows for new perspectives. It triggers provocation in all the best ways. Novels aren’t as popular a medium today as something like Twitter, but that doesn’t mean they’re not still hugely important.

One of the funct...

Opening Your Heart and Reclaiming Your Health

In Your Health Destiny: How to Unlock Your Natural Ability to Overcome Illness, Feel Better, and Live Longeran internist and clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School fuses Eastern practices with cutting edge Western medicine to help you connect body and mind to transform your health today and tomorrow.

How to power up your heart

In all wisdom traditions, the key to a vibrant and healthy life is keeping the heart ‘open’ to love and staying connected to others, one’s spirit or soul, and...

How to Start the Money Conversations with Your Children

InThe Opposite of Spoiled: Raising Kids Who Are Grounded, Generous, and Smart About Money,a personal finance columnist and father, says that good parenting means talking about money with our kids. Children are hyper-aware of money, and they have scores of questions about its nuances. But when parents shy away from the topic, they lose a tremendous opportunity—not just to model the basic financial behaviors that are increasingly important for young adults but also to imprint lessons about wha...

Where Does Gold Come From?

InGold: The Race for the World’s Most Seductive Metal, acclaimed author Matthew Hart takes you on an unforgettable journey around the world and through history to tell the extraordinary story of how gold became the world’s most precious commodity.

Did you know that gold is extraterrestrial?

Instead of arising from our planet’s rocky crust, it was actually cooked up in space and is present on Earth because of cataclysmic stellar explosions called supernovae. CERN Scientist David Lunney outlin...

WEEKEND LINKS ~ Reads on Writing, Self-Publising & Better Living: An Open Heart

Photo Credit: Adavis826 via Compfight cc

Quote of the day

Initially, the positive emotions derived from cultivating our higher natures may be weak, but we can enhance them through constant familiarity, making our experiences of happiness and inner contentment far more powerful than a life abandoned to purely impulsive emotions.

~DALAI LAMA, author ofAn Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday Life

WRITING

5 Reasons You’re Experiencing Writer’s Block, Jane Friedman| Tweet

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