September's Smartsiez

Oh, September. 

Quite poetic to start something fresh now, it almost feels like keeping the tradition of all those study years when a new school year would begin :) #stayinschool #iguess? 

Welcome to my first monthly newsletter, where all my stumbled-upon goodies gather in this old-fashioned blogging form, here to seriously challenge my dusty html/css/+ skills. 
I blabbered more on this in my previous post, if you'd like to see it. 

Scroll below for some interesting findings: on how much work should matter, what is "flow" and why should you try it, why does sleep matter (and how to track it, never thought it can be so interesting!), where and how and why to meditate, common myths, a yummy recipe aaaaand the best for last: where to travel for good coffee. 

Speaking of coffee, why not grab yourself one now?
Quick tip before you start: the pictures (headers) for each section want to be clicked 😄

Diving right in with this one. Stumbled upon it from the daily Quartz newsletter (the only one I get and care about).
Food for thought: Psychology shows it's a big mistake to base our self worth on our professional achievements. "True success lies in (...) using your strengths in the service of a higher calling — in other words, generativity."
I'll take my time with this one.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi asks, "What makes a life worth living?". Noting that money cannot make us happy, he looks to those who find pleasure and lasting satisfaction in activities that bring about a state of "flow." 
Although he doesn't seem to be the most enthusiastic person, the topic is really interesting. I've experienced it often when doing certain tasks, this makes me want to prioritize them more.

Bonus: https://ideas.ted.com/why-grown-ups-love-coloring-books-too/ (yeah, this is one of those tasks 😁)

Oh how I love sleep. And how I loathe sleep.I've always seen it as way too much downtime, when I could be doing something else, more interesting (I guess I'm still not out of the childhood phase where you'd refuse to sleep and would rather play all night haha).But... I'm also at an age where I see the effects of not sleeping enough. And when Matthew Walker, an English scientist and professor of neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley, says sleep is nature's best effort at an anti-aging treatment, well, sir, you have my attention.
"Why we sleep", with Matthew Walker, on the "Deliciously Ella" podcast (which I love, so many good topics!).

Speaking of sleep... after learning some new things about sleep and the sleep cycles in the podcast above, and how Matthew Walker's recommendation was to respect these cycles, I was a bit puzzled: yeah but I do need my alarm clock otherwise hello, 12h sleep. Every. Night. This app (Sleep Cycle) caught my eye as it says it analyses your sleep, detects your sleep cycles and decides, in a half-hour timeframe set by you (depending on when you want to wake up) when would it be best for you to wake up, to feel rested. It tries as much as possible to wake you up in or close to your "awake" phase. Aka least grumpy :)

I've been testing it for some weeks now, and first of all I am amazed and also creeped out at how chaotic my sleep looks like (deep/awake/deep/deep/deep/...).  But even though sometimes (=lots of times) I'm forced to sleep less, this thing wakes me up in a good mood somehow.Smartsie indeed.

Ever wondered what retired people do for fun? :) 

Meditation is the new buzzword. Hectic times are here to stay, and you need to be able to let your brain rest, do some ohming, chill dem heartbeats :) 

The benefits of meditation are numerous and varied, and supported by science. It seems lately that whatever your current problem is, a good way to start is always by regaining control over the things your brain fusses about, and that needs work, it doesn't come easy. Many people start meditating to manage stress, reduce anxiety, and to cultivate peace of mind. Headspace is a good place to begin, me thinks, as it's quirky, cute, but professional. It's even used in companies: group meditation, like the cigarette breaks used to be. If that doesn't scream 2019, I don't know what does :)

Haaave you heard of FAKE NEWS? I'm sure we all have. It's also the buzzword of our times, along with 10 millions others. Which, funny enough, also stays in this month's theme :)The internet has busted open a floodgate of knowledge, and now more than ever you need special skills to separate truth from falsehood. Misconceptions have a way of wriggling into our brains and spreading through word-of-mouth, and social media has put that process on steroids. But fear not, the internet also delivers the tools to help us learn, like this new interactive graphic that puts to rest a whopping 100 most common myths you always see floating around. Yeah, it's as epic as it sounds.

From one of my favorite cookbooks (Every Day by Deliciously Ella), one of my favorite recipes: "The best baked sweet potato". For a quick and easy dinner :)
I don't know how others do the traveling thing, I for one do the coffee shop research as soon as I decide on a destination. Coffee junkie? Neah, coffee lover, my friend [quick proof from one of my latest trips]. Also, half-hipster, why hide it. Next level would be to even PLAN the destination based on certain acclaimed coffee shops. If only there were a way to do that...Wait whaaat? Someone read my thoughts (high five C!) and sent me a really nice top 50 coffee shops to visit. Well okay, let me just roll out my map and start pinning then... (jk I’m that half-hipster that actually prefers GMaps ;-))

OK, that's it, this is all I've got for now. The Smartsiez are out in the world. My first monthly newsletter, the mini-project I've been thinking about for some time now, all part of the process "take the time for yourself, to gather your thoughts, to figure out what matters for you".