Mindful Mondays: Rainy Day Reading
Ali Abdaal on Feel-Good Productivity, brain stimulation for depression, and more
Good morning, and welcome to Mindful Mondays!
It’s a rare rainy day here in San Diego. As I write this, I’m sitting at the window in my favorite coffee shop, watching the rain fall in the parking lot. The shop is crowded, as people take shelter from the wet weather amid the grind and hiss of espresso machines and the aroma of freshly-roasted coffee.
As for me, I’m sipping a decaf flat white and reflecting on these first few weeks of the year: what I’ve accomplished, what I’m still working on, what’s been working well for me, and what hasn’t.
By this time (January 22nd) most people will have already given up on their New Year’s resolutions. If you’ve been struggling, take heart: there are 49 weeks left in the year. That’s more than enough time to set your intentions for the year and begin taking small steps forward.
Book I’m reading
Feel-Good Productivity by Ali Abdaal: Today, Ali Abdaal is best known as YouTube’s top productivity guru. But not that long ago, he was a junior doctor, struggling to manage a hospital ward in the UK. In medical school, Ali became obsessed with productivity, and embraced the typical ‘grindset’ advice until it ground him down and burned him out.
Searching for a better way, his research led him to the field of positive psychology, which showed him that happiness can actually lead to success—rather than what most of us believe, which is that success leads to happiness.
If you’d like a taste of what Ali has to offer in his first book book, check out this YouTube clip of him reading from the introduction and explaining the “broaden and build” theory of positive emotions.
Podcast I’m listening to:
A Glimpse of the Future: Electroceuticals for 70%-90% Remission of Depression, Brain Stimulation for Sports Performance, and De-Risking Ibogaine for TBI/PTSD (#714): In this episode of the Tim Ferriss Show, Tim interviews Dr. Nolan Williams, a researcher at Stanford specializing in cutting-edge treatments for psychiatric disorders.
Among other things, Tim and Nolan talk about a new, accelerated form of TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) that achieved a 70%+ remission rate for severe depression. They also discuss ibogaine, a frankly fascinating, but somewhat risky psychedelic drug derived from iboga, an African shrub used in traditional rituals, and which has major potential for treating addiction, PTSD, and other ailments of the spirit.
I personally believe this decade is going to see major advances in mental health treatment, and this podcast provides a preview of what might be coming.
Quote of the week
“No cure that fails to engage our spirit can make us well.”
—Viktor Frankl, psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor
That’s all for this week! As always, I appreciate your feedback on Mindful Mondays. What was your favorite thing I shared this week? What would you like to learn more about? Please feel free to reply to this email or leave a comment on Substack to let me know.
Thanks for reading,
Chris Cordry, LMFT
PS: If you’re struggling to clarify your goals and intentions for the year, 1:1 coaching can help. Just reply to this email with “coaching” to set up a free 20-minute call and see if working with me might be a good fit for you.
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