This is what I'll be doing for the next week

August 19, 2009, 9:30 pm

Self, Meditating

By ROBERT WRIGHT

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/self-meditating/?smid=pl-share


I'll be here: http://www.siri.dhamma.org/

WSJ: How A Few Bad Apples Ruin Everything

How a Few Bad Apples Ruin Everything

What harm can a handful of nasty or incompetent employees do? A lot more than you may think.

<http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052970203499704576622550325233260-lMyQjAxMTAyMDEwNTExNDUyWj.html>

Superstars get a lot of attention from bosses. But bad apples deserve even more.
A growing body of research suggests that having just a few nasty, lazy or incompetent characters around can ruin the performance of a team or an entire organization—no matter how stellar the other employees.

Working on Two Tracks

When we work in any field that combines art and commerce, we’re working on two tracks. (I picture them as railroad tracks running side-by-side.)

Track #1, the Muse Track, represents our work in its most authentic, true-to-itself and true-to-our-own-heart expression.

Track #2, the Commercial Track, represents the response our work gets in the marketplace.

How do we consolidate these two outlooks towards our work? Are they mutually compatible? Is there a solution to this dilemma?

Read Stephen Pressfield's answer on his blog: <http://www.stevenpressfield.com/2012/03/working-on-two-tracks/>

thought-provoking article on American work life

The Stone: What Work Is Really For
<http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/08/work-good-or-bad/>

For most of us, work is a means to something else: it makes a living, but it doesn't make a life. So shouldn't leisure be our goal?

tags: capitalism, labor, Philosophy, work

vipassana article

I can't help but share this beautiful dialogue from Paul R. Fleischman M.D., lucidly describing Vipassana meditation: <http://www.dailygood.org/view.php?sid=202>

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"At its root, meditation is a compass, and a path that gives you internal guidance about how to live. It leads you towards those states of mind in which wholesome states arise more frequently and unwholesome states arise less often."

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"by reducing the noise, these deep realistic states arise. These states are not at all strategic, in that they aren’t geared toward trying to accomplish a certain pre-defined aim. Instead, this deep realism is such that it becomes a foundation, and applies to all situations in a way that is profoundly important: it affords the freedom to truly engage."

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Dr. Fleischman, who has been a psychiatrist for over 30 years, has also been selected as a Vipassana assistant teacher, requiring decades of practice.
<http://www.dailygood.org/view.php?sid=202>

software for health and sleep

the first of a few article on sleep from SuperMemo: <http://www.supermemo.com/articles/sleep.htm>

this one debunks the popular myth of polyphasic sleep, e.g. 6 intervals of 20 minute naps throughout the day: <http://www.supermemo.com/articles/polyphasic.htm>

a TEDTalk about the SuperBetter gaming-for-health app

More information about SuperMemo, a very cool learning program, is available on its homepage.

NYT: The "Busy" Trap

Anxiety: The 'Busy' Trap

<http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/30/the-busy-trap/>

The “crazy busy” existence so many of us complain about is almost entirely self-imposed.

I really enjoyed this blog post.

NYT: The Once and Future Way to Run

MAGAZINE

The Once and Future Way to Run

By CHRISTOPHER McDOUGALL

Rediscovering the simple act of putting one foot in front of the other.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/magazine/running-christopher-mcdougall.html>