 |
|
|
|||||
Alexandra Shaker, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist with a background across inpatient and outpatient treatment settings. She has experience in research, teaching, and clinical practice. Dr. Shakers writing is an interdisciplinary exploration of the human condition: she integrates psychology, literature, history, anthropology, and language to speak to the meaning and vitality we find in the stories we tell one another and ourselves. Dr. Shaker received her PhD in clinical psychology from The New School for Social Research and conducted her doctoral research at the Brief Psychotherapy Research Program at Mount Sinai Beth Israel. She completed her clinical training at Columbia University Medical Center, and a postdoctoral fellowship in perinatal mental health at The Motherhood Center of New York, where she held a position as a clinical psychologist and is now a clinical consultant. Whats the big idea? Clinical psychologist Dr. Alexandra Shaker explores the deep connection between anxiety and the body, blending psychology, neuroscience, history, and literature. The Narrowing reveals how anxiety shapes not just our thoughts but our physical well-beingand how understanding this relationship can help transform fear into resilience. Through a journey from brain to gut, Dr. Shaker uncovers what our bodies can teach us about anxiety and why, despite scientific advancements, we still struggle with it. The Narrowing offers a fresh perspective on embracing anxiety as a natural part of being humanand using it to grow. Below, Alexandra shares five key insights from her new book, The Narrowing: A Journey Through Anxiety and the Body. Listen to the audio versionread by Alexandra herselfin the Next Big Idea App. 1. Anxiety cannot be hacked. When we are uncomfortable or in pain, it is natural to look for an escape route. In these moments, we want, more than anything, to change how we feel, through whatever means may appear quickest. When I recall moments in my life when Ive felt particularly anxious, I recall, too, my overwhelming wish to flee the anxiety and all of its accompanying thoughts and physical sensationsthe fear of having made a wrong decision, the blood rising to my face, and the sinking feeling in my gut. In these vulnerable states, we can easily fall prey to claims of quick fixesof, say, a diet that will (somehow) eliminate panic attacks, or a wearable device that will induce calm throughout the nervous system with the press of a button. We are living in a time when these so-called cures aboundmost of all, on social mediaand they are often difficult to resist. Their omnipresence is evidence of just how pervasive and troubling anxiety is. But the truth is, anxiety cannot be hacked. Depending on quick fixes inevitably ends in frustration and disappointment because, quite simply, they are not enough. So, instead of looking for hacks to eliminate anxiety, we can instead think about approaching anxiety at two levels. We can learn to use strategies to manage anxiety initially, when it feels particularly overwhelming (like, for instance, breathing techniques and physical exercise), and then we can begin to look deeper. Treating anxiety in a meaningful, lasting way requires an appreciation for its depththat is, for where it is coming from and for what it is trying to tell us. When we try to hack our way out of our distress, we miss an opportunity to learn from it. 2. Anxiety is a problem of attention. Our attention is in constant demand, from the perpetual news cycle to workplace requirements to the seductive nature of social media platforms. Today, in a time of political upheaval, natural disasters, and devastating wars, our attention is newly stretched, even contorted. Despite our best intentions, many of us find ourselves struggling to harness our minds. Our time and energy seem in short supply, our focus is unwieldy, and we are anxious. Anxiety and attention are intertwined aspects of our lives because anxiety is, in many ways, shaped by the movement of our attention. What is it that we pay attention to? Where do our minds linger or become stuck? We might find our minds drawn in many directions at once, or we might think about the same concern repeatedly. And then, what arent we paying attention to? This isnt only a matter of staying on task or getting things done; its more profound. Our attention is finite, so when our minds are stuck in one place, its not just that were miserable, its that we miss out on paying attention to all sorts of other thingsthings about which we may feel curious or that might bring us joy. Although we cant always control the movement of our attention, we can learn to have some sway over it. Research shows that anxiety is associated with heightened attention to threat. When we are anxious, we are particularly aware of potential threats in our environments (Bar-Haim et al., 2007). But we are not powerless. Research shows, too, that attention is a crucial aspect of our capacity for emotional regulation (Tan et al., 2023; Thayer & Lane, 2000; Wadlinger & Isaacowitz, 2011). So, the more we learn to modulate our attention, the more we can regulate our emotional states, especially the uncomfortable and even painful ones. Although we cant always control the movement of our attention, we can learn to have some sway over it. The most widely known (and studied) method for developing greater control over ones attention is consistent engagement in mindfulness practices. Imagine how you might use your attention if you werent constantly moving between your work email and your phone and the news, or if you werent fixated on a conversation you had last week or a family matter about which you have no control. And then, imagine how you might feel as a result. Calmer, perhaps, more focused, and better able to appreciate the present moment. By learning to understand and shape the movement of our attention, we can make meaningful changes to our mental health. 