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Reading List

August 6, 2022

Dear friends,

Welcome to reading list.

In this edition  we have four links.

1.This is an age of speed and information onslaught. Compared to the past, we spend a considerable amount of our waking hours  scrolling our screens. Though our brains are capable of processing huge quantity of information, the current levels may be too much for it. The things which we have to pay attention at any moment can be mind boggling. In the whole process we fail to hear us and also fail to understand the world around us and what it offers . The world is slowly waking up to this challenge to human attention. Read this take on why we need to slow down.

https://psyche.co/ideas/slow-down-its-what-your-brain-has-been-begging-for

2.This is about one of the most underappreciated skill we should cultivate . The ability to listen to people. Whether in relationships or in career , listening the other matters hugely. Often,  many of our problems stem from the fact that we don’t pay sufficient attention to people around us.  Drawing from the huge work done by Psychologist Carl Rogers , the author delves deep  into the process of what he calls “ active listening “ which takes an effort. According to the author , the most direct way to convey someone that we care about them is to listen to them.  Listening well, as Rogers said, is ‘a growth experience’. It allows us to get the best of others. The carousel of souls is endless. People have deeply felt and fascinating lives, and they can enfranchise us to worlds we would never otherwise know.  In our day to day lives, once we start listening to our partners , our children and our colleagues that will bring about a world of difference to our lives. Read on and it can be an introspection of the way in which we all listen to others and how can we perhaps improve ourselves.

https://aeon.co/essays/the-psychologist-carl-rogers-and-the-art-of-active-listening

3. This is a very short essay on the brevity required in emails. We at  the institute are people living in emails. How do we make the email communication short and crisp? Why brevity is such an important idea? How do we make the best of emails? Of course , this short write up does not contain answers for all. But it triggers a debate . Please read it here .https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/09/brevity-in-email/501986/

4.This is a link to a video.  Commencement speech by British author Neil Gaiman to the University of Arts class of 2012. His speech packages all  guidance that a graduating arts student can hope to carry home as he/she gradutes. “when you start out, you have to deal with the problems of failure. You need to be thick-skinned, to learn that not every project will survive.” I hope you’ll make mistakes. If you make mistakes, it means you’re out there doing something. That’s Gaiman to students. The successful writer , Gaiman understands the anxieties and aspirations of a graduating student and delivers , arguably one of the best inspiring speeches .  Let your children listen to this . I am sure it will spur them into action.

https://ed.ted.com/lessons/neil-gaiman-at-the-university-of-the-arts-commencement-2012

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