These rules have transformed my life (after a lifetime of avoidance)
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Here are 3 pieces of wisdom, one reality-shifting quote, latest PG post, food for thought and personal recommendations.
- I’ve been avoiding these 11 uncomfortable truths for years because I had certain life expectations. I’m learning to accept reality as it is. I like what teacher, psychologist and writer Ram Dass once said, “As long as you have certain desires about how it ought to be, you can’t see how it is.”Accepting these unsettling truths has improved my life. A lot.
- What’s worse: to be burned alive by everything that feeds your soul or to feel nothing at all? I surrendered to my fire ten years ago. Poet and novelist Charles Bukowski’s rule for life is the most powerful I’ve ever read. “If something burns your soul with purpose and desire, it’s your duty to be reduced to ashes by it. Any other form of existence will be yet another dull book in the library of life.” Here’s how it applies to life.
- Investor and philanthropist Warren Buffett once said something that explains the art of moving on. He wisely notes, “Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.” The practical ways it applies in all areas of life.
A quote I’m pondering
“We thought of life by analogy with a journey, a pilgrimage, which had a serious purpose at the end, and the thing was to get to that end, success or whatever it is, maybe heaven after you’re dead. But we missed the point the whole way along. It was a musical thing and you were supposed to sing or to dance while the music was being played.” — Alan Watts
Latest Personal Growth post
Most People Never Figure This Out
“The hard things I ignore today become the crisis I deal with tomorrow. Getting fit is hard. But so is feeling out of shape. Saving money is hard. But so is being broke. Building a relationship is hard. But so is being lonely. Waking up early is hard. So is scrambling through your day unprepared. Saying no to distractions is hard. So isfeeling like you’re behind in life. A tough conversation is hard. So is living with resentment. Learning new skills is hard. So is being replaceable. Growth is hard. So is staying stuck. You choose your hard. Avoiding hard things doesn’t work.”
Food for thought
- To win today, think “big rock” effect. Think of your day as a pond. What’s the biggest rock you can throw in to create the largest ripple effect? That is your “one thing” that makes the rest of the day feel like a success. “You need to be doing fewer things for more effect instead of doing more things with side effects,” says author Gary Keller.
- Joshua Foer on changing psychological time — “Monotony collapses time; novelty unfolds it. You can exercise daily and eat healthily and live a long life, while experiencing a short one. If you spend your life sitting in a cubicle and passing papers, one day is bound to blend unmemorably into the next — and disappear. That’s why it’s so important to change routines regularly, and take vacations to exotic locales, and have as many new experiences as possible that can serve to anchor our memories. Creating new memories stretches out psychological time, and lengthens our perception of our lives.” Source — Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything
- Author Oliver Burkeman on why you will never feel ‘on top of things” — “The problem with trying to make time for everything that feels important — or just for enough of what feels important — is that you definitely never will. The reason isn’t that you haven’t yet discovered the right time management tricks or supplied sufficient effort, or that you need to start getting up earlier, or that you’re generally useless. It’s that the underlying assumption is unwarranted: there’s no reason to believe you’ll ever feel ‘on top of things,’ or make time for everything that matters, simply by getting more done.” Source: Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals
Two thing I recommend
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Until next week,
Be Well.