3. Anxiety can be a powerful source of information. Despite the reality that anxiety can be a source of frustration at best and suffering at worst, it is also a powerful source of information. Most of us have learned, in one way or another, to attempt to ignore our anxieties because they are a source of discomfort. But actually, anxiety can warn us of trouble ahead or compel us to look more closely at a situation were unsure of. And anxiety can teach us about ourselves and how we operate in the world and relate to others. Many people live with chronic anxiety that manifests as thoughts and physical sensations without understanding its cause. When we notice anxious thoughts creeping in or the physical sensations of anxiety emergingthe sweaty palms, tightness in the jaw, and racing heartinstead of trying to distract ourselves from these uncomfortable sensations, we can ask ourselves what they might have to tell us. Perhaps there is a difficult family dynamic at play or an issue at work that seems to evoke anxiety every time. We can tune into our anxiety to learn from it instead of ignoring it. Our anxiety can teach us about what we are afraid of. By learning what our anxiety has to teach us, by seeing it as a source of information, we no longer have to live by it. We can observe patterns in our thoughts and behaviors, and in doing so, we can gain greter control over our decisions instead of being ruled by feelings we havent made sense of. In this way, anxiety can become a teacher and a force for good. 4. We should all strive to widen our windows of tolerance. We all have different responses to intense emotions and different levels of tolerance for distress. Over the course of our lives, these responses are etched into us, seemingly a facet of who we are. For some people, a period of, for example, deep anger or exceptional stress seems to take over every thought and every action until it is resolved, whereas for others, these feelings can exist alongside other parts of life. Daniel Siegel, a psychiatrist who is also an expert on mindfulness, developed the term window of tolerance. He explains: Each of us has a window of tolerance in which various intensities of emotional arousal can be processed without disrupting the functioning of the system (Siegel, 2020) That is, the wider our window of tolerance, the more we can experience intense emotions without feeling utterly consumed by them. When we learn to tolerate distress more effectively, we also become less susceptible to anxiety. The principle of the window of tolerance is often used in the context of research on and treatment for trauma, but it can also be applied to a range of other emotional experiences, including anxiety. Research has found that higher levels of distress tolerance are associated with lower levels of anxiety, and conversely, higher levels of anxiety are associated with lower levels of distress tolerance (Keough et al., 2010; Laposa et al., 2015). So, when we learn to tolerate distress more effectively, we also become less susceptible to anxiety. Widening ones window of tolerance isnt a matter of feigning positivity or sweeping feelings under the rug. Instead, it requires acknowledging your emotional state, anxious or otherwise, and learning, over time, to tolerate the accompanying thoughts and sensations, even when they are uncomfortable. Thankfully, our window of tolerance isnt fixed; we arent simply born with a wide window of tolerance or not. We can increase or widen our tolerance with practices including mindfulness and other forms of distress tolerance that can be learned in psychotherapy and elsewhere. We can learn, over time, to better tolerate intense, often uncomfortable feelings (like anxiety) without being so thrown off. A stressor that may, in the past, have consumed your day might become a challenging but manageable part of it in the future. In this way, a wider window of tolerance can make our lives newly open to possibility. 5. Curiosity is a way through anxiety. Anxiety narrows our minds. It creates tunnel vision, and it limits what we see. We know that anxiety is, in many ways, a problem of attention. So, when our attention feels overly fixed or rigid, or when we feel stuck in worry or doubt, we can tap into our curiosity as a way to move forward. I find that curiosity, whether about our own experiences or the experiences of others, allows for gentle questioning rather than interrogation. Instead of berating ourselves with questions about, say, why we are anxious or ruminating about the same issue for hours, we can generate curiosity about how we feel and what is driving our feelings. We can wonder about our experience from an open perspective. Anxiety narrows our minds. Curiosity can open doors to new depths of understanding. We can see the power of curiosity in our relationshipfor instance, how curiosity about other peoples perspectives can deepen our relationships. This holds true in the ways that we relate to ourselves, too. We can see the importance of curiosity at play in a concept introduced by neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett called emotional granularity. Emotional granularity refers to the degree of specificity with which we describe our feelings (Feldman Barrett, 2017). Even for the most of introspective people, it can be difficult to pin down our emotions with precision. We might say that we feel anxious, a nebulous term that reflects a wide range of experiences, and leave it at that, even in the privacy of our own thoughts. In these moments, we seem to hide in our words. We allow our emotional vocabulary to remain broad and general, as if in doing so, we wont feel our pain so acutely. But in fact, its quite the opposite. When we are curious, we can find relief in clarity. Imagine if, rather than telling yourself that what you feel is simply anxious, you homed in on something closer to its essencethat you feel stuck in a cycle of rumination, irritable, and hypervigilant. Through curiosity, there is potential for profound understanding. When we are curious, we become open to new explanations and understandings, whether about our own internal life or the world around us. In this way, curiosity makes the world bigger rather than narrowing it down. This article originally appeared in Next Big Idea Club magazine and is reprinted with permission.
