Micropractice

By Eli Susman
PhD candidate at UC Berkeley studying micropractice—powerful well-being tools that take 30 seconds or less.

Featured in CNN, BBC, CBS, Forbes, LA Times, Mindful, and named among Greater Good Magazine’s Top 10 Insights of 2024.

12/09/2025

Living in a box. Commuting to a box. Eating from a box.
The most urban place I’d ever lived.
Concrete. Corners. Snap-lid lunches.

Then something unexpected started happening.

I began zigzagging my way to work—
slowing down for trees,
detouring for a flower,
lingering by the tiniest patch of grass.

It didn’t seem like much.
But it mattered more than I expected.

The science behind what happened next surprised me—
and it might just change how you walk to the trash can.

Link to the full story, the science, and the micropractice—in the image.

12/05/2025

Can’t think your way into calm?
Try breathing your way there.
Deep inhale,
slow exhale—longer than your inhale.
That’s your nervous system whispering,
“You’re safe. You can soften now.”

12/04/2025

Every time you notice your mind wandering
and gently bring it back—
you’re not failing.
You’re weightlifting for awareness.
That’s neuroplasticity, rep by rep.

12/03/2025

We’ve normalized noise.
Notifications. News. Next.
But silence isn’t empty—
it’s information-rich.
Sometimes the most productive thing you can do
is listen to what quiet has to say.

12/02/2025

Your alarm goes off.
The bed starts negotiating.
You counter: “Just five more minutes.”
Now rewind the scene—with one tiny twist:
If you skip your habit today, $5 goes to a cause you can’t stand.
Suddenly, your feet have compelling arguments.
That’s the power of a well-placed nudge with skin in the game.
Not guilt. Not punishment. Just stakes you actually feel.
In a dataset of 397,456 real-world habits, each extra $1 tied to a missed day increased success by 5.6%.
At $20, people were about 3× more likely to follow through.
And the stakes that worked best?
Full story in comments. Bring your curiosity (not your wallet).

12/01/2025

Today’s sales promise happiness at 40 percent off.
Your body promises the same thing for free—one slow breath, one tiny pause.
The real deal is the one you give yourself.

11/28/2025

Black Friday teaches us to sprint toward what we don’t have.
Your nervous system, meanwhile, is begging you to notice what you already do.
Thirty seconds of appreciation will outlast any discount.

11/27/2025

Thank someone today—it’s the emotional equivalent of handing them a warm slice of pie, minus the crumbs and clean-up.

11/26/2025

Unpopular opinion:
Consistency is kinder than intensity.
Your brain rewires from loops, not leaps.

11/25/2025

Roses are red.
Violets are blue.
Poems unlock meaning—
and science shows it’s true.
fMRI. Electrodes. A literal goosecam.
Turns out, poetry rewires your nervous system.

Want the full story? It’s waiting for you—
Just head to the image and follow the clue.

11/24/2025

We’ve normalized being reachable.
Always on. Rarely present.
Vacations fade.
Boundaries don’t.
Silence isn’t absence.
It’s oxygen.

11/21/2025

✨ The Micro Memo just crossed 1,000 subscribers in 7 months ✨
Funny thing I keep learning: the tiny habits I study work the same way here.
One short post.
One small idea.
One moment I almost didn’t hit publish.
Repeat.
Somehow those little moments gathered into a community of a thousand curious humans.
I’m grateful for every one of you—reading, sharing, and breathing this work to life—one post at a time. ❤️

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Berkeley, CA
94530

Website

http://www.micropractice.com/, http://micropractice.substack.com/

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