“If you would improve, submit to be considered without sense and foolish with respect to externals. Wish to be considered to know nothing: and if you shall seem to some to be a person of importance, distrust yourself. For you should know that it is not easy both to keep your will in a condition […]
“For your own part likewise, you’re sometimes an athlete, sometimes a gladiator, then a philosopher, then an orator, but nothing at all whole-heartedly; no, in the manner of an ape, you imitate everything that you see, and one thing after another is always catching your fancy, but it ceases to amuse you as soon as […]
Safeguard your mind. Like Marcus Aurelius said you should. You are so easily influenced. The armies of computers come for you without regard to your purpose in this world. These powerful adversaries aim to draw you into their fantasy factory and then, once successful, once you have landed in their terrain, scatter your mind into […]
As in a voyage, when the ship is at anchor, if you go on shore to get water, you may amuse yourself with picking up a shell-fish or a truffle in your way, but your thoughts ought to be bent towards the ship, and perpetually attentive, lest the captain should call, and then you must […]
To journal is to make space for thinking. Give yourself permission not to produce or curate. You do well with modest expectations. A journal is a tool, not a product. It’s what it does for you — not what you make of it. Worry not about the state of your journal. Focus on the state […]
Sarcasm seldom satisfies. You do well when you make your written communications sincere. Sarcastic writings seldom age well. Speech allows for wider latitude, as speech provides greater context to your recipient. Intent is more easily conveyed when a listener hears tone and especially when she or he observes facial expressions. Playfulness, irony — even well-placed […]
Cherish encounters with souls that delight your own. Rare are the people who energize you rather than deplete you. Do not wallow. Do not follow this signpost of frustration over the fact that such moments are fleeting. This is how it must be. What makes such encounters special is that they are so seldom. To […]
Love — not lament — that people view the world differently than you. The belief that others are wayward is what throws you off your course, not they theirs. You have your own work to do, your own steps to take, your own depth to plumb. Try not to convince others; where they are wrong […]
One thing opponents observed about Jim Brown is that no matter how hard they tackled the great running back he always bounced up to his feet the same way, always ambled back to the huddle as if nothing much had happened.
Character is not always easy. To be sure. But it is it’s own reward. The act is the prize.
You have your own work to do and you are now, finally, prepared to do it. You do not need anyone else to see it. Or see you. Or cheer you on. These are your steps to take, without witness and for no end but for the fact that you must.
Every day is a microcosm of life. Every day, you could say, is a life. Your day is birthed from death. It is dark. You are cold. Confused. You cannot see clearly. After you get your wits about you, as much as you can, you realize you have near limitless choices before you. It is […]
What you do right now informs and influences every moment that follows. To choose to read is to take a path to wisdom. To choose to write is to take a path to understanding. To choose to exercise is to take a path to health. To choose to meditate is to take a path to […]
Are you distracted in any way by what happens to you from outside? Then give yourself some free time to learn something new and worthwhile, and stop wandering about aimlessly. But after that, you must also guard against going astray in a second way; for equally foolish are those who have become weary of life […]
Now is the time to learn anew who you are. To write and reflect. To ask yourself good questions. The sort of questions you would ask a good friend. All contentment is available when you forego externals. To grasp is a form of fighting yourself. You will, you must, admit defeat. Your happiness is up […]
There are times during the day, such as when the sun is high in the sky, when you are liable to slip into sloth. There is little means to avoid this. Do not despair. Yet there is strength in playing the hand you’re dealt rather than folding your cards. Choose wisely. If you do not […]
It is pretty simple: if you do not pursue your purpose you will get sick and you will be tired and you will feel uninspired. You will covet externals. You will become easily irked. You will look to others for answers. For escape. You will be passive. Purpose = oxygen.
Get calm. Whatever you need but the body must register your arrival. It is, therefore, a great conduit. Engage the concern. Aim for proactive, seek meaning, don’t grasp for answers.
But then you press your more weathered nose against another window and see your reflection. While you were not fooled before — while you are not, in fact, where you once were, you aren’t as formed as you thought when you felt so mighty as to smear at yourself.
It’s strange to have a song stuck in your head when you don’t know the last time you heard the song, you haven’t before especially liked the song, and, in a way, the song predates you. In fact, Jim Croce’s “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” was recorded the year I was born. The following year it […]