An excerpt from The Power of Habit

Small wins are exactly what they sound like, and are part of how keystone habits create widespread changes. A huge body of research has shown that small wins have enormous power, an influence disproportionate to the accomplishments of the victories themselves. "Small wins are a steady application of a small advantage," one Cornell professor wrote in 1984. "Once a small win has been accomplished, forces are set in motion that favor another small win." Small wins fuel transformative changes by leveraging tiny advantages into patterns that convince people that bigger achievements are within reach. 

By Charles Duhigg, p. 112

March Favourites

F. Miller face oil - After reading about it on Rebecca Ramsdale's blog, and in a desperate attempt to fix my very angry skin, I purchased this at Easy Tiger and fell in love. Rebecca explains that Fran of F. Miller mixed the oils in an attempt to combat the harsh Canadian winter and its effect on her eczema and psoriasis. I don't have eczema or psoriasis. I do have a bit of rosacea and lupus that mostly manifests on my skin. This oil (and a slew of samples from the kind man at Sephora Yorkville) has helped to calm the extreme redness on my face as well as bring back some of the moisture that winter has completely stripped away. The effect feels instantaneous. I feel so much better.

Hanya Yanagihara - Here is an amazing author. I read her second novel A Little Life first and I have to say I liked that better. It was a beautiful book that described living and the many consequences and tribulations that can come with living, and admittedly, a difficult life. In March, I read her debut novel The People in the Trees. If A Little Life was about the consequences and tribulations that can come with living, I think The People in the Trees describes the consequences and tribulations that comes with existing in our globalized world. It is the dark that comes with exposure to the unknown, and how we often scramble to react instead of simple observation. The People in the Trees is not an easy novel to swallow. I can't say I recommend it because it is very, very difficult at parts. It is about a selfish man, and finding justification for his selfish behaviour. It is an interesting read, something that encourages growth and self-reflection. Maybe we can end on calling it a challenge.

GIRLS - It's the final season. The show hasn't changed that much from the beginning. The characters are all the same or very similar kinds of selfish. I loved this show in the beginning though, and I still do into its last season. It is a bit of a guilty pleasure. Hannah is back with the same narcissism and insecurity while she deals with everything, even more things. It's a little reassuring to have someone act that way, even if it is someone on TV.

The Course of Love by Alain de Botton - I was reading a review on this book that says this is the book you should read before marriage. It is a book that is good for helping us understand all of our personal relationships better. It walks the reader through the very beginning of a couple's meeting to their courting, dating, marriage, insecurities and woes of marriage, having children, having an affair, and realizing what a prolonged relationship really means. There is also a third voice - almost like a narrator, that describes each critical step or misstep at each point. It is a beautiful book. A nice short read for when you maybe want to get some perspective on how to function in a prolonged relationship. For me, one question about marriage has always been: How do you make love stay? How do you make love continue to grow at the same pace? This goes there.

Winter Stations 2017

The Course of Love by Alain De Botton

I found a book I am in love with, perfectly describing everything I want out of a relationship, everything I am, and everything I want out of love, every way I want to fall in love.

-- There is, in the early period of love, a measure of sheer relief at being able, at last, to reveal so much of what needed to be kept hidden for the sake of propriety. We can admit to not being as respectable or as sober, as even-keeled or as ‘normal’, as society believes. We can be childish, imaginative, wild, hopeful, cynical, fragile and multiple – all of this our lover can understand and accept us for. 

They are back in the playful spirit of childhood. They bounce on the bed. They swap piggyback rides. They gossip. After attending a party, they inevitably end up finding fault with all the other guests, their loyalty to each other deepened by their ever-increasing disloyalty towards everyone else.