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Ryan Holiday Quote on Questions and How The Best Questions Lead To The Best Answers

    “Tim Ferriss always seems to ask the best questions: What would this look like if it were easy? How will you know if you don’t experiment? What would less be like? The one that hit me the hardest, when I was maybe 25, was, ‘What do you do with your money?’ My answer at the time was ‘Nothing, really.’ Okay, so why try so hard to earn lots more of it?”

    Ryan Holiday, Medium

    Beyond the Quote (269/365)

    The first and last questions listed above were the ones that hit me the hardest: “What would this look like if it were easy?” and “What do you do with your money?” The thing about asking better questions is that they lead to better answers. When you can become the person who asks “the best questions” then you’ll inevitably start getting the best answers—answers that never occur to most people because their minds aren’t even looking in the right places. And the people with the best answers are the ones who almost always get the best results.

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    Rumi Quote on Living in the Heart and How The Words That Follow “I Am” Follow You.

      “As you live deeper in the heart, the mirror gets clearer and clearer.”

      Rumi

      Beyond the Quote (267/365)

      Once it happened where a presenter was having technical difficulties with his presentation. The projector wasn’t connecting to the computer properly and the slideshow that he prepared wouldn’t show. As the time was ticking off the clock for his allotted slot, he decided to spontaneously fill the time with an exercise. He asked everybody to turn to the person next to them and ask them to finish the following statement: “I am…”

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      Ryan Holiday Quote on Rules and How They Are The Best and Most Polite Excuse To Living Your Best Life

        “Steve Kamb, the founder of Nerd Fitness, told me that the best and most polite excuse is just to say you have a rule. ‘I have a rule that I don’t decide on the phone.’ ‘I have a rule that I don’t accept gifts.’ ‘I have a rule that I don’t speak for free anymore.’ ‘I have a rule that I am home for bath time with the kids every night.’ People respect rules, and they accept that it’s not you rejecting the offer, request, demand, or opportunity, but the rule allows you no choice.”

        Ryan Holiday, Medium

        Beyond the Quote (266/365)

        I have a rule that I don’t eat meat or dairy. I have a rule that I don’t drink alcohol. I have a rule that I don’t do drugs. I have a rule that I only borrow on credit cards what I can pay back at the end of each month. I have a rule that every day I do something for personal growth and something selfless for others. These rules define how I live my life and are undoubtedly some of the best and most polite tools I have to continue living my life this way.

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        Keshavan Nair Quote on Being Lazy and How Productivity is a War, Not a Battle

          “When I say I lack the time to exercise, is this really true given that I have time to watch television? Perhaps it is just difficult for me to admit that I may be lazy.”

          Keshavan Nair, A Higher Standard of Leadership

          Beyond the Quote (265/365)

          I am lazy. I am definitely not born with a “do more than I have to” nature. I desire the “comfortable” option. All of the time. I don’t want to wake up early. I don’t want to write every day. I don’t want to exercise. And I definitely don’t want to only ever eat healthy food. The easy way out is always at the forefront of my mind. The mind-numbing activities are always calling my name. And the option to do less is always looking mighty nice. Yet, day-in and day-out, I choose otherwise.

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          Kerry Washington Quote on Heroes and How Hero Worship Should Come To An End

            Kerry Washington Quote on Heroes and How Hero Worship Should Come To An End

            In response to the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg: “It feels like we’re losing so many of our heroes this year, you know, John Lewis and Chadwick