Could one say that the human brain works best if it is slightly optimistically biased, just enough to have benefits of the neuromodulation accompanied with positive thinking, but not so much that false expectations have a significant potential to severely disappoint you? Are there some recommended sequences/articles/papers on this matter?
Optimisim/Pessimism is an one-dimenional way of looking at it. I don't think it's helpful. If you focus a lot on doing gratitude excercises you are doing positive thinking but that doesn't create false expectations.
Looking thru the Repository Repository I can't find a nice category for a lot of real life or self help advice that has been posted here over time. Sure some belongs to the Boring Advice Repository but the following you surely wouldn't expect there:
Lets start with lukeprog's all-time favorite
What other real life advice would you like to see here?
There are also very good posts that might be relevant to a rationalists life but could also go into some Rationality Advice Repository - but then all of LW falls kind of into that category. Some examples:
I see that I'm unable to draw a clear line on what falls into this category and thus suggest that specific rationality advice of 'this kind' be left out.