I guess this guy Bruce Hood wrote a book about how the “self” is an illusion, or rather, an emergent phenomenon. He explains it better than I can:
Short interview 1
Short interview 2
Throw this in with the likes of Daniel Dennett. I agree with this pretty hard. It seems hard for me to imagine how the “self” is anything other than an emergent phenomenon created by a lot of brain and body working together. I remember reading a good analogy, something like: a crab will build a shell around itself to keep itself safe, a human brain will build a self around itself to make it easier to process the world.

About living longer: 1. Work hard at a meaningful career. 2. Get married maybe- if you’ll be good at it. 3. Connect with and help others. 4. Be extroverted, optimistic, and easygoing. #2 is probably the most interesting. I have few (maybe zero?) role models who are old, never-married, non-clergy, and reasonable people. This is puzzling. (course, I don’t know that many old people in general.)

Daily and weekly habit recommendations for a better life. Some things I could work on daily: getting out in nature, exercising consistently, expressing gratitude, challenging myself systematically, laughing, and touching people (snicker, okay). To work on weekly: generally reflecting. Work-wise, personally, I ought to set aside time to reflect on the past week and plan for the next one. And maybe I ought to play music.