Category: depression
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‘Lost Connections’ and ‘A Heart That Works’
How to find hope in a world gone mad During a week at the coast recently with four others, one of the books I’d brought was Johann Hari’s Lost Connections: Why you’re depressed and how to find hope (Bloomsbury, 2018). Three of those friends at different times picked up the book and couldn’t stop reading…
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Lost Focus – Johann Hari’s feasible solutions to our burning problems
Tsunamis of information are drowning us We’ve lost our ability to focus. Tsunamis of information are coming at us, drenching us every minute of every waking hour. We can’t keep up with it, mentally or emotionally. What we sacrifice when we try is depth. Not to mention sanity, peace of mind and our democracy. In…
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Reinventing our lives: surviving with the help of literature
When I was in Dublin in September I bought some wonderful books. A favourite is the intriguing, personal and beautifully written Hidden City: Adventures and explorations in Dublin by Karl Whitney (Penguin, 2014). (I’ve lent it and others to friends and can’t take a photo of its cover or some other favourites at the moment!)…
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When the Couch-Potato Pill is invented will you take it?
‘That’s the first time I’ve ever seen anyone do that,’ said my friend Sharon, standing above me on the turquoise-tiled rim of Dickson swimming pool. ‘Do what?’ I asked, as I completed my length and stood up in the shallow-end water. ‘Yawning while swimming,’ she said.
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Cycling and writing
A people-centred society Riding a bicycle regularly has measurable benefits for your body and immeasurable ones for your brain and creativity. In my last blog I hinted at these benefits and in this one I have the space to expand on some of the glorious results of swapping four wheels for two, and I don’t…
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A struggle with mental illness – I Am Brian Wilson: A memoir
Pet Sounds When I was fourteen my older brother gave me the new Beachboys’ Pet Sounds album for Christmas. It was and remains my favourite. I’d never heard anything like those sophisticated, layered compositions and sublime harmonies – and neither had anyone else. No one had ever put together sounds like that before. It had…
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Titans and sex goddesses: on Tim Ferriss and Helen Gurley Brown
What do you have for breakfast? This is one of the questions that Tim Ferriss asks those he interviews in his Tools of Titans: the tactics, routines and habits of billionaires, icons, and world-class performers (Vermilion, 2016). Protein shakes are popular with many of these titans. Tim Ferriss (See www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog ) is the best-selling American…
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Eliminating the Inessential
‘Creativity has more to do with the elimination of the inessential than with inventing something new.’ Helmut Jahn. That’s out of a book by Alena Hennessy called Cultivating Your Creative Life. I buy these things but never have time to read them. But I can flip through them and get a lot from the gorgeous…