Category:
E-Commerce
MrBeast has again defended his philanthropyascontent, clapping back at critics who say he is only in it for the views. On April 13, in a post on X, Jimmy Donaldsonbetter known as MrBeastrebutted accusations of virtuesignalling for profit, pointing out that his two worstperforming videos this year are the charitable ones. He shared a screenshot of his Top Recent Videos and noted that, of the 10 most recent uploads, I Helped 2,000 People Walk Again and Watch This Video To Feed 1 Person In Need had the lowest view counts in their first 22 hours online (24.3 million views and 21.3 million, respectively). By contrast, the top performersBeat Ronaldo, Win $1,000,000 (49 million views) and I Spent 100 Hours Inside The Pyramids (47.5 million views)were overtly entertainmentfocused. He wrote on X: Just thought Id share this because some people think I just do it for views but I would get way more views if I didnt help thousands of people walk and give away a million meals. People would also hate me less lol. Despite the backlash, he added that he will keep producing charitable content because Im the most subscribed YouTube channel in the world and I believe using my platform to inspire people to do good is important, andsimplybecause he enjoys it. With 385 million subscribers at the time of writing, MrBeasts empire is built on this quasiphilanthropic model. Through his Beast Philanthropy channel, he has, in just the past six months, rescued enslaved children in Africa, donated $1 million worth of brandnew teeth, and funded a gym for adaptive athletes. Praise for these efforts is often matched by criticism. Many question the 26yearold creators motives for filming and uploading each act of generosity to millions. Then why do you post, if you don’t care about views? one X user asked. The #1 guy on YouTube saying he doesnt do YouTube for the views lol, another added. Given the volume of negativity online, some observers argue it is shortsighted to concentrate on criticizing someone who uses his influence and wealth to help others. Still, his model of giving is not without flaws. Australian Broadcasting Corporation journalist Matthew Wade recently described such videos as inspiration porn, a term coined by the late Stella Young: The term refers to instances where persons with disabilities are reduced to caricatures, paraded either for their resilience in overcoming their differences or as passive subjects waiting for cashedup abled folk to cure them and save the day, Wade wrote. Whether MrBeast is a benevolent millionaire redistributing wealth or a selfserving virtue signaller exploiting suffering for profit depends on whom you askbut the debate shows no sign of slowing down.
Category:
E-Commerce
TikTok is launching its own version of community notes on the platform, called “Footnotes.” The crowd-sourced approach to moderation, where users add additional context to posts, has become increasingly popular on social media networks after X (then called Twitter) first launched it in 2021. “Footnotes offers a new opportunity for people to share their expertise and add an additional layer of context to the discussion using a consensus-driven approach,” the company wrote in a blog post. [Image: TikTok] TikTok said it will open access to start contributing to Footnotes in the coming months. U.S. users can apply to be a contributor as of today. They’ll have to meet the eligibility requirements of having been on the platform for more than 6 months, are at least 18 years old, and have no recent history of violating TikTok’s community guidelines.
