After 4 flights in 7 days, today I am writing this newsletter from the city of Basel.
The last 7 days, as usual, have been full of anecdotes, reflections and interesting stories worth sharing…
Let’s start with my 6 highlights of the week.
H1: The mind that wanders is an unhappy mind
Yesterday I came across this Infobae podcast with Mónica Esgueva which is a real gem.
The podcast lasts almost 40 minutes, but in case you don’t have time to watch the whole video, I have marked the part I found most interesting.
In this excerpt, Monica talks about the wandering mind and the negativity bias of our brain.
Let me know what you think.
H2: The hippocampus, sleep and learning
Researchers at Cornell University have identified that during sleep, the CA1 and CA3 regions of the hippocampus experience periods of silence or inactivity.
This silence is not simply a pause, but an active process of restarting that is essential to free these regions for future learning.
The hippocampus is a small structure in our brain that is responsible for managing our memory and learning, and the CA1 and CA3 regions of the hippocampus, specifically are involved in the storage of spatial and temporal memories.
During deep sleep, these regions perform a “reset” that allows neurons to reconfigure themselves and be ready to continue learning the next day.
In addition, a part of the hippocampus called CA2, also plays a key role in this restarting process. While we sleep, this region regulates the activity of areas CA1 and CA3, allowing them to take a necessary rest.
This not only helps to consolidate what we have learned, but also “frees up space” so that we can continue learning without becoming saturated (similar to clearing the cache memory of a computer).
Beyond the fascination of the discovery, from a scientific point of view, the research has great implications for health, as understanding how this reboot process works could open new doors to treat memory disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.
To sum it up, sleep is not only essential for remembering what we have learned, but it also prepares our brain for all the new things to come.
H3: Half full, half empty
At The Art of Possibility, authors Rosamund and Benjamin Zander solve the glass-half-full or half-empty dilemma in a simple and very clear way:
"People who see the glass as half full are not simply optimists; they are seeing reality for what it is. They recognize what's in the glass. In contrast, those who say it's half empty focus on what's missing, losing sight of what really matters."
If you look at things from a lacking point of view, something will always be missing (no matter how much you have).
On the other hand, seeing the positive changes our perspective and opens us to new possibilities.
H4: Ode to some yellow flowers
Last month I wrote a farewell for one of my early mentors, Jeff, who transcended on July 29.
In response to that publication, Karina sent me the following excerpt from a poem by Pablo Neruda entitled “Oda a unas flores amarillas.”
Dust we are,
and dust we shall be.
Neither air, nor fire, nor water
but earth,
only earth we shall be,
and perhaps, some yellow flowers.
Thank you Karina 🙏🏻
H5: Friendship (reflection)
Throughout our lives, we meet a variety of people who leave their mark.
Some connections are fleeting, others last over time.
The key is to recognize those friendships that truly nurture us and help us grow.
It’s not about having lots of friends, but about cultivating genuine and meaningful relationships.
Those that allow us to be authentic, that challenge us to be better and are there in difficult moments.
These are the friendships we should value and care for.
But remember, you are also responsible for being that kind of friend to others.
Friendship is a two-way street, where personal growth and mutual support are fundamental.
H6: Stories from the future
Continuing the intention I set out in the newsletter a couple of weeks ago, yesterday, Saturday, I finished reading another book, Stories from the Future (by David Christian).
And these are the main lessons I take away from the book:
- The duality of the future: between fixed and changing
The future presents itself as a paradox between the predictable and the uncertain. This duality leads us to question how to make decisions in such a complex context.
The uncertainty of the future should not paralyze us, but rather drive us to develop future management skills. We must learn to navigate between certainty and uncertainty, taking advantage of both for our development.
- Compatibilism: the coexistence of free will and determinism
Compatibilism proposes that while there are fixed aspects to our existence, we also have the capacity to make decisions and exercise our will within that framework.
Being aware of the limits of our control allows us to focus on the areas where we can have influence. In personal and professional development, it is crucial to identify which aspects we can change and which we must accept in order to optimize our efforts and energy.
- Future results: the 4 scenarios
Future outcomes are categorized into probable, plausible, possible and absurd. Our decisions are based on the combination of our preferences and the probability of their occurrence.
When setting personal or business goals, it is essential to evaluate not only our desires, but also their feasibility. This allows us to set ambitious but achievable goals, fostering steady and realistic growth.
- Managing the future at the cellular level
Even cells have mechanisms for making decisions and managing the future, following a process of preference, probability and action.
Understanding that planning for the future is an inherent process of life helps us to normalize and value our own planning ability.
- Human responsibility in the management of the planetary future
As a species, we have acquired the power and responsibility to shape the future of our planet.
Every decision we make, no matter how small, contributes to the collective future.
Until next Sunday, with 6 new highlights 
Feedback? I would love to hear from you. Remember that you can contact me at any time through vladimir@younity.one.
