Vox: Go ahead, be a little spontaneous
“When all of life’s moments are planned and you’re rushing from one event to the next, you miss out on small, accidental joys: a quick conversation with a neighbor, a new favorite store you decided to pop into on a whim, a chance to grab ice cream with your kid on the way home from soccer practice. Without moments of serendipitous interaction and activity, “it’s not a fully lived life,” Slingerland says.”
Allie Volpe, “Go ahead, be a little spontaneous,” Vox, July 1, 2022
shondaland: How to Be Irresponsible Responsibly
“We spend so much of our lives striving to be responsible and to do the right thing that we often forget there are many benefits to doing something a little naughty every once in a while. The excitement that comes with tapping into that childlike mischievousness is freeing because it thrusts you into the present moment. So, being a tad reckless, spontaneous, and risking getting into trouble has the power to open a door to surprising moments of joy and fulfillment.”
Ally Hirschlag, “How to Be Irresponsible Responsibly,” Shondaland, July 19, 2021
Reader’s Digest: Creating Space for Spontaneity
“Learn how to stop overscheduling your life, embrace surprise and have some fun.”
Rumack, Leah. “How Little Acts of Spontaneity Can Make Your Day,” Reader’s Digest Canada, April 29, 2021.
The Other Press: Achieving our goals
“There’s something to be said about making a plan and ironing out all the steps along the way, but it’s not always the ideal approach to getting things done. You see, when you try to organize every aspect of your life, you’ll find yourself overworked and disappointed when things inevitably don’t play out the way you anticipated, or rather, planned.
In his book, Trying Not To Try, Edward Slingerland talks about how “we too often devote ourselves to pushing harder or moving faster in areas of our life where effort and striving are, in fact, profoundly counterproductive.” If we gave in a little bit to the idea of spontaneity or flow we’d find ourselves achieving our goals much easier.”
Morgan Hannah, “Trying Not to Try,” The Other Press, March 16, 2021.
The Wall Street Journal: spontaneity is scarce these days
“Spontaneity, always in short supply, is scarce these days. It is nearly impossible to get reservations for dinner at coveted restaurants. Movies sell out, and vacations are planned to the 15-minute increment. A month ahead, parents can be sure their child gets into an art activity at the local museum and reserve ice cream at the nearby cafe for lunch afterward.”
Nina Sovich, “The Age of Organized Spontaneity,” The Wall Street Journal, February 2nd 2016.
China Daily USA: Not the best way to get ahead
“Just in time for the season of reform and New Year’s resolutions, comes a new book that uses ancient Chinese philosophy to argue that sometimes trying hard is not the best way to get ahead.”
Chris David, “New Year’s Resolution Number One: Try Not to Try,” China Daily USA, January 1st 2015.
The Sydney Morning Herald: go with the flow
“It is endlessly frustrating to be told to “just relax” or “just be yourself” when you’re feeling anything but. Often, being told to “take it easy” makes you feel even more self-conscious and stressed.
But, according to Professor Edward Slingerland, it’s exactly that “go with the flow” state that we should strive to achieve.”
Rachel Clun, “The art of just being yourself,” The Sydney Morning Herald, December 17th, 2014.
The New York Times: a paradox essential to civilization
“How you can force yourself to relax? How can you try not to try?
It makes no sense, but the paradox is essential to civilization, according to Edward Slingerland. He has developed, quite deliberately, a theory of spontaneity based on millenniums of Asian philosophy and decades of research by psychologists and neuroscientists.”
John Tierney, “A Meditation on the Art of Not Trying,” The New York Times, December 15th, 2014.
The Atlantic: the enemy of cool
“Calculation is the enemy of cool, it seems. Earlier this year I spoke with Edward Slingerland, a professor of Asian studies at the University of British Columbia, who studies cool full-time. In a post called “How to Not Try,” he explained to me four approaches to not trying. I think about them constantly.”
James Hamblin, “No one Wins the Breakup on Social Media,” The Atlantic, December 4th 2014.
Los Angeles Review of Books: art and unselfconscious spontaneity
“Almost all the arts of life are enhanced when performed with unselfconscious spontaneity — think shooting hoops, playing a complicated musical passage, dining with friends. The moment we try not to try is often the moment performance collapses in a counterproductive muddle. This “paradox of wu-wei,” as Edward Slingerland calls it, can be explained as the goal of trying not to try. This ambitious book reprises much of the author’s previous work on classical Chinese philosophical cultivation of wu-wei (see his 2003 book, Effortless action) and broadens the scope of his previous engagement with cognitive science, particularly notions of embodied mind.”
Andrew B. Irvine, “The Paradox of wu-wei,” Los Angeles Review of Books, September 2nd 2014.