Welcome to this week’s 5BF: Madame Bovary, McConaughey, Mental
Health and more…
1: What I Read
Madame Bovary by Gustav Flaubert – '
2: Podcast: @TimFerris with Mathew McConaughey
McConaughey is a very cool guy. This podcast flows with a ‘chill
vibe’ in which many everyday wisdoms is shared by the actor himself. From his first
book ‘Greenlights’ and from his life in becoming an actor, McConaughey explains
to the audience: the importance of saying ‘no’ in changing your life, utilitarian
egoism, secret of effortlessness, power of goals and introspection what your
values. Visit the link above.
3: This Week’s Articles
The Role of Sleep in Mental Health @theschooloflife – ‘many
a crisis could have been avoided by a timely siesta’ writes de Botton, as he
explains how sleep can help us cope with our mental health issues. Through the
wisdom of our ‘early years’ (typical de Botton) we can help ourselves against stress
and anxieties not by constantly thinking and solving them, but by sleeping it
off.
What Religions Gives Us (That Science Can’t) @nytimes – religion
have had always appealed to some core of human beings, and now devoid by it, we
are struggling in ways that can only be healed by recognizing the transcending power
of religions. Voltaire was right: ‘if God did not exist, we would have to
create Him’.
4: Watching ‘Black Mirror’
I also listened during the past week a Tim Ferris episode
with the historian and ‘futurion’
Noah Harari, in which we brought up a Black Mirror episode while talking some non-typical
and very realistic dystopian future probabilities (you can listen to the
podcast by visiting the link). So, intrigued I went and watched some episodes
of Black Mirror, and was reminded just how good it, despite it being depressive
at times. I want to recommend some good episodes here:
5: This Week’s Quote
‘Not thinking consciously should also be deemed a part of
the mind’s work. Being curled up in bed allows our minds to do a different sort
of thinking, the sort that can take place when we are no longer impatiently
looking for results, when the usual hectoring conscious self takes a break and
lets the mind do what it will for a time.’ – Alain de Botton (excerpt from the
article above)