HELLO, APEXIANS! Welcome to Monday. Welcome to April. We’re glad to have you here. No foolin’.
We’re going to begin and close today with a bit of meditation. This first article is particularly good, especially if (like me) you’re learning to meditate.
How to enjoy things. [Superb Owl] — “I’ve returned to the concept of wide attention several times over the course of my ~8 year journey into meditation, dreamwork, psychedelics, and introspection. Each time I rediscover it, it feels like a revelation, a metanoia that catalyzes a thousand lesser insights, a key that unlocks new states of consciousness.”
Are we morally obligated to meditate? [Vox] — “A host of other studies showed that meditation can also change your neural circuitry in ways that make you more compassionate, as well as more inclined to have positive feelings toward a victim of suffering and to see things from their perspective. Further research suggested that meditation can change not only your internal emotional states but also your actual behavior.”
Is it even possible to become more productive? [Esquire] — “Time was the problem, I assumed: There was enough of it; I just wasn’t using it right. Or maybe the problem was my attention span. I couldn’t focus. Luckily, there were products for this. First, I tried blue-light-filtering glasses. Then I bought a kitchen timer shaped like a tomato and became devoted to the Pomodoro technique.”
When did people start owning so many clothes? [/r/AskHistorians on Reddit] — “I live in an old house from the early 20th century, it is a great home, but there are barely any closets to store our overabundance of clothing. It got me thinking that in less than a century our relationship with clothing has completely changed. How did this happen? Was it a slow, inevitable shift after the Industrial Revolution and the rise of consumerism? Was it a market created by the the growth of wealth and production in the 20th century? Is it something completely different?”
Lastly, here’s a little something to help you ease into the week. Rapper Lil Jon (“Turn Down for What”, etc.) has just released an album (and YouTube playlist) of guided meditations called “Total Meditation”.
Chill vibes, man. Chill vibes.
Okay, that’s it for Monday. See you all again tomorrow.