A blissful state - the feeling that everything just works and falls into place effortlessly. A state of creative flow. But what does it look like in the brain? What processes are happening there when we are in a state of creative flow, and what can these findings teach us? In this post, I share … Continue reading Conversation About Creative Flow
Spreading the Word: What Is an Intellectual?
What does it mean to be an intellectual? What is it like to feel oneself an intellectual? Is it a public role or a more private, secluded vocation, a contemplative and quiet way of life? While 100 years ago the Dominican preacher and philosopher Antonin-Gilbert Sertillanges emphasized the need for solitude (although, not isolation) if … Continue reading Spreading the Word: What Is an Intellectual?
Spreading the Word: What Is Lived Experience?
People use the expression 'lived experience' with increasing frequency. We usually mean it as the first-person privileged access to a particular way of experiencing something. Usually, this particular way is intertwined with and expressed in various social identity terms. My lived experience as a woman, as a migrant, as an Eastern European, and so on. … Continue reading Spreading the Word: What Is Lived Experience?
Spreading the Word: Deep Reading in the Digital Age
We live in an increasingly digital world where the race for our attention is growing ever faster. Messages, notifications, updates, comments, and on and on and on the eternal scroll goes. This environment influences us even when we don't realise it. Distraction happens also when I do not pick up my phone to check the … Continue reading Spreading the Word: Deep Reading in the Digital Age
Spreading the Word: Waiting and Lived Time
We all have experienced waiting. But could waiting be in danger of dying out as a phenomenon? Many of us do not like the feelings associated with waiting - the slow passing of time, the uncertainty, the sense of being stuck in some misty limbo land with no clear path in sight. So we try … Continue reading Spreading the Word: Waiting and Lived Time
Spreading the Word: Emotional and Hermeneutic Labour
Managing one's own emotions and those of others is a form of labour. Some people get paid for this work (e.g., flight attendants). However, often the effort that goes into becoming an emotional management expert goes unnoticed and stays in the invisible background of what appear to be naturally flowing relationships. But what about another … Continue reading Spreading the Word: Emotional and Hermeneutic Labour
Spreading the Word: Intriguing Science of Geomythology
A podcast episode on the fascinating science of geomythology
Spreading the Word: History of the Largest Republic in Europe
It existed for some 400 years, was the biggest republic in Europe, and whose political ideas, some historians believe, might have influenced Shakespeare's Hamlet. Listen to the fascinating history of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in this dedicated BBC In Our Time history podcast episode: The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Enjoy! "...the republic that emerged from the union of … Continue reading Spreading the Word: History of the Largest Republic in Europe
Spreading the Word: Research on Storytelling
In today's post, I share a podcast episode featuring one of the researchers engaged in a recent project investigating how the art of storytelling can help shift narratives in local communities to encourage more sustainable lifestyles. You can read their report and findings here. Enjoy! Keeping up the "Spreading the Word" tradition, I hope to … Continue reading Spreading the Word: Research on Storytelling
Spreading the Word: Philosophers on Authenticity
Continuing the theme of the last weeks, today I share a BBC podcast episode on authenticity. What does it mean to be oneself, is there a fixed self at all, and why should it matter whether we are authentic or not? Philosophers engage in discussing these and other questions, addressing some of the perennial themes … Continue reading Spreading the Word: Philosophers on Authenticity
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