Denouement

       There are no happy endings. Endings are the saddest part.

       So just give me a happy middle. And a very happy start.

 

Eternal Return: The Ultimate New Year Resolution

Nietzsche’s Eternal Return

Imagine that, when you died, you were born into this life you’re living now, and that you would repeat that forever. This moment and every other would happen again just as they have and will — and you’ll respond to them just as you have and will. 

How does that feel? 

What would you do differently?

How would you live if you were to repeat this life, as it is lived this time, over and over again for eternity? Nothing changes. You couldn’t make different decisions or take on different attitudes. You wouldn’t be conscious that you’re reliving your life. This life. As it is. Again and again. This is the idea of eternal return or recurrence. 

When life is looked at through the prism of eternal return, rather than being ephemeral, fleeting nothings, each moment becomes an immortal brick in the groundwork of your existence. Each moment not only shapes the future, but the present moment for infinite future selves. Eternal recurrence challenges us to inch closer to amor fati — to truly loving our fate. 

If you had to do this again and again, wouldn’t you look harder for a way to love it? 

Nietzsche resolved to amor fati — to love his fate. He wanted to say yes to life.

Is your outlook brittle or resilient?

''Two men looked out from prison bars,

One saw the mud, the other saw stars.''

― Dale Carnegie

How to Stop Worrying and Start Living

Rising road fatalities

The current rising fatalities in the U.S. are caused by what University of Utah cognitive neuroscientist David Strayer, PhD, calls the “four horsemen of death.” Together, they are speed, impairment, distraction, and fatigue, the human foibles behind more than 90% of vehicle crashes.

Prisons and Token Economies

An interesting piece on incarceration and the token economy,

Because prisons are, in a sense, enclosed environments they represent somewhat of a behavioural laboratory where contingencies can be altered and controlled on a large scale. Few other settings allow for such systemic control of influencing variables.

Within prisons, inmates need to maintain some income in order to obtain many necessities and comforts. Altering the economy to a Token Economy and making these necessities and comforts contingent on engagement in skills learning or good behaviour could vastly improve behaviour in a prison system.

Additionally, since these environments are so highly controlled that access to social and recreational contact all must pass through the system – engagement in these things might be used to motivate good behaviour as well.

~ From Behavioral Science in the 21st Century