"Probably the best way to eat an orange is to pick it dead-ripe from the tree, bite into it once to start the peeling, and after peeling eat a section at a time."
from M.F.K. Fisher, "A is for dining Alone," The Art of Eating
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Monday, January 23, 2012
Rats Country: I (Heart) Mondays
Happy Chinese New Year! I'm wearing red for good luck and making my bed with clean sheets.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Rats Country: Policy Statement
"Adopt a policy of being joyful."
quote from an article in the NYTimes, "Advice from Life's Graying Edge on Finishing with No Regrets."
quote from an article in the NYTimes, "Advice from Life's Graying Edge on Finishing with No Regrets."
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Rats Country: Categories of Regret
The things you did that you wish you hadn't.
The things you wish you had done but didn't.
The things that you now know you'll never do before you die.
qtd. on Quora 1/17/12
The things you wish you had done but didn't.
The things that you now know you'll never do before you die.
qtd. on Quora 1/17/12
Monday, January 16, 2012
Rats Country: Cold Comfort
"The advice of the old is like the winter sun: it sheds light but does not warm us."
from Nothing to Be Frightened Of by Julian Barnes
from Nothing to Be Frightened Of by Julian Barnes
Friday, January 13, 2012
Rats Country: Thinking about Superstitions
When my mother sees a white horse, she spits on the palm of her left hand, makes a fist with her right, and smacks the spittled spot, sealing the wish. She says, "You can't tell your wish to anyone. If you do, it won't come true."
She doesn't see white horses often, but, like the rest of us, she seems to have secret wishes ready and waiting. She is nearly ninety-seven. My guess is that she has two wishes left: to die in her sleep and soon.
She doesn't see white horses often, but, like the rest of us, she seems to have secret wishes ready and waiting. She is nearly ninety-seven. My guess is that she has two wishes left: to die in her sleep and soon.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Rats Country: Wild and Crazy on Paper
"Both William Styron and Philip Roth have worked beneath the Flaubertian self-reminder: Be regular and ordinary in your life, like a bourgeois, so that you may be violent and original in your work.'"
Julian Barnes, Nothing to Be Frightened Of
Julian Barnes, Nothing to Be Frightened Of
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Rats Country: Forgetaboutit!
"The act of forgetting crafts and hones data in the brain as if carving a statue from a block of marble. It enables us to make sense of the world by clearing a path to the thoughts that are truly valuable. It also aids emotional recovery. 'You want to forget embarrassing things,' says cognitive neuroscientist Zara Bergstrom of the University of Cambridge. 'Or if you argue with your partner, you want to move on.' In recent years researchers have amassed evidence for our ability to willfully forget. They have sketched out a neural circuit underlying this skill analogous to the one that inhibits impulsive actions.
"The emerging data provide the first scientific support for Sigmund Freud's controversial theory of repression, by which unwanted memories are shoved into the subconscious. The new evidence suggests that the ability to repress is quite useful. Those who cannot do this well tend to let thoughts stick in their mind. They ruminate, which can pave a path to depression. Weak restraints on memory may similarly impede the emotional recovery of trauma victims. Lacking brakes on mental intrusions, individuals with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are also more likely to be among the forgetless (to coin a term). In short, memory - and forgetting - can shape your personality."
Ingrid Wickelgren, "Trying to Forget"
"The emerging data provide the first scientific support for Sigmund Freud's controversial theory of repression, by which unwanted memories are shoved into the subconscious. The new evidence suggests that the ability to repress is quite useful. Those who cannot do this well tend to let thoughts stick in their mind. They ruminate, which can pave a path to depression. Weak restraints on memory may similarly impede the emotional recovery of trauma victims. Lacking brakes on mental intrusions, individuals with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are also more likely to be among the forgetless (to coin a term). In short, memory - and forgetting - can shape your personality."
Ingrid Wickelgren, "Trying to Forget"
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Rats Country: Stop Waffling and Wash Your Hands
Put an End to Waffling Over Decisions
If you're second-guessing yourself about a choice you just made, head for the sink for a quick regret-rinse-off. Recent research from psychologists at the University of Michigan found that the simple act of washing your hands can help you to stop questioning your judgment. While the decisions being made in the study were trivial—ranking preference of one CD over another—this act of "cleaning the slate" by washing your hands may work to help you gain confidence in the bigger choices you encounter, too, like deciding which car to buy, or when to have a difficult conversation.
Read more: http://www.oprah.com/health/10-Easy-Things-You-Can-Do-to-Improve-Your-Life-by-Next-Week/5#ixzz1j5IXY4Lj
Ya think?
If you're second-guessing yourself about a choice you just made, head for the sink for a quick regret-rinse-off. Recent research from psychologists at the University of Michigan found that the simple act of washing your hands can help you to stop questioning your judgment. While the decisions being made in the study were trivial—ranking preference of one CD over another—this act of "cleaning the slate" by washing your hands may work to help you gain confidence in the bigger choices you encounter, too, like deciding which car to buy, or when to have a difficult conversation.
Read more: http://www.oprah.com/health/10-Easy-Things-You-Can-Do-to-Improve-Your-Life-by-Next-Week/5#ixzz1j5IXY4Lj
Ya think?
Monday, January 9, 2012
Rats Country: I (heart) Mondays, cont.
"... two important facts about our minds: we can be blind to the obvious, and we are also blind to our blindness."
from Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
On Mondays, we feel like we are seeing clearly.
from Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
On Mondays, we feel like we are seeing clearly.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Rats Country: I (heart) Mondays
It's 1/2/12. One, two, one two, which sounds like, "Get ready, get set..."GO into 2012 with high hopes and exuberance!
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