WORDS OF THE WEEK.

I came across this paragraph in Nathaniel Johnson's excellent new book "Unseen City" and thought it was worth sharing––applicable to our lives on many levels. Johnson, introducing his daughter Josephine to wild food, writes:"When Josephine learned which species she could eat, this knowledge worked transformative magic upon her: At mealtime, she normally rejects anything green, but she'll happily sample what she gathers. As a passive recipient of food, there's no incentive for her to eat anything but the most pleasing flavors. But when she seeks out her own food, it produces a pronounced shift in cognition. If I serve her something unfamiliar, she acts as if I'm trying to poison her. When she's sampling wild leaves, on the other hand, she grows intensely contemplative, pondering the challenging new flavors. I suspect it's true for all of us, not just toddlers: It's as much human nature to resist novelty when someone else is forcing it on us, as it is to open ourselves to novelty when we are seeking it for ourselves."And how.-Jesse.