There is living in luxury and living well. Be content to live well. Living in luxury is a manifestation of greed and it robs the world and our fellow man of precious resources that should be preserved for future generations.
Take a 20 minute slow walk. Breathe through your nose. Take notice of the things around you.
Sit and breathe with no distractions for 10 minutes.
Improve one small thing every day. Just one thing.
Stop second guessing yourself. Allow yourself to make mistakes. Post imperfect work. Accept where you are right now.
Write. Write down answers to the following questions. What do I love. What am I good at. What do people value about me.
Stop eating at 80% full. Pause mid-meal to contemplate. Chew slowly.
Time your Social Media interaction. Do not exceed the limit you have set. Remove accounts, emails, interactions that are not positive. Focus on your progress not on what other people are doing.
If something is bothering you ask: “Can I control this?” If the answer is “No,” release it.
Seneca said that it is more easy to laugh at life than it is to lament it.
There is little to be gained by getting angry or sad. There is always something we can do to adjust our behavior to avoid becoming a victim of anger or sadness.
We should get rid of all things that are unnecessary for our living. This will free us. Always remember that even dire misfortune can be an opening that brings us to a better place
Some of you might know what I’m talking about… I think she needs a tattoo on her arm that says “Brad.” Better yet, “B-Rad.”
Understand the past and respect it, but don’t make it your sole guide for what should be your path forward. The past is a guide meant to teach us, not a guide meant to lead us by blind obedience.
“In the year 170, the most powerful man in the world sat down to write. Not to an audience or for publications, but to himself, for himself. His name was Marcus Aurelius, the emperor of Rome. Miraculously, these writings survive –and contain within them a profound prescription for wisdom, justice, discipline and courage.”
Almost every day I sit down to write. My goal is not to impart wisdom to anyone other than myself. This blog is the result of that effort. There is much that doesn’t find its way into this blog, but what does is material that I hope will remind me of where I’ve been, and where I need to go.
Do not rely on a single source for all your opinions. Use multiple sources to gather information. Consider all those sources carefully before you settle on “the facts.” Remember that even then, the facts you have settled on are ephemeral and are likely to change as history unfolds. Be able to change with them.
If you want to persuade someone to your point of view, beating them with a stick or beating them with your words will not bring about positive results. Don’t say to someone “stop doing that,” or “stop doing that because it is wrong.” Instead, say stop doing that and then provide them with facts to show them why they will benefit by doing so. Those that choose to deny facts cannot be helped. Remember they are in the minority, not the majority.
The attention you pay to any action should always be in proportion to its value. That value is determined by the benefit that will be returned to you and also to the value that will be returned to your fellow beings. It doesn’t matter if that return is recognized or not.
Do not be anxious about the future. Realize instead that unless you are in control of some aspect of man’s destiny (most of us are not in such a position) there is little we can do to control that destiny — beyond those things that are our public duty.
Feeling bad about something that hasn’t happened yet is a choice that we are making. It is a choice that is draining energy from us that could otherwise be put to some worthwhile purpose.
The Stoic dresses in whatever way is customary for the location and situation. The Stoic does not attempt to stand out from the crowd. What makes the Stoic unique is what is inside. Uniqueness threatens and alienates many people. Often it is those people that are most in need of what you have to offer.
Peace of mind is not just about doing a few things as opposed to many things, it is about doing a few things well. That includes avoiding unnecessary things. Doing so gives us the best chance of doing all that we have the ability to accomplish.
Avoid those tasks that are purely driven by vanity. We must focus on eliminating those things that are a waste of our time.
My sign for the No Kings Rally on March 28.
Stop Wars Now
The good life does not consist in its length. The good life is defined by its accomplishments. A long life lived too little is a short life. The best approach is to focus on the task at hand, whatever that is.
You have two voices in your head. Don’t let the “resistance voice” prevent you from doing what you know you should be doing. Listen to the voice that tells you what to do. Ignore the voice that is trying to give you excuses not to do it.
Use philosophy to prepare yourself. The pursuit of wisdom is the best work you can undertake to prepare for any outcome that might befall you.
Choose quality over quantity.
How do you keep up with all.the information, all the books published every year. You don’t. Choose wisely what you consume and absorb carefully what you consume. This is how you fill your mind and enrich your life.
How do you get good at Pickleball? “Learn, practice, train.”
The Stoics knew this. Epictetus in his Discourses said: Don’t be satisfied with mere learning. Learn, practice, train. This is as true with philosophy as it is for athletics. Learn the right thing. Practice the right thing. Train for a lifetime to do the right thing.
Thinking about the future, thinking about the past, is easy. Real thinking is to focus on what is in front of us. What you do today might be the last thing you ever do.
Momento Mori
A Latin phrase meaning “remember that you will die.” The phrase is a symbolic reminder of the inevitability of death and the fleeting nature of life. Ancient Romans used the phrase to inspire humility, perspective, and urgency. It is intended to encouraging people to live fully, value time, and avoid wasting life.
I didn’t believe in it for a moment
but I gulped down the wine of my own voice
And then I wrestled with the darkness inside me,
knocked it down, clawed at it, ripped it to shreds.
We need to examine the darkness inside ourselves. If we can’t do that honestly and describe to others what those failings are, we are not truly human. Don’t ask someone “what are your strengths?” Instead ask them, “what are your shortcomings?” The answer will reveal all you need to know about that person.
Beware the “Illusory Truth Effect.” That is the tendency to believe something you have heard multiple times. This is a trick politicians use to suck us into following them. This is usually accompanied by the suggestion (again made multiple times) that they are the only one that has the answer.