When I was at uni, I took an Aesthetics class. The Philosophy of Art. I don’t remember much from that course except for a couple of essays on Plato and Tolstoy. Plato was keen that when educating the young men of his Republic that their art be censored and that the youth should only consume art that promoted nobility. So poetry shouldn’t be about loucheness and hedonism, rather they should be about promoting bravery in battle and moral uprightness. I was reminded of this recently after binge watching a series of Mindhunter on Netflix, a show about the FBI’s profiling of serial killers in the 1970s. This is show that goes deep into the minds and motivations of deeply disturbed people, and it’s very entertaining and very compelling. We watched this off the back of Unabomber, another Netflix show, this time about the hunt for another serial killer, Ted Kaczynski. …[Read More]
Mind
How can we improve mental health?
I go through low periods. For those who know me, this might sound surprising. I’m normally bouncing off the walls with positivity. And this is true for the most part. There are times however where I make myself positive, because I want to and I know that to some extent, you can control your mental state. Mental health is one of those things that we don’t really discuss. Which is strange given how much time we devote to physical health. We sign up to gym memberships, we go running, we watch what we eat and look for the latest superfoods. Instagram is full of accounts dedicated to inspiring us to exercise better and eat better. But what about mental health? Shouldn’t we also work on that? How do we improve mental health? It’s becoming better known that the biggest killer of men under 45 in the UK is suicide. This …[Read More]
These 11 things can make you the most positive person you’ve ever met
I took a Strengths Finder test a few years ago and it said that my number one strength was positivity. My number one strength! I couldn’t fucking believe it. I wasn’t very happy about this because it’s a bit lame really. Definitely not as cool or impressive as say your number one strength being ‘Strategy’. (That did actually come up as my fifth best strength.) Here’s the results I got: When someone asks you what your strengths are, you don’t really want to say positivity because what does that even mean?! Recently though, I’ve started to think differently about this. It comes up again and again. People often remark that I’m ‘always so positive’ or that I’m the ‘most positive person they’ve ever met’. So maybe I’m in the 98th percentile for positivity. That’s pretty good right? Maybe you can’t change your nature so maybe it’s time to embrace it. …[Read More]
Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday – key takeaways
Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday is the third book in my Book a Week Challenge. I must admit that I didn’t find this an easy read. Street Smarts was a page turner. Ego is the Enemy less so. That’s not to say that it’s not got an important message. It does. And it’s a message that you can apply to your own life. Key Takeaways Don’t let your Ego get in the way of proper progress I’ve been playing golf for since I was 13. That’s more than 20 years ago. I’m still a pretty poor player knocking around a 24 handicap. You’d think that in 20 years I might have improved. Even one shot better a year would have meant I’d be a single figure golfer by now. So why haven’t I improved. Holiday would say that my Ego has prevented me from improving. I think …[Read More]
How I became a morning person. Finally.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been an insomniac. I remember being awake for a whole night before a 9am exam. I’ve punched the walls in frustration at not being able to sleep the night before an important interview. I’ve lain awake so often that for years on a Sunday night, I would pop downstairs at 3am for a glass of port and a sleeping tablet to help my mind relax and finally get some sleep. Not ideal I know. I’ve long dreamed of being able to sleep when I want to. I’ve dreamed of bouncing out of bed at 6am and going to the gym, reading a book and doing some writing. But I’ve never been able to do it. The snooze button was always too inviting. The pillow was too soft and too warm. Until now. I was in Hong Kong and Australia recently to celebrate …[Read More]