in the zone

Happy birthday William James. I've just learned that you have a "zone"...

Brains are surprisingly good at inventing reasons for being angry, even if the original reason has gone away and the only real remaining cause is the adrenaline in the bloodstream. It can bephysically impossible to let go of anger until your body has settled down. The rate at which your body returns to its baseline non-angry state varies from person to person. Being in this state of reinforced physical anger is what we call the William James zone, and how long it takes you to get out of that zone is your “William James threshold.” The philosopher William James predicted this effect long before the science of biology was able to confirm it, which is why we named this effect after him... The Usual Error Project

Good call. James has other, better zones too: the state of delight, the feeling of effort, the "sentiment of rationality" (what he also called the "sufficiency of the present moment"), the directed control of attention. The importance of knowing what zone you're in, and where you want to go, is among the great unguarded secrets of life.

Another "secret" is: don't waste any occasion for a party. I'm lighting a candle for (in A.N. Whitehead's words) "that adorable genius, William James." Remember...

And I'm lighting another, today, for my wife.