Schauer Thoughts

The time is now! This week we’re discussing how to create your own individual curriculum, an endeavor I happen to have extensive experience with. We will be breaking this series into parts as I want to readjust some understanding, reframe some concepts, and give insight into best practices to maintain longevity. Please have your notebooks out and your listening ears on or just relax tbh (we value personal choice in the communal Schauer) because this refresher will be heavy. 

Don’t worry, next week will be on creative execution! Make sure to like, subscribe, rate me 5 stars, and follow along, you may learn something new. 

Please follow Elizabeth! —> https://www.tiktok.com/@xparmesanprincessx 

Resources:

Visual Thinking: The Hidden Gifts of People Who Think In Pictures, Patterns, and Abstractions - Temple Grandin 

The Data Detective: Ten Easy Rules to Make Sense of Statistics - Tim Harford 

This Is What It Sounds Like - Susan Rogers and Ogi Ogas

Decisionscape: How Thinking Like an Artist Can Improve Our Decision-Making - Elspeth Kirkman

Connections Over Compliance: Rewiring Our Perceptions of Discipline - Lori L. Desautels, PhD

Below this is the online powerpoint

Slideshow for “Applied Educational Neuroscience/Brain, Adversity and Resiliency

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ceee1ee9cd4360001a1cfca/t/5d8e307c5a5a131029422a4d/1569599618600/Desautels+PowerPoint.pdf

Struggling to Find a Hobby That Sticks? Try a “Personal Curriculum”

https://theeverygirl.com/personal-curriculum-tiktok-trend/

How to Start Researching as a Hobby

https://substack.com/home/post/p-168506463 

How to Be The Type of Person Who Loves Reading and Learning

https://substack.com/home/post/p-179871707

How Words Shape Consciousness: New Research Reveals The Deep Link Between Language and Awareness

https://thedebrief.org/how-words-shape-consciousness-new-research-reveals-the-deep-link-between-language-and-awareness/ 

No brain, no gain: Neuronal activity enhances benefits of exercise

https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/no-brain-no-gain-neuronal-activity-enhances-benefits-exercise

No Child Left Behind: What Worked, What Didn’t

https://www.nhpr.org/education/2015-10-27/no-child-left-behind-what-worked-what-didnt 
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It’s time! We’re discussing the ever so popular trend on Tiktok called the “Divorce Effect.” If you’re new to any of my content, this is a topic near and dear to my heart - I support anyone breaking from the systems and roles at be, especially if it’s causing mental and physical unwellness. We’re covering a lot of ground this week, from neuroscience to psychology to the immune system, we’ll also be taking a brief trip to the 80’s and then back to present day with a refreshed perspective on glowing up post marital dissolution. Thank you all for listening and joining me, I’m so happy you’ve joined this week’s communal Schauer.

More Information on Book Club: https://substack.com/home/post/p-186705166 

Resources:

Reading in the Brain - Stanislas Dehaene 

Behave - Robert Sapolsky 

Thinking in Systems: A Primer - Donella Meadows 

An Elegant Defense: The Extraordinary New Science of the Immune System - Matt Richtel

Decisionscape: How Thinking Like An Artist Can Improve Out Decision-Making - Elspeth Kirkman

Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle - Emily Nagoski

Beyond the Blood-Brain Barrier: New “Smart Gate” Shielding the Brain 

https://neurosciencenews.com/base-barrier-cells-neuroscience-30092/

Researchers Identify Novel Gatekeeper Cell in the Brain

https://bioengineer.org/researchers-identify-novel-gatekeeper-cell-in-the-brain/

154 Visual Phenomena & Optical Illusions with Explanations - Michael Bach 

https://michaelbach.de/ot/index.html 
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Uh-oh, the communal Schauer is getting intimate this week, intellectually intimate that is. We’re going over the new sensation sweeping the nation ~intellectual intimacy~ so get ready for a smattering of everything - from psychology to neuroscience to what’s happening in my relationship, no pumice stone will go unturned. Time to sit back and relax (to the best of your ability) because we’re starting with the gnarliest knots this nation has failed to address, welcome to Schauer Thoughts.

Additionally:

I do really apologize for this week’s sort of choppy presentation, there’s a Vyvanse shortage and my brain was truly struggling to organize thoughts. I hope everything made some semblance of sense. <3

Thank you to all the people who send me DMs, helpful commenters, resourceful individuals, and those who just further meaningful conversation along, you all give me hope for the future. I appreciate your efforts to much and I’m wishing you nothing but the best.

