Think. Refrain. Steadfast. Fair Goodness over greatness. Attainment over obtainment 2 ears. 1 mouth, for concise brevity. Follow your heart or follow your mind? They are one and the same, are they not? The mind can hold many thoughts at the same time and they needn’t be compatible. So what is it that must compel you? All people are capable of goodness, even if by accident. All the same people are capable of behaving poorly as well, also by accident. You are one of those people. The difference between a good and bad person is only a matter of frequency. Lives end. Stories do too. Your life. Your story. Deal with it. The world is as it is supposed to be. Don’t wish for anything different. To do so is a waste of precious resources. Respond to the world as it is, not how you wish it to be. Find […]
Think. Refrain. Steadfast. Fair 2 ears. 1 mouth, for concise brevity. Goodness over greatness. Attainment over obtainment A successful life is a curious life, to paraphrase Bruce Diller. Fear: a momentary emotion of beastsAnxiety: beastly fear of the future Look at everything you have and all that you don’t need. What then is there to complain about? It isn’t just what we do; goodness is often in what we don’t do. Don’t be afraid of your anger. Confront it. It is a lie you tell yourself. It is enough if your opinion is based on understanding, your action on unselfishness, and your attitude on acceptance. Marcus Aurelius On storytelling:
Think. Refrain. Steadfast. Fair 2 ears. 1 mouth, for concise brevity. Goodness over greatness. Attainment over obtainment Seek serenity through goodness. Good character with good intentions, making good choices. Fate cannot ever that that from you. The things you do for yourself disappear when you die. But things you do for others … don’t kid yourself, they’ll disappear too. That thing that you feel sadness for today will foster growth and resilience tomorrow. Don’t wallow in it. Figure it out, learn from it, and move on. You aren’t the only person in the world to deal with this and you’ve probably dealt with some other version of this before, so get over it and yourself. Why does it feel so bad to feel silenced? To not have a voice? It feels worse to not say something than it does to say something and not be heard. Or does it? Learn. […]
Think. Refrain. Steadfast. Fair 2 ears. 1 mouth, for concise brevity. Goodness over greatness. Attainment over obtainment The distractions. The disturbances. The dissonance. They are obstacles, all within your control, between you and your goal. Does it impact you directly? No? Is it yours to control? No? Then find the appropriate emotional distance to view this from. Work towards a purpose that has value to you. Otherwise, you risk living someone else’s life and wasting your own. If you’re going to insist on thinking for yourself, expect other people to do the same. Life doesn’t come with meaning attached. We attach meaning to it and each individual has the freedom to attach their own meaning to it. What could possibly go wrong? Mind the things you control. Don’t mind the things you can’t. Remind yourself more often. On needles in haystacks:
Think. Refrain. Steadfast. Fair 2 ears. 1 mouth, concisely brief. Goodness over greatness. Attainment over obtainment If you haven’t found your people or your place, you just haven’t moved far enough yet (or at least not in the right direction) Don’t let age stiffen you and never mistake rigidity for strength. The youngest branches on the tree are the least likely to snap, because they are the most flexible. We are assailed – without invitation or warning – by thoughts and desires throughout the day, but their persistence doesn’t diminish our freedom to inspect each for what it is and more often what it pretends to be. Your thoughts and actions are all that you possess. Nothing else is really yours, it is all on loan from the universe and can be taken from you without a moment’s notice. If you can’t endure it, you are doing it wrong. Attainment […]
Think. Refrain. Steadfast. Fair 2 ears. 1 mouth. You’ve learned to listen now, now learn to talk less. Concise. Brief. Goodness over greatness. Storms pop-up. You can’t see them coming and you can’t stop them once they start. They will upend your home and there is nothing you can do about it. The only lesson to be learned is how to rebuild faster and more effectively. You can build with better materials, but the carpenter is limited without new plans from an architect or new ideas from an engineer. If you find contentment in the externals that you have, you lose desire for such things. If you are without desire for things outside yourself, you are truly free. Fear. Anxiety. Anger. These are the motives of all animals. What makes you different? Potential. It shouldn’t be too difficult to better a dog. This too shall pass. Everything does. The preferred […]
Think. Refrain. Steadfast. Fair 2 ears. 1 mouth Goodness over greatness. Even when you feel like you have nothing left to give, you always have your attention. The greatest mistakes are made not from false passions but instead from false impressions. Whose goals are you achieving? If they aren’t yours, you are a slave. Work towards your own goals. Perhaps they might align with someone else’s goals, but the intentions need to be aimed at your own. You can’t live in isolation. If you can’t live in solitude, you need to be with people. If you need to be with people, the only virtuous path is one of kindness, empathy, and fairness. Every day’s objective is achievable, but the long term goal never is and will forever be elusive. Don’t lose sight of your goal. What goal? To be purposeful. To what purpose? To be better. Better at what? Goodness. […]
Think. Refrain. Steadfast. Fair 2 ears. 1 mouth Goodness over greatness. I’m trying to keep things equitable for the therapists; one day they won’t be happy. Be ready for it. You can only do your best, but things will happen outside your control and sunshine will take it personally. It cannot be prevented, only delayed. Teach a man to fish (don’t give him a fish), they say. Set fire to the man (didn’t give the man a fire), say others. Teach a man to think, and they might come up with a better solution. If we struggle with a solution, we could think on it harder, but that is only half of the equation. The solution is multiplicative: don’t just change how hard a number of people are working on a problem, scale up the number of people that are working on it too. Cooperation is the ultimate multiplier. Epictetus […]
Think. Restrain. Steadfast. Fair. 2 ears, 1 mouth. Goodness over greatness. Murphy’s law is real, but you can’t be ready for everything. There are too many possibilities. Be prepared instead to be flexible. To be resilient. To pivot quickly. To take you the challenge. To remind yourself that this has happened countless times before and this is your chance to grow. You will be better for this practice. I’m doing poorly at evening temperance with food, especially. Time to refrain altogether. I was doing well when living alone; time to do well again. Give yourself grace. Other people have walked this path before, but none of them did so without occasionally stumbling over their own feet. The key to success is to stay upright and regain your footing so that you can take another step forward. They say that breaking old habits is harder than starting new ones. That might […]