Category:
E-Commerce
In Texas, a Republican senator just introduced a bill that would require wastewater treatment facilities to do some extra testingessentially making guidelines more stringent than those currently federally mandated. While that might sound like an uncharacteristically environmentally forward cause for a Texas Republican, what the senator wants to test for may give you even greater pause: Its the abortion medication mifepristone. On Monday, Senator Bryan Hughes of Texass first district introduced bill SB1976, which would require testing for a number of “urinary metabolites in the form of gluconates,” including hormones like testosterone; ethinyl estradiol (which is common in birth control pills); and mifepristone, aka the abortion pill. While introducing the bill, Hughes told committee members that there is a particular concern around “endocrine-disrupting chemicals, such as those found in birth control,” not being removed during treatment that may reenter the water supply. He pointed to “abnormalities in pregnant women and children” as a result of those contaminants and said “a lot of research has been done on this. The interest in chemicals in wastewater makes sense. Experts agree that endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are concerning for humans and wildlife for a number of reasons. They may cause certain cancers or metabolic disorders, and last year, research from the Endocrine Society pointed to the possibility that girls may be starting puberty earlier due to EDCs. And, worse, they’re essentially everywhere. They show up in personal care products, plastic, pesticides, industrial waste, and therefore, wastewater. Medications are excreted from humans into wastewater, not to mention from patients flushing leftover pills down the toilet. Some compounds are exceptionally tough to break down, too. Per the EPAs 2009 Health Services Industry study, synthetic compounds, such as pharmaceuticals, are often manufactured to be resistant to metabolic transformation. As a result, some pharmaceutical compounds that are present in the influent to POTWs (treatment facilities) may pass through treatment systems at conventional POTWs and discharge to receiving waters. But if endocrine-disrupting chemicals are everywhere, where does the interest in mifepristone come from? Fast Company reached out to Senator Hughes to find out what evidence has been found to indicate that public safety depends on testing for mifepristone, or the chemical in birth control, but did not hear back by the time of publication. However, environmental experts are not convinced that bills like this make sense. Dr. Kimberly Garrett, PhD, MHP, an environmental toxicologist and postdoctoral researcher with Northeastern Universitys Social Science Environmental Health Research Institute PFAS Project Lab, reviewed bill SB1976 and told Fast Company in a statement that it is “unscientific” and even called it “a form of weaponized environmentalism.” Garrett explained that while it may make sense to test for industrial chemicalsgiven that the main source of EDC pollution is from industrial and agricultural emissionsshe doesn’t believe that is the bill’s goal. “Texas legislature is misappropriating environmental concerns about endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) to limit the reproductive health and choices of its residents,” she said.Further, Garrett explained that the method proposed in the bill won’t address the problem of EDCs in wastewater. “Notably, the bill targets urinary metabolites rather than the chemicals themselves. Urinary metabolites are waste products excreted after chemicals (including endogenous hormones) travel through the liver. Effectively, metabolite monitoring as proposed in this bill targets only an individual and their liver as an indicator of personal behavior.” Abortion-rights advocates raise concerns While it’s unclear what the real environmental goal for the bill is, there is another group with a specific interest in mifepristone and birth control chemicals in wastewater, which may have spurred the recent political interest. Students for Life, an anti-abortion group that advocates staunchly against the use of mifepristone, has been fighting for bills that target the drug. The group has long attacked the drug, alleging that it is unsafe and harmful to women, but the environmental argument is fairly new. In 2024, Students for Life sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) calling on the organization to begin tracking mifepristone in addition to PFAS in wastewater on the basis that it presents a public health concern. The group has been succeeding in its efforts, too. According to Jessica Valenti, an abortion reporter who writes the Abortion, Every Day newsletter, in addition to the new Texas bill, legislation that calls for testing wastewater for mifepristone has been introduced in Oklahoma, Montana, Wyoming, Arizona, Maine, Idaho, and West Virginia. Valenti asserts that Students for Life has clear motives that have to do more with painting abortion medication as “toxic” rather than out of any real concern for the environment. “SFL has been lobbying the FDA to force women to bag up their blood and return it to a doctor as medical waste,” Valenti wrote. “One of the reasons conservatives hate abortion medication so much is that it robs them of the ability to harass patients outside of clinics. Fast Company reached out to Students for Life for comment. Valenti also pressed that the bill may seek to target gender-affirming care, too, given that the list of hormones it wants to test for includes testosterone and estrone. “These are naturally occurring hormones, but conservatives could argue that an increase in either is proof that more people are getting gender-affirming treatmentor that the hormones are harming the environment,” Valenti wrote. During the Texas Senate committee’s meeting on Monday, the bill appeared to have some support, though Senator Nathan Johnson, a democrat, spoke out against it. After questioning experts about the scientific reasoning for the bill, Johnson gave a one-liner that mimicked both Valenti’s and Garrett’s concerns. He said that the legislation is more about “hunting for women who are using mifepristone,” rather than public health.