NEW Book Club 

https://open.substack.com/pub/sarahschauer/p/new-book-club?r=3yb1cq&utm_medium=ios

Starting February 15 & 16

Resources:

Radical Intimacy - Sophie K. Rosa

Frames of Mind: Theta Theory of Multiple Intelligences - Howard Gardner

Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst - Robert Sapolsky

Quote From Substack

https://substack.com/@afterdinnerconversation/note/c-151186676?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=3yb1cq 

Role of Intellectual Intimacy in Psychological Well-Being: The Cognitive Connection

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/387520981_Role_of_Intellectual_Intimacy_in_Psychological_Well-being_The_Cognitive_Connection

Neurodivergent Mind: When Your Common Sense Is Not Common

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/living-with-emotional-intensity/202602/neurodivergent-mind-when-your-common-sense-is-not

The archeology of intimacy 

https://substack.com/home/post/p-173747521 

To be intimate with someone who is flawed requires us to expose our own flaws

https://substack.com/home/post/p-183443032

“I’m Not Terribly Lonely”: Advancing the Understanding of Intimacy Among Older Adults

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9163450/

It Doesn’t Hurt to Ask: Question-Asking Increases Liking

https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/Huang%20et%20al%202017_6945bc5e-3b3e-4c0a-addd-254c9e603c60.pdf 
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Gather round my gaggle of geeks and gays, we’re tackling “womb envy” yet again! Huzzah! A commentary on the ills patriarchy has bestowed upon society, we are blessed to carry their cognitive loads to term and birth new stress-related ailments for all to acquire. 

No but seriously, this week we’re discussing the new research I’m drooling at the faucet over as well as wrapping up our short series on “womb envy.” Make sure to wear sandals to this week’s communal Schauer, I mean it IS what Jesus would do.

Nuance: I don’t actually think that researchers and writers at Scientific American are writing articles and doing studies just for me - that was a joke. Sometimes people who aren’t men can make jokes too.

Information for New Book Club: https://substack.com/home/post/p-186705166

Immigration Resources Substack: https://substack.com/home/post/p-185913344 

Includes free Ebooks from Haymarket Books

Stay tuned for the magazine club! 

Resources: 

Scientists Cure Pancreatic Cancer Using New Therapy That Eliminated Tumors with No Major Side Effects

https://dailygalaxy.com/2026/01/scientists-cure-pancreatic-cancer-breakthrough-treatment/

Selective Sound: Why Do Some People with Schizophrenia Hear Voices?

https://static.scientificamerican.com/dam/m/5de541c65719ff73/original/SciAm_02_2026.pdf

What Are Binaural Beats?

https://www.webmd.com/balance/what-are-binaural-beats

Detecting Dementia Using Lexical Analysis: Terry Prachett’s Discworld Tells a More Personal Story

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/399826710_Detecting_Dementia_Using_Lexical_Analysis_Terry_Pratchett's_Discworld_Tells_a_More_Personal_Story 

Cancer might protect against Alzheimer’s - this protein helps explain why

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-00222-7

Womb envy: The cause of misogyny and even male achievement? 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/251547431_Womb_envy_The_cause_of_misogyny_and_even_male_achievement

Understanding the Characteristics of Envy and How to Grow Past It

https://www.healthline.com/health/relationships/characteristics-of-an-envious-person

Europe’s Journal of Psychology

https://ejop.psychopen.eu/index.php/ejop/article/view/110/110.pdf
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Welcome to the wonderful, winding world of Schauer Thoughts! This week we’re meandering through new research from MIT on the rest and digest system, as well as making a sharp turn into “womb envy.” Is the rest and digest system related to womb envy? Not really. I mean, potentially? There is definitely a glandular route through the endocrine system, but I’m not taking that road today! Today I’m just covering two separate topics because I wanted to! Huzzah.

Tear. Pour. Live More. Go to https://LIQUIDIV.com and get 20% off your first order with code SCHAUER at checkout.

“Wait, so what are today’s separate topics?”

Rest & digest and then “womb envy.”

Thank you again for joining me in the communal Schauer! There’s a joke to be made about “womb envy” and a “baby Schauer” - please let me know if you come up with anything solid! Enjoy the episode. 

Nuance for why I “don’t want to get philosophical,” spoiler! It’s not because I don’t like philosophy, it’s because we’re going to get into “zero-sum” thinking and game theory and this is where people are going to argue about what economic systems are the “best” and people feel *compelled* to play devil’s advocate. 

Resources: 

Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst - Robert M. Sapolsky

Could It Be ADHD or… Narcolepsy? - Discover Science, November/December 2025 Edition

Cancer Spreads at Night - Lea Milling Korsholm, Exploring Science

Squishy Math - Kelsey Houston-Edwards, Scientific American, Ultimate Math Edition, Fall/Winter 2025

The Denial of Death - Ernest Becker 

Your brain does something surprising when you don’t sleep

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/01/260119234937.htm

Article from Jan. 20

Attentional failures after sleep deprivation are locked to joint neuromuscular, pupil and cerebrospinal fluid flow dynamics

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-025-02098-8

Parietal alpha frequency shapes own-body perception by modulating the temporal integration of bodily signals 

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-67657-w

Scientists Found the Brain Rhythm that Makes Your Body Feel Like Yours 

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/01/260114080325.htm#:~:text=Researchers%20at%20Karolinska%20Institutet%20studied,sense%20of%20self%20is%20disturbed.%22

REM alpha rhythm: diagnostic for narcolepsy? (2006 - a bit dated)

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16751726/ 

FDA Clears First Blood test Used in Diagnosing Alzheimer’s Disease

https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-clears-first-blood-test-used-diagnosing-alzheimers-disease 

Europe’s Journal of Psychology

https://ejop.psychopen.eu/index.php/ejop/article/view/110/110.pdf
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