Excerpt: Is the following short story about a lazy cat or of an enlightened monk? Read this thought-provoking short story and decide for yourself…
“It only takes five minutes to break the cycle. Five minutes of exercise and you are back on the path. Five minutes of writing and the manuscript is moving forward again. Five minutes of conversation and the relationship is restored. It doesn’t take much to feel good again.”
James Clear, Blog
“More money does not solve money problems. Different relationships do not solve relationship problems. New work does not solve work problems. Your future life will not solve your life problems. This is because money does not make you good with money. Love does not make you love yourself. Relationships don’t make you good at relationships. Work doesn’t make you good at your job or capable of work/life balance. Problems don’t inherently make you a stronger person unless you change and adapt. The variable is you.”
Brianna Wiest, The Mountain Is You (Page 194)
“To do your inner work means to evaluate why something triggered you, why something is upsetting you, what your life is trying to show you, and the ways you could grow from these experiences. Truly powerful people absorb what has happened to them and sort of metabolize it. They use it as an opportunity to learn, to develop themselves. This type of inner mental and emotional work is non-negotiable if you want to be truly powerful.”
Brianna Wiest, The Mountain Is You (Page 187)
“The first step to becoming your most powerful self is to literally envision that person. Don’t take yourself out of your current context, either. Begin to ask yourself: What would the most powerful version of me do right now? What would they do with this day? How would they respond to this challenge? How would they move forward? How would they think? What would they feel?”
Brianna Wiest, The Mountain Is You (Page 184)
“Remember this: The next time you’re trying to craft a glow up story that is compelling to others, ask yourself why you are still waiting for their approval. The answer, almost always, is that you still do not have your own.”
Brianna Wiest, The Mountain Is You (Page 173)
“Whereas all the other animals have their heads low, eyes fixed upon the ground, the god desired to give to man a sublime face, a face that could raise its eyes to the heavens above, contemplating the very stars in the sky.”
Ovid, via The Daily Laws (Page 421)
“You determine the quality of your mind by the nature of your daily thoughts. If they circle around the same obsessions and dramas, you create an arid and monotonous mental landscape, and this secretly makes you miserable. Instead, you must seek to radiate your mind outward, to unleash your imagination and intensify your experience of life.”
Robert Greene, The Daily Laws (Page 417)
“The real glow up isn’t proving the people from your past wrong. It is finally feeling so content and hopeful about your future that you stop thinking about them entirely.”
Brianna Wiest, The Mountain Is You (Page 170)
“Fear is not going to protect you. Action is. Worrying is not going to protect you. Preparing is. Overthinking is not going to protect you. Understanding is. When we hold onto fear and pain after something traumatic has passed, we do it as a sort of safety net. We falsely believe that if we constantly remind ourselves of all the terrible things that we didn’t see coming, we can avoid them. Not only does this not work, but it also makes you less efficient at responding to them if they do.”
Brianna Wiest, The Mountain Is You (Page 168)
“Operating with a high sense of purpose is a force multiplier. All of your decisions and actions have greater power behind them because they are guided by a central idea and purpose. The many sides to your character are channeled into this purpose, giving you more sustained energy. Your focus and your ability to bound back from adversity give you ineluctable momentum. You can ask more of yourself.”
Robert Greene, The Daily Laws (Page 410)