Category:
E-Commerce
Most companies operate like one-sided cubeswhat the world sees is curated and polished, but the rest remains hidden, even to the people inside. Strategy becomes surface-level. Teams chase goals without grounding. Leaders lead without alignment. In a world growing more complex and emotionally disoriented, thats not just unsustainableits dangerous. Its time for a Strategy Renaissance. We need to move beyond sterile planning cycles and rediscover the human heart of strategy. In this new era of work, meaning isnt a bonus featureits your sharpest edge. The Great Divide Between Strategy and Meaning We have long treated strategy as the realm of numbers and logic, while purpose was relegated to the marketing department or buried in mission statements no one remembers. This divide has created companies that appear aligned on paper, but feel disjointed in practice. Metrics without meaning drive burnout. Planning without purpose breeds disengagement. And when disruption inevitably hits, strategies built only on spreadsheets crumble. What endures? Shared purpose, collective clarity, and meaningful momentum. Illuminate the Whole Strategy Cube Imagine your organization as a cube. Each face represents a facet of identity: values, operations, leadership, culture, customers, and employees. Most companies only illuminate one or two sidesthe brand and the performance dashboard. The rest remains in the shadows. And when strategy reflects only the visible parts, it becomes hollow. The companies that are thriving today are the ones brave enough to illuminate the whole cube. That means surfacing the hidden brilliance within teams, reclaiming the narratives that shape culture, and embracing the messy, multidimensional nature of real human work. I advised a global biotech company whose strategy had become siloed, driven by financial targets but disconnected from employee experience. Through facilitated dialogue sessions, we helped the executive team rediscover their collective purpose. Within months, they restructured their planning process around a set of guiding principles, resulting in a 22% improvement in employee engagement scores and a renewed sense of cohesion across departments. When you bring every side of the cube into the light, strategy becomes not just alignedbut alive. Dialogue Before Direction: The Campfire as a Strategic Tool Strategy doesnt start with a spreadsheet. It begins with a story. Before defining your next bold move, gather your people around a campfirenot a literal fire (though that helps), but a space of intentional dialogue where people can share pivotal moments, hopes, fears, and what really matters. When I run campfire sessions with leadership teams, something powerful happens: People stop performing and start connecting. The surface melts, and what emerges is a collective clarity that no off-site whiteboard session can replicate. Great strategy isnt declaredits cocreated. It emerges from shared stories and is strengthened by mutual meaning. Meaning Is Your Talent Magnet Todays workforce isnt just looking for a paycheck. Theyre looking for alignmentespecially Gen Z and millennial talent. They want to know what you stand for, how decisions are made, and whether your values are actually lived. A McKinsey study found that 70% of employees believe their sense of purpose is defined by their work; however, only 15% feel their companys purpose is well-activated in their day-to-day roles. That gap isnt just culturalits costly. Meaning is no longer a perk. Its your recruitment strategy. Your innovation strategy. Your long-game success strategy. The Rise of the Multidimensional Strategist This Strategy Renaissance demands a new kind of thinking, which I call multidimensional strategy. In a world that rewards specialization, its time to embrace integration: blending creativity with analysis, intuition with logic, and personal story with business direction. We need leaders who dont just see the road aheadthey see the people walking it. They know that strategy isnt just about what to do next. Its about who we are, why it matters, and how we move forwardtogether. How to Begin Your Strategy Renaissance If you want to move from hollow plans to meaningful progress, heres a simple framework to LIGHT your wayfive ways to reclaim strategy as a human-centered practice: L Listen Beneath the Metrics. Before examining KPIs, ask: What isn’t being said? Whos feeling unseen or unheard? Strategy begins by tuning into the underlying current. I Illuminate the Whole Cube. Map the six sides: customers, employees, culture, operations, values, and leadership. Which sides are well-lit? Which are neglected? Make the invisible visible. G Gather Around the Campfire. Create regular spaces for storytelling and reflectionnot just reporting. Ask: What has challenged us? What has changed us? Connection breeds clarity. H Harness Your Hidden Brilliance. Invite diverse voices into strategic conversations, especially those of outliers, creatives, and skeptics. Often, the perspective you most need is the one least consulted. T Translate Purpose Into Practice. Move from statements to systems. How is your purpose reflected in hiring, decision-making, and how people spend their time? Dont think of this as a checklist; think of it as a shift in perspective, from a performative strategy to a purposeful design. The Renaissance was a reawakening of human potential. What we need now is no different. Let this be the moment your organization stops performing purposeand starts living it. Allow this to be the season when strategy becomes more than a plan. Let it become a story that your people want to tella movement they want to lead. When you illuminate the full spectrum of who you are as an organization, strategy becomes not just compelling but unforgettable.
Category:
E-Commerce
Sites : [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] next »