I read an article at the New York Times yesterday* about how ineffective willpower and effort are, for implementing New Year’s resolutions. Apparently numerous studies show that what does work, really well - instead of gritting one’s teeth and getting all stressed out - is practicing gratitude and compassion, plus genuinely taking pride in our accomplishments. As an independent teacher and psychotherapist, this new understanding is going to change the logistics part of my worklife, the part I’ve typically enjoyed less than actually working with people - which I can never get enough of! I call dealing with logistics deskworld. As for many of us, this can take way... more time than I want it t
I love accidentally discovering new ways to do things. I made a mind map* recently. It took three versions to get to a completed, articulate - if somewhat daunting - depiction of my current life as a whole. But I kept the second work-in-progress version, on which I'd drawn all the categories I needed to include, but also ended up with lots of crossings-out, redirecting arrows, etc. I couldn't quite bring myself to throw out this second version, even though it looked messy and chaotic. Or perhaps because I somehow suspected that this might actually be a truer map of my life than the third, "finished" version? This morning, I was wondering if I should after all just throw it out. The idea sudd
