Quote of the day
We argue with stories, internally or out loud. We talk back. We praise. We denounce. Every story is the beginning of a conversation, with ourselves as well as with others.
~ELIZABETH SVOBODA, author of What Makes a Hero?: The Surprising Science of Selflessness
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FOOD
Why we love the pain of spicy food? [Tasty: The Art and Science of What We Eat
], WSJ | Tweet
Eating hot chili peppers allows us to court danger without risk, activating areas of the brain related to both pleasure and pain.
NUTRITION
How this entrepreneur plans to help you eat healthy in 2015, Financial Post | Tweet
Aside from being financially responsible and exercising more, eating healthier is one of the common New Year’s resolutions. For Abigail Keeso, eating healthy is the easy part–her New Year’s resolution was to become a first-time entrepreneur, with the launch of healthy eating platform That Clean Life.
The link between nutrition, exercise and mood, US news | Tweet
Feed your brain with omega-3s and B vitamins.
SOCIAL MEDIA
‘Facebook at work’ launches so you can never not be on Facebook, Wired | Tweet
Facebook is doing everything it can to monopolize your time online, ramping up efforts in video, messaging, and news, among other media. Now it’s unveiling a whole new portal that officially acknowledges what you already do anyway: spend all your time at work on Facebook.
PSYCHOLOGY
The power of story [What Makes a Hero?
] Aeon | Tweet
Across time and culture, stories have been agents of personal transformation–in part because they change our brains.
Shakespeare: one of the first and greatest psychologists [The Sense of Style
, The Better Angels of Our Nature], The Atlantic | Tweet
Steven Pinker finds insight into the frailty of human nature within Measure for Measure 
BUSINESS
Growing up on easy street has its own dangers, NYT | Tweet
When Thomas Gilbert Jr. was arrested on Monday and charged with killing his wealthy father with a gunshot to the head, the rubbernecking and tut-tutting began almost immediately.
THE MIND
Here’s how Zen Meditation changed Steve Jobs‘ life and sparked a design revolution, Business Insider 
| Tweet
When Steve Jobs showed up at the San Francisco airport at the age of 19, his parents didn’t recognize him. Jobs, a Reed College dropout, had just spent a few months in India. He had gone to meet the region’s contemplative traditions — Hinduism, Buddhism — and the Indian sun had darkened his skin a few shades. The trip changed him in less obvious ways, too. Although you couldn’t predict it then, his travels would end up changing the business world.
WRITING
How do writers choose pen names? Carmen Isabel Gonzalez | Tweet
I was perfectly happy with the name I’d had for 40 years. Unfortunately, my publisher had other ideas…
Why the best characters for your story are weirdos?, The Write Practice | Tweet
So much of what most of us consider to be good writing requires the writer to create a believable scene and realistic characters—or if not believable and realistic, close enough so that the reader willingly suspends their disbelief. Today’s article and corresponding writing practice is all about throwing those rules out the window by writing about weirdos.