Thinks I find along the way
It’s ironic but true: The best thing for your nervous system is another human and the worst thing for your nervous system is another human. Neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett tells us why: People’s words and actions can actually shape your brain — a neuroscientist explains how
Why some couples walk down the aisle and into the sunset: One Simple Way to Maintain a Happy Marriage
I took some time off yesterday to clear my head with one more epic bike ride of the season. Here’s some of what I saw along the way…
I love my Michigan…
It might not feel like it in the heat of the moment, but being single proves better than being in a toxic relationship. Here’s the proof: Psychology Explains Why Being Single Is Better Than a Toxic Relationship
New study reveals the negative impact of impolite workplace emails: Rude Emails Can Harm Your Mental Health
This is the latest episode of one of my favorite podcasts:
“Judy, Lyn and Donna Ulrich were driving to a volleyball game when their Ford Pinto was hit from behind by a Chevy van. The Pinto caught fire, and the three teenagers were burned to death. This week on Hidden Brain, we talk to a former Ford insider who could have voted to recall the Pinto years before the Ulrich girls were killed — but didn’t. And we ask, is it possible to fairly evaluate our past actions when we know how things turned out? Source: The Halo Effect: Why It’s So Difficult To Understand The Past : Hidden Brain“
Are your bathroom habits healthy? : Are You Peeing Too Often Or Not Nearly Enough? A Urologist Explains
Exercise increases galanin in the locus coeruleus and boosts stress resilience: How Running Makes the Brain More Resilient to Stress
It’s the secret to high-performing teams — and strong marriages: The Ideal Praise-to-Criticism Ratio
And 10 U-turns that can heal them: 10 ‘Lizard Brain’ Actions That Poison Intimate Relationships
She responded to sexist insults made by Rep. Ted Yoho this week and called out a broader culture of sexism in Congress: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s powerful speech against misogyny in Congress was long overdue
Here’s an interesting blog and blogger to follow!
To love well, balance autonomy and connection: Love in the Profound Part of the Brain
Langston Hughes
Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.
(America never was America to me.)
Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.
(It never was America to me.)
O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.
(There’s never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this “homeland of the free.”)
Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?
I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery’s scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek—
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.
I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one’s own greed!
I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean—
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today—O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.
Yet I’m the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That’s made America the land it has become.
O, I’m the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home—
For I’m the one who left dark Ireland’s shore,
And Poland’s plain, and England’s grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa’s strand I came
To build a “homeland of the free.”
The free?
Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we’ve dreamed
And all the songs we’ve sung
And all the hopes we’ve held
And all the flags we’ve hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay—
Except the dream that’s almost dead today.
O, let America be America again—
The land that never has been yet—
And yet must be—the land where every man is free.
The land that’s mine—the poor man’s, Indian’s, Negro’s, ME—
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.
Sure, call me any ugly name you choose—
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people’s lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!
O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath—
America will be!
Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain—
All, all the stretch of these great green states—
And make America again!
From The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes, published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Copyright © 1994 the Estate of Langston Hughes. Used with permission.
Listen to this from the TED Radio Hour:
Good stuff in here: “Since we all are under lockdown, we are spending a lot of time with our spouse. This can be a welcome change for some but for some it can be quite stressful too”: How to Maintain a Healthy Relationship with your Spouse During Coronavirus Lockdown
It’s never too late to start strengthening your brain: People with large brain reserves can circumvent Alzheimer’s. Here’s how to build yours.
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Bright, shiny objects! 
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