Neoliberalism is the current way of thinking about the economic state of the world. It’s the thinking that has led to the financialization of nearly everything in the world – think about how we justify our thinking in economic terms and not other terms. The critiques of the mind-numbing neoliberal
Continue readingTag: Mind Space
Things Are Good: A Competition and Journal Looking Into Philosophy and Games
Games are a very popular cultural medium with a reputation for not being very “deep”. Game Praxis is a new project I’ve co-founded to encourage game makers and players to ask big questions through gameplay. It’s a game competition and a journal focused on philosophy and games. The goal is
Continue readingThings Are Good: Travel For a Better Brain
I just booked a flight to London and coincidentally came across an article that says that our brains can benefit greatly from exploring the world. A good way to start the day! It turns out that the ability of the brain to handle new information is connected to well-being and
Continue readingThings Are Good: Violent Video Games can be Good
Violent video games get attacked a lot. Media and news companies are quick to blame the influence video games have on youth to be the reason that youth commit acts of violence. This is not the case though. Every year there is more evidence that it’s not true that violent
Continue readingThings Are Good: A Video Designed to Spread
This video has been making the online rounds for the last couple of weeks and I figured I’d post it here. The video looks at why some ideas spread faster and further than others. It’s a neat take on memes (The Richard Dawkins kind).
Continue readingThings Are Good: Focus Less on Work to Improve Everything – Even Your Job
Stressed about not getting enough done at work? Don’t be. It turns out that you can improve how much you get things done at the office by not thinking about it. Turn your attention elsewhere and focus on things that do matter instead. But, how can performance at work improve
Continue readingThings Are Good: Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Can Help Patients Cope with Schizophrenia
Cognitive behavioural therapy can be used by people dealing with schizophrenia to improve their lives. Just six sessions of the therapy can help people deal with worry which can lead to schizophrenic episodes or even be used to help people who are at risk of developing schizophrenia. Six sessions of
Continue readingThings Are Good: Mindfulness Meditation Effective in Improving Sleep
Mindfulness meditation is already pretty great, and it keeps getting better! Not only can it help you go amongst your day in a more thoughtful, productive, focussed manner, it can even help you sleep! A six week trial of getting people who had trouble sleeping to mediate proved to help
Continue readingThings Are Good: Travel to Become a Better Person
When friends ask for life advice tell them to leave. Over at BBC Travel they have an article about how travelling can make you a better person. So what are you waiting for? Get out and explore the world! You’ll gain a broader perspective As Twain’s quote emphasises, travel can
Continue readingThings Are Good: A New Perspective on Depression
Depression seemed to be talked about more last year than in previous years thanks to celebrities revealing their troubles with the affliction. There’s also been more research into depression. With more people thinking about and looking into depression we get new perspectives on the issue. Now, some researchers are arguing
Continue readingThings Are Good: Painting Neighbourhoods
Artists Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn create community art by painting entire neighborhoods, and involving those who live there — from the favelas of Rio to the streets of North Philadelphia. What’s made their projects succeed? In this funny and inspiring talk, the artists explain their art-first approach — and
Continue readingThings Are Good: Keep Your Brain Healthy by Living in Walkable Neighbourhoods
Just when you think there couldn’t be more reasons to live in and build walkable communities another one pops up. We already know that walkable communities are safer, more environmentally healthy, and better for everyone’s health. We can now add to that list that walkable places are good for keeping
Continue readingThings Are Good: Only Keep Things That Bring You Joy
Are you sick of tidying your place all the time? If you are, just stop. There’s no need to tidy if you go through all your items and only keep things which bring you joy and improve your life. Marie Kondo has published a book on the Japanese art of
Continue readingThings Are Good: Talking About Mental Health
Smashing Magazine is best known for geek and design issues, recently they published an article out of the norm. It was part of {Geek} Mental Health Week. Christopher Murphy wrote about his struggle with his mental issues and encourages others to speak up, and for people without mental health issues
Continue readingThings Are Good: Abandoned Walmart Becomes a Library
Walmart is best known for predatory corporate behaviour that damages communities and for the “interesting” people who shop there. One thing that Walmart does is pit one small town against the other to get cheap land and better tax rates, this sometimes means that an existing Walmart gets abandoned. A
Continue readingThings Are Good: A Green Office is a Productive Office
Workplaces aren’t associated with fun, but there are certain designs of places that can make places more enjoyable. It turns out that buildings designed with sustainability in mind tend to be a better, more productive place to work. You should convince your boss that you should move to a green
Continue readingThings Are Good: Blog Action Day 2014: Examine Inequality
This year for Blog Action Day they are tackling inequality, which is great to see! Inequality manifests in various ways that aren’t alway obvious. By having so many global participants today it shows a diversity of thinking and approaches to providing solutions to this global problem. Be a part of
Continue readingThings Are Good: Germany Now Has Free Tuition
Germany has done something that the rest the developed world should copy: reducing post-secondary tuition fees to zero. Open and accessible education is key to making a richer and more prosperous country – Germany clearly gets this. In these modern times education is more important than ever so it’s really
Continue readingThings Are Good: Feel Better By Visiting Your Local Library
It turns out that by simply using your local library you can improve your life – no matter what you read. As long as you make use of what the library provides you can find your well-being increased. What are you waiting for? How do you quantify a public good?
Continue readingThings Are Good: Go Ahead, Get Rid of it
There is just too much stuff in our lives nowadays. Victorian era maximalism got turned up to 11 thanks to globalization and hyper-capaitlaism. Odds are you have useless items around you right now that you thought at one time was a good idea. Well, here’s a better idea: get rid
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