Watching Riusuke Fukahori paint this beautiful resin painting called Goldfish Salvation may be the most relaxing thing you do today. Read the rest

In 1969, Alan Watts collaborated with filmmaker Elda Hartley on "The Flow of Zen," a lovely psychedelic 16mm film with a rather eerie score. (Archive.org via /r/ObscureMedia)

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Akihiro Ito shared this lovely and relaxing video of Nendo's art piece called Jellyfish Vase, a collection of silicone forms in the shape of vases that are thin enough to sway in gentle water currents. Read the rest

Is there a visual equivalent to the audio tingles people report in ASMR? Because I get a special kinda o' feeling deep down inside whenever I watch videos like woodworker Paul Seller's gorgeous Fibonacci Spiral Shaving. It even sounds like some sort of a fussy sexual proclivity: Fibonacci spiral shaving.

Given the video's comments, where people are talking about how meditative, relaxing, and therapeutic Fibonacci spiral shaving is, I don't think I'm alone. And I second the request to loop it. I could watch this thing all day.

Oh, and by the way, if you're into this sort of eyeball massaging, watching videos of repetitive activity, close-ups of craftwork, strange materials and chemical intereactions, and the like, check out the Oddly Satisfying tag on Instagram. Read the rest

Glass Canvas Aquascape sculpts plants, wood, and stones into a stunning planted aquarium in this beautiful timelapse video. Your moment of zen for the day! Read the rest

Mallory Ortberg expertly skewers the weird de-cluttering dogma of Marie Kondo's bestselling Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: "It’s important to be very rich but have almost no items in your home." Read the rest

Not doing anything for the next 11 hours? Watch a pile of five cute puppies sleep, their breathing punctuated only by an occasional rooster crowing nearby. Part of the long-form YouTube genre Cory previously covered. Read the rest

Some days are harder than others. And on the harder days, you need GIFs. Read the rest

[Video Link] Hard to explain this web series, and this particular episode. Cats. Philosophy. Emptiness. Best to just watch. (via Andrea James) Read the rest

The "flow state" is how neuroscience researchers describe that zone you can get into when you're doing something that you've become highly skilled at. It's a zen-like place in your brain — that state where you lose track of time doing something that you enjoy doing for its own sake, and where the job of doing the task seems to become something you don't even have to think about. You just do it, and you do it right.

The catch, of course, is that usually it takes a lot of heavy work to get to the point where the flow can take over. This is where Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hours of practice comes into play. But, over the years, scientists have learned that there are some ways around that 10,000-hour rule. Some people just seem to pick up on the flow easier than others, for instance.

If your brain isn't just naturally inclined toward the flow, though, there is the option of zapping it into line. This is called transcranial direct current stimulation—basically running a very small electric current through specific parts of the brain. In some studies, and for some tasks, it's been shown to induce a feeling very much like a flow state, and possibly make it easier for people to get to a high level of skill faster. Last spring, Pesco wrote about some of the research that's being conducted on this intriguing but still-not-proven technique. Recently, New Scientist reporter Sally Adee tried it out, and saw a significant short-term improvement in her ability to spot and hit targets in a video shooter game. Read the rest

There. Just enough happiness to get you out the door to work this morning.

Video Link

Big thanks to Mr. Nathan Chervek!

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