The Daily Stoic Gretchen Rubin On The Power Of Exploring Your Senses
Gretchen Rubin, a renowned author and expert on happiness and habits, shares her insights from her latest book, emphasizing the significance of sensory exploration. She discusses how our perceptions shape our reality, the joy found in rereading beloved books, and the beauty of appreciating everyday moments. Her reflections on personal growth and the transformative power of routine resonate throughout the conversation. Rubin also delves into the nuances of soundscapes and the importance of embracing life's imperfections, providing listeners with a fresh perspective on mindfulness.
01:13:58
Perception Creates Reality
- Our reality is shaped by our perceptions, like in the movie Gladiator.
- Whether we experience beauty or a hellscape depends on our senses.
Hidden Logos
- Gretchen Rubin discusses overlooked details in familiar logos.
- The Baskin Robbins logo contains a "31," and the Tostitos logo depicts two people sharing chips.
Sensory Adaptation
- Our brains filter out constant stimuli, like city sirens or the smell of our homes.
- This explains why we become "noseblind" to familiar scents.
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Intro
00:00 • 2min
A Sensory Shift: From Studio to Bookstore
02:05 • 4min
Exploring Sensory Perception through Audiobooks and Film
06:09 • 3min
Perception: The Colors of Experience
09:11 • 17min
Exploring Change Through Repetitive Experience
25:44 • 2min
The Subtle Transformations of Daily Life and Mental Health Awareness
27:48 • 3min
The Comfort of Repetition and the Joy of Rereading
30:53 • 14min
Exploring Sensory Adventures
44:30 • 6min
Transforming Perspectives
50:04 • 4min
Embracing Life's Imperfections
54:00 • 5min
The Power of Personal Soundscapes
58:53 • 16min
Understanding Behavior Change Through Convenience and Food Cues
01:14:50 • 3min
Celebrating Creativity and Podcast Support
01:18:13 • 3min
Life in Five Senses
How Exploring the Senses Got Me Out of My Head and Into the World
Gretchen Rubin
In 'Life in Five Senses,' Gretchen Rubin delves into the mysteries and joys of the five senses as a means to achieve a happier, more mindful life.
After realizing she had been overlooking her senses while studying happiness, Rubin embarked on a year-long experiment to heighten her senses and use her powers of perception to live a fuller life.
Drawing on cutting-edge science, philosophy, literature, and personal experiences, she investigates how simple pleasures like appreciating ketchup and favorite songs, as well as more adventurous activities like daily visits to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, can enhance daily life.
Rubin shows how tuning into the physical world can help individuals cheer up, calm down, and engage more deeply with their surroundings.
The four tendencies
Gretchen Rubin
Gretchen Rubin's "The Four Tendencies" introduces a personality framework categorizing individuals into four tendencies: Upholders, Questioners, Obligers, and Rebels.
Understanding these tendencies helps explain how people respond to inner and outer expectations, impacting their decision-making, habit formation, and relationships.
The book provides self-assessment tools and practical advice for leveraging each tendency's strengths and navigating its challenges.
It offers insights into personal productivity, communication, and conflict resolution.
Ultimately, it promotes self-awareness and improved relationships.
Outer Order, Inner Calm
Gretchen Rubin
In 'Outer Order, Inner Calm', Gretchen Rubin argues that an organized space significantly contributes to inner calm and overall happiness.
The book offers over a hundred practical strategies for decluttering and organizing, divided into sections such as 'Make Choices', 'Create Order', 'Know Yourself–and Others', 'Cultivate Helpful Habits', and 'Add Beauty'.
Rubin emphasizes the importance of understanding personal habits and emotional attachments to possessions, and provides manageable steps to create a serene and orderly environment.
By getting rid of unnecessary items, readers can free their minds and shelves for what they truly value, leading to a more controlled, calm, and energetic life.
Discipline is Destiny
The Power of Self-Control
Ryan Holiday
In 'Discipline is Destiny', Ryan Holiday explores the Stoic virtue of self-discipline, drawing on historical figures and contemporary examples to illustrate its transformative power.
The book emphasizes that discipline is the foundation upon which other virtues such as courage, justice, and wisdom depend.
Holiday argues that self-control is essential for personal triumph and fulfillment, and he provides engaging stories and practical advice on how to cultivate discipline in a world filled with distractions and temptations.
The book also cautions against the perils of extravagance and hedonism, stressing the importance of balance and self-mastery in achieving success and happiness.
