Finishing a Book is Optional There is a cognitive bias called the sunk cost fallacy. We hesitate to abandon a strategy or a plan because we already have invested time, money, energy in it, even if dropping that specific action would be more helpful for us. With the sunk cost fallacy in mind, we would gain more if we do not finish a book we do not enjoy. Time is non-regenerable and is not worth spending our time on boring or bad books. Usually, after …
“In the beginner’s mind, there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s, there are few.” Zen master Shunryo Suzuki In Zen Buddhism, “shoshin” translates as the “beginner’s mind”, where “sho” means beginning or origin, and “shin” means spirit, soul, or attitude. A beginner’s mind is different from being a beginner. Shoshin is about having the attitude and mindset of a novice who learns a new practice for the first time, especially after reaching expert levels in our fields. In the beginner’s mind, there is a lack of preconceptions, a willingness to learn, to ask and try, …
You visited me again last nightAnd I woke up again in fright.I didn’t know what else to do.Should I have screamed? Should I have welcomed you? You bring me gifts of smoke.You’re in my head.You’re all the stories that I couldn’t write,All the shadows that never leave without a fight.You bring me gifts of light.You’re in my hand.And when you cover the entire houseYou let me see the unseen part of me.The one who feels at times denied.The one who’d write all nightUntil the …
Oh 2020, what a year, what a year… In this article, I collected the stories that marked me this year. Non-fiction books, in random order: Fiction Articles Videos Podcasts I would like to conclude with a quote from Good Economics for Hard Times: “Defining people by their problems is turning circumstance into essence. It denies hope.” And maybe hope can rise like seeds from the ashes of this year.
And no more left dreams were right With no more hopes nor aims in sight. I chopped my dreams, I chopped them small Until they were all bleeding, all, all. With no more dreams to spare, How could I learn to live, to love, to dare? I buried the ashes of my dreams. Some were rotten. Some were seeds.
I have it in me This idea that wants to break free. The snow Of the A4 Says: “Come, I’ll be your home.” Black, tiny letters start running wild like a poem. Until the dark Of the ink Says: “Stop, here comes the dot.”
And maybe a word is more than a thing. It seems to laugh, it seems to cry. It is all wonders and is all a lie. And maybe we are beings drawn in words. Choking on their meanings blurred.A drop of poison in the sweet of honey.Yeast fermenting in hope and money.Knife that slays or barely sighs.Bridges forming, crossing eyes.And in the end, what is a word? Playdough.
One of my happiest childhood moments was when I got lost in books. After having a child, children’s books made me feel like I was reborn as a child, too. One of the most requested books in our household is In the Town All Year Round by Sussane Berner Rotraut. This was my first exposure to wimmelbooks, a special form of picture books with hidden objects. Wimmelbooks are a distinctive type of picture book characterized by their large-format, wordless illustrations filled with intricate details. These books are primarily …