Journal | Robert M. Hopkins

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Twilight Stream, 2016

"The bad news is time flies.

The good news is you’re the pilot."

—Michael Altshuler

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Beijing Sunset, 2016

Is your brain missing the sunset?

When our ancestors first discovered fire, they mastered two elements of their environment, light and heat.

Candlelight resembled the last light of a sunset and when electricity came along, we lit our evenings with the warm, red-spectrum hues of incandescent light, reminiscent of a brighter, intense sunset.

Today, the interval between day and night is erratic, abrupt and lacks a sunset of any kind as LED lights perpetuate the bright blue light of daytime. The only way to give our brains a sunset in the middle of our urban jungles is to artificially create one.

A sunset follows a day of sunshine, so try to get as much daylight as possible during the day. This increases melatonin production at night. In the evening, make your lighting as red and dim as possible. Many electronic devices now offer blue light filters and blue blocking glasses are becoming increasingly available. Heat, food, noise and exercise also act against melatonin, so they’re better if shifted to earlier on in the day.

—Mithu Storoni MD, Ph.D.

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Sunset Shore, 2018

"I never lose,

either I win or

I learn."

—Nelson Mandela

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Sidewalk Clover, 2016

Haiku Poetry

opening day

for sidewalk dining—

a waitress pulls weeds

—Robert M. Hopkins

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Streaming Dewdrops, 2014

"The smartphone keeps us on automatic pilot and it inhibits us from making healthy choices, as we are responding to life on an automated and unconscious neurobiological basis. We socially isolate, are intolerant of boredom, and are always connected somewhere other than where we actually are at the moment. In short, we are over-stimulated and attention-impaired. Add to this the intoxication and expectation of broadcast capability, where our digital culture places little value on real-time experiences that are not recorded and broadcast; it’s as if our experiences didn’t occur unless witnessed by others. This phenomenon further contributes to the experience of FoMO, or "fear of missing out," which is the idea that we must transmit and bear witness to our lives via social media for fear that we will either be missed or will miss something. Ironically, what we seem to be missing is the present-centered experience of our own lives."

—Dr. David Greenfield, founder of The Center for Internet and Technology Addiction

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Crescent Flow, 2016

"Follow your bliss, and the universe

will open doors where there

were only walls."

—Joseph Campbell

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Morning Dew, 2017

"New research from Johns Hopkins Medical School shows that performance increases due to caffeine intake are the result of caffeine drinkers experiencing a short-term reversal of caffeine withdrawal. By controlling for caffeine use in study participants, John Hopkins researchers found that caffeine-related performance improvement is nonexistent without caffeine withdrawal. In essence, coming off caffeine reduces your cognitive performance and has a negative impact on your mood. The only way to get back to normal is to drink caffeine, and when you do drink it, you feel like it’s taking you to new heights. In reality, the caffeine is just taking your performance back to normal for a short period."

--Dr. Travis Bradberry

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Summer Sunset, 2016

"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge, but imagination."

—Albert Einstein