Winifred GallagherWinifred Gallagher

Winifred Gallagher

Author, behavioral science writer.

Winifred Gallagher is a behavioral science writer. Her books include New: Understanding Our Need for Novelty and Change, Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life, House Thinking, Just the Way You Are (a New York Times Notable Book), Working on God, and The Power of Place. She has written for numerous publications, such as Atlantic Monthly, Rolling Stone, and The New York Times.

Philosopher's Notes on Winifred Gallagher's Books

Rapt
LockedPhilosopher's Notes

Rapt

by Winifred Gallagher

Attention. If you want to optimize your life, this is the place to start. Winifred Gallagher gives us a beautiful target: rapt attention that leads us to live the focused life. Gallagher is a behavioral science writer who, five years before writing this book, received a cancer diagnosis that dramatically shifted the way she saw the world. That experience inspired her to understand the neuroscientific underpinnings of how attention works—which led to this book. Big Ideas we explore include: Attention 101, how to get it, the paradox of choice, grit + focus, focusing on virtue, how to be happier and waking up!

Quotes by Winifred Gallagher

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Learning to shift your attention away from unhelpful thoughts and emotions and recast negative events in the most productive light possible is one of the most important of all ‘health habits’ to cultivate.
Winifred Gallagher
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In short, to enjoy the kind of experience you want rather than enduring the kind that you feel stuck with, you have to take charge of your attention.
Winifred Gallagher
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As psychology increasingly investigates what makes people feel and function well rather than poorly, it’s ever more clear that the skillful management of attention is the first step toward behavioral change and covers most self-improvement approaches like a vast umbrella.
Winifred Gallagher
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Research increasingly shows that just as regular physical exercise can transform the proverbial 110-pound weakling into an athlete, focusing workouts can make you more focused, engaged with life, and perhaps even kinder
Winifred Gallagher
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As to the theory that what you focus on creates your experience and that choosing those targets wisely is the key to the good life, Csikszentmihalyi simply says, “Yes, absolutely.’
Winifred Gallagher
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