  I am reading William James' 'Principles of Psychology', written in the 1890s and thoroughly relevant to many debates about the relation between mind and body. It is refreshing to observe the way he weaves neuroscience with the kind of exhortation to personal development one might expect to find in popular psychology titles. He suggests that one should do at least one thing every day simply because you don't want to. Today I spent an hour beginning to tidy my study, with a gratifyingly reinforcing effect on my mood and self esteem. 
