This week we went through six different stories: a ten-minute game, an underground train, an interrupted marathon, a message stopped at two letters, a knee operation and a Halloween night with a philosopher. The thread that ties them together is simple: small, present gestures, and the way we restart when something jams.
26 October · Play Is Not Wasted Time: Ten Minutes That Count
In 2018 the American Academy of Pediatrics published «The Power of Play»: free play supports development and relationships, and the report was reaffirmed in January 2025. It is a clinical synthesis, not a single experiment. Our suggestion: ten minutes a day of child-led play, phone-free.
27 October · Underground, Together: The New York Subway and the Courage to Say Hello
On 27 October 1904 the New York subway opens. In 2014 Nicholas Epley and Juliana Schroeder showed that commuters invited to talk to a stranger reported a more pleasant journey than those who stayed in solitude, the opposite of what they predicted. It is an average result, not a rule.
28 October · Third, but Standing: Vanderlei de Lima and the Value of What Remains
Athens 2004: de Lima, leading the Olympic marathon, is stopped by a spectator, restarts and finishes third. In 1995 Medvec, Madey and Gilovich found that bronze medallists at the 1992 Games looked on average happier than silver medallists, and proposed counterfactual thinking as the explanation. The study does not speak of de Lima.
29 October · Two Letters and a Beginning: ARPANET and the Value of First Steps
On 29 October 1969 the first ARPANET message stops after the L and the O. In 2010 Lally and colleagues studied how habits form: times ranged from 18 to 254 days and missing a single opportunity did not materially change the process. A small study of simple habits.
30 October · Stopping to Start Again: Joan Benoit and the Time to Recover
Joan Benoit has knee surgery seventeen days before the 1984 Olympic trials and then wins the first women’s Olympic marathon. A 2018 consensus statement signed by seventeen experts presents recovery as an integral part of training, to be individualised. It concerns athletes, not her in particular.
31 October · One Thing Only: Montaigne and the Art of Being Here
On Halloween night Montaigne reminds us to live appropriately. In 2010 Killingsworth and Gilbert found that the mind wandered 46.9% of the time and that, when it wandered, people reported being less happy on average. These are participants’ own reports, not proof of a certain cause.
The thread of the week: we do not need grand gestures, but small, repeated, present ones, and the kindness of restarting without going back to zero when something stops. And you, which of these six stories spoke to you most? Tell us in the comments: your choice may inspire someone else.
Sources
The week’s articles, listed above. The full scientific sources (with DOIs) are given in each article.
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