Merce Cardus's Blog, page 90
June 21, 2015
You Have An Obstacle And No One Is Coming To Save You
We give up too easily. In The Obstacle is the Way: The Ancient Art of Turning Adversity to Advantage
, Ryan Holiday tells that with a simple change of attitude, what seem like insurmountable obstacles become once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.
The discipline of perception
You will come across obstacles in life–fair and unfair. And you will discover, time and time again, that what matters most is not what these obstacles are but how we see them, how we react to them, and whether we keep our com...
The Math Behind Michael Jordan’s Legendary Hang Time
Michael Jordan’s legendary slam dunk from the free throw line has been calculatedat 0.92 seconds of pure hang time. But how many seconds could Jordan have gotten were he doing the same jump on Mars? Or Jupiter? Andy Peterson and Zack Patterson share the math equation behind hang time.
Michael Jordan once said, ‘I don’t know whether I’ll fly or not. I know that when I’m in the air, sometimes I feel like I don’t ever have to come down.’
But thanks to Isaac Newton, we know that what goes up, m...
MONDAY LINKS ~ Reads on Writing, Self-publishing, and Better Living: The Running Revolution

Photo Credit: Daniel Ladenhauf via Compfight cc
Quote of the dayI realized that training in ballet, martial arts and wrestling is done as a series of precise poses. Through these poses and drills, the perfection of movement is achieved and integrated into a flow. Everything fell into place for me immediately, like the pieces of a puzzle.
What is the precise pose and drills that apply to running? The running pose, falling-forward, and pulling the support foot off the ground.
~NICHOLAS ROMAN...
June 18, 2015
Alan Watts on Pain And Time
In The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety,Alan Watts shows us how, in order to lead a fulfilling life, we must embrace the present—and live fully in the now.
Less vulnerable, less sensitive
At times almost all of us envy the animals. They suffer and die, but they do not seem to make a ‘problem’ of it. Their lives seem to have so few complications. They eat when they are hungry and sleep when they are tired, an instinct rather than anxiety seems to govern their few prepara...
Practicing Creativity While Sleeping
High-wire artist Philippe Petit, author of Creativity: The Perfect Crimeexplains how he practices creativity while sleeping. If he falls asleep with an idea in his head, Petit allows his subconscious self the opportunity to find a solution. Often he wakes up with the solution sitting there waiting for him.
When I review or try to describe my creativity, I realize it’s a nonstop train and people say, “Yeah, well at some point you go to sleep.” Well actually this moment where we think we rest...
WEEKEND LINKS ~ Reads On Writing, Self-publishing, and Better Living: The Science of Nutrition

Photo Credit: tedeytan via Compfight cc
Quote of the dayIt’s never too late to start eating well. A good diet can reverse many of those conditions as well. In short: change the way you eat and you can transform your health for the better.
~T.COLIN CAMPBELL, author ofWhole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition
WRITING & SCREENWRITING
The three stages of the novel–writing journey, Storyfix 2.0 | TweetSadly, most writers spend their lives in Stage 1, refusing to believe that storytelling h...
Every Market Tells A Story
InWho Gets What and Why: The New Economics of Matchmaking and Marke
t Design
, Roth reveals thematching markets hidden around us and shows how to recognize a good match and make smarter, more confident decisions.
The efficient allocation of scarce resources
It was 5:00 am on an April morning in 2010. Eight teams of surgeons were preparing to operate on eight patients in four different cities. Four healthy people would each be donating one of their kidneys to someone they had never met, and th...
June 17, 2015
Fail Constructively
In this video, economist and author Tim Harford, author ofAdapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure
teaches an important lesson about succeeding at failure through the story of psychologist Leon Festinger’s infiltration of a cult led by Dorothy Martin in 1954.
Festinger studied the cult members’ reaction to Martin’s false prophecy that the world would be destroyed the following day.Harford uses this example to illustrate the concept of cognitive dissonance.
A Successful Mindset
A few day...
THURSDAY LINKS ~ Reads on Writing, Self-publishing and Better Living: Die Empty
Photo Credit: jpverkamp via Compfight cc
The great problems we see in the world today will not be solved by people functioning at half capacity cranking out work they don’t care about in order to buy more things that will eventually rust and rot.
~TODD HENRY, author ofDie Empty: Unleash Your Best Work Every Day
WRITING & SCREENWRITING
What is a comma splice? And why do editors hate them?, The Write Practice| TweetWe’re venturing into a realm where writers bend the rules of grammar in th...
June 16, 2015
Osho On Intuition: Knowing Beyond Logic
Intuition: Knowing Beyond Logicdeals with the difference between the intellectual, logical mind and the more encompassing realm of spirit.
Intuition is the highest rung of the ladder, the ladder of consciousness. It can be divided into three division:
1. The lowest and the first is instinct.
Instinct is the world of the animals–everything is instinct. Even if sometimes yu see indications of other thigns, it is your projection.
For example, you can see love in animals–the mother looking afte...