It is endorphins that give us that glow after we have engaged in demanding exercise. I only recently discovered that endorphin is a contraction of ‘endogenous morphine’ i.e., morphine that the body produces itself.
When flushed with endorphins we feel good about ourselves and that makes it easier to engage in whatever activity we choose to do next.
Read MoreI have been thinking about motivation in terms of self-regulation. I cycle about 30km twice per week for fitness. The practice I have always done on a long hill is to choose a marker 50 metres away and then go hard for it, then set another marker 50 metres further and then go hard for that and so on to the top of the hill.
I discovered recently what this practice is doing.
Read MoreMeaning is the reward we get when our world feels intelligible to us. This is not as easy to achieve as we might think.
Science can tell us how the world behaves and thus we can build technologies to exploit these behaviours, but science can tell us little about what the world is.
Without both pieces of the puzzle – what our world is as well as how it behaves – it will continue to lack full intelligibility.
Read MoreInner peace is the unmistakable ability to enjoy each moment. This is characterised by a loss of interest in judging others or interpreting their actions – a loss of interest in conflict altogether - and an inclination to think and act in the moment rather than on fears based on past events.
Such a deliberate state of calm can be achieved in isolation through intense meditation or, in the real world, through a process of progressively extinguishing the triggers, and re-framing the associated fixed beliefs, that are conjured up by other people’s behaviours and actions.
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