We think we all know what we’re talking about when we talk about sleep, but really we all have a different idea of what this universal need means for us. We humans, with our things to do and life stresses, have maybe a more complicated relationship with sleep than our animal friends. Every individual has… Continue reading I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead
Fear and anxiety are widespread human experiences in this modern age. In modern societies where many of the external pressures of subsistence are solved for us, our attention settles on less tangible problems to fret over. We have food and shelter and, for the lucky ones, health care, but now we worry about our careers… Continue reading Fear, Pain and Anxiety
Worry, my friend always says, is a useless emotion. I worry a lot – I ruminate over problems I can’t solve because they haven’t happened. I spin off into future problems like how I will respond when I miss deadlines I haven’t missed yet. I wring my hands over decisions I will have to make… Continue reading Stopping the Rain
Like anyone, I have a lot of problems. I solve problems all day every day, mostly for work, but sometimes personal problems too. How to get insurance companies to pay claims. How to get people to attend my meetings. How to meet deadlines. I get really into my problems; there is all kinds of self-righteous… Continue reading The Problems Manifesto
I live in terror of making mistakes. I always have. In all the study of grit, resilience, persistence, etc., it’s well-established that fear of making mistakes paralyzes people and keeps them from building new knowledge. Well, that’s me in a textbook. It occurred to me today that we are 4 billion years of mistakes. When… Continue reading Mutations are Mistakes
The mind can be a terrible place. The chorus of thoughts running through our heads can be abusive, needling, relentless, and cruel. “My partner must not reciprocate my love, how dare they act like that.” “The cat didn’t eat well this morning, they must be dying.” “Does my best friend love me back?” “My boss… Continue reading A Tempest in a Teapot
In which I indulge in shameless autobiography in an effort to suggest to those whose suffering comes from inside themselves that I used to suffer a lot, and now suffer less. I always thought meditation sounded dumb. Like, really dumb. How on earth could sitting and focusing on your breathing do effing anything? I had… Continue reading Shameless Autobiography Part III: Meditation is Dumb