The Club
How the English Premier League Became the Wildest, Richest, Most Disruptive Force in Sports
Joshua Robinson
Jonathan Clegg
This book is a sports and business tale of how money, ambition, and twenty-five years of drama transformed the English Premier League into a twenty-first-century entertainment empire.
It details how the league's transformation was driven by a motley cast of billionaires and hucksters, and how it now attracts global investment and attention.
The narrative is deeply researched, drawing on one hundred exclusive interviews with key decision makers at every major English team, and offers a unique insight into the league's history, its financial evolution, and its global reach.
The Happiness Project
Gretchen Rubin
In 'The Happiness Project', Gretchen Rubin chronicles her year-long journey to enhance her happiness.
Despite having a fulfilling life, Rubin realized she wasn’t focusing enough on her own happiness.
She divided her project into twelve months, each with a different area of focus and specific goals.
From boosting energy and improving her marriage to enhancing her work life and leisure activities, Rubin tested various strategies, including those from Epicurus, Thoreau, and modern scientists.
The book combines historical wisdom, scientific research, and personal anecdotes to provide practical advice on how to make life happier and more fulfilling.
Working
people talk about what they do all day and how they feel about what they do
Studs Terkel
In 'Working,' Studs Terkel conducts in-depth interviews with people from diverse occupations, ranging from gravediggers to studio heads.
The book provides a snapshot of American working life in the early 1970s, highlighting the emotional and physical aspects of work.
It explores themes of job satisfaction, the search for meaning, and the impact of work on individuals' lives.
The interviews are edited to preserve the voices and stories of the subjects, offering a powerful and original perspective on work and its significance in human experience.
Crowds and power
Elias Canetti
In 'Crowds and Power', Elias Canetti examines the psychological and social dynamics of crowds and their relationship with power.
The book, first published in German as 'Masse und Macht' in 1960, uses a wide range of historical and anthropological examples to illustrate how crowds form and behave.
Canetti discusses the transformation of individuals within a crowd, the role of leaders, and the mechanisms of power, including the exploitation of fear and the spread of influence.
The work is characterized by its literary and symbolic approach, making it more than a conventional scholarly treatise on crowd psychology.
A Calendar of Wisdom
Daily Thoughts to Nourish the Soul, Written and Selected from the World's Sacred Texts
Leo Tolstoy
This collection is a day-by-day guide that illuminates the path of a life worth living.
It features gems of inspiration and wisdom from various historical figures including Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Lao-Tzu, Buddha, Pascal, Jesus, Muhammad, Confucius, Emerson, Kant, Ruskin, Seneca, Socrates, and Thoreau.
Tolstoy considered this work his most important contribution to humanity, and it was widely read in pre-revolutionary Russia before being banned and forgotten under Communism.
Recently rediscovered, it has been praised for its timeless wisdom and inspiration.
Varieties of Religious Experience
William James
This book is a collection of lectures delivered by William James at the University of Edinburgh between 1901 and 1902.
It focuses on the personal and subjective aspects of religious experiences, rather than on theology or organized religion.
James examines various types of religious experiences, including healthy-mindedness, the sick soul, conversion, mysticism, and saintliness.
He emphasizes the importance of feeling and personal experience in religion, arguing that these experiences are the primary source of religious beliefs and practices.
The book also discusses the psychological and philosophical implications of these experiences, highlighting their complexity and life-altering nature.
The life of Samuel Johnson
James Boswell
Andy Warhol
Campbell's Soup Box Paintings
Itzhak Goldberg
Andy Warhol
Ce livre présente une collection de plus de 60 peintures de boîtes de soupe Campbell's réalisées par Andy Warhol, accompagnées d'un essai qui explore l'histoire de l'artiste avec ces icônes culturelles.
Il offre une perspective approfondie sur l'œuvre de Warhol et son impact sur l'art populaire.
Ryan speaks with Gretchen Rubin about her new book Life in Five Senses: How Exploring the Senses Got Me Out of My Head and Into the World, how our reality is composed entirely of our perceptions, her striving to better accept herself while still expecting more from herself, the wisdom that can be found with reading and re-reading great books, her former boss Sandra Day O’Connor, and more.
Gretchen Rubin is an author, blogger, podcaster, and speaker whose work focuses on happiness, habits, and human nature. She has written ten books, including the best-selling and widely influential Better Than Before, Happier at Home, and The Happiness Project, and her writings have sold more than two million print and online copies worldwide in over thirty languages. Gretchen’s podcast, Happier with Gretchen Rubin, on which she and her sister Elizabeth Craft discuss happiness and good habits, has been downloaded over 220 million times. All this and more can be found on her website: gretchenrubin.com.
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