Playing death
Humor was once defined as “distance that approaches”. It is one of the best existing relieves for our tortured and overwhelmed left brain (more…)
Posts Tagged ‘Experience’
GTD for writers
I’ll admit it: everything I do, I do it for my fiction. I honor writing as the art with the biggest powers, when considering its effects, and the degree of intimacy, elevation and sometimes “possession” it grants (writing, in its finest hour, becomes invisible, the words stop being “black boxes” with a meaning inside and become something similar to music). (more…)
Admiration is healthy (and powerful, too…)
When I was in my twenties, I used to go to the movies every weekend with a friend of mine. It would be fair to say that he was the one who taught me the real art of watching films, the art of really considering them and learning from them.
In spite of that, he wasn’t precisely a person of the enthusiastic type, (more…)
What to do with yourself when you’re mad
Here is the analogy that one of my teachers used to describe the human brain: he lifted his right fist and said: “this is a lizard’s brain”. Then he (more…)
Advertising - a personal experience
I remember my amazement as a kid when I was told about the presumed mechanic of advertising. The idea behind, as explained to a children, was that creating an association between this or that admired person, and a certain product, would make us go to acquire such product in a rush.
I also remember that my immediate, pure impression as a child, was that such a reasoning was, to say the least, defective; (more…)
Life right after removing the wrapper
It happened the other day. I was having the habitual fast-paced walk that is currently my sport of choice (remind me to recover my skates one of these days), when my way got obstructed by a family group. (more…)
Reach for the moon, but start with your (two) shoelaces
In “Getting Things Done”, David Allen affirms that the size of projects does not matter (for those who are not familiar with the GTD methodology, Allen defines “project” as any desired result that requires more than one simple action-i.e. a “pack” of actions with a defined purpose), and in terms of logic, he is right. Everything in his book is rigorously logic. But it makes me think of certain Zen masters. (more…)
Prevent your books from becoming stuck
I love books, so I always try to improve my reading system by making it as organic as possible; I intend to get a system that sort of “defends itself” from the aggressions of modern life, hurry and other everyday monsters. I’ll talk another day about the working and behavior of my reading pile, which is still evolving. Here I want to explain the tiny ecosystem of my “now reading” area and how it works. (more…)
The magic of journaling
While any moment is good to start, personal journaling has always been a classical example of new year resolution. And a very healthy one: it increases your awareness and allows you to squeeze to the most the juice of every moment. Furthermore: in an age where time plays and fools us so badly, I have come to think that journaling is a must for mental sanity. (more…)
Happy 2010
Happy new year. May all of you achieve plentifulness and reach completion along 2010. May everyone resembles some more the human being he is really intended to be, all free from any kind of social, traditional, educational or psychological harnesses. May all of us be happier, wiser and more free in 365 days’ time.