What nonfiction books have caused a paradigm-shift in your life?
Finding The Mother Tree by Suzanne Simard. Completely changed my understanding of woodlands, nature itself, and the world in general.
TIL why those with autism avoid eye contact; an overactive subcortical system, combined with an imbalance in the excitatory and inhibitory systems, can make eye contact feel like 'burning'
there's also the base physiological fact that there are two eyes, and you can't look at both at the same time. This results in either choosing one eye (awkward) of flickering between the (eye-strain tastic). Both are terrible options.
Instead I look over the whole face so I can attempt (really badly) to parse feeling & intention. This often results in making comments like 'You have amazing ears' or 'that lipstick is perfect' in the middle of otherwise entirely mundane conversations.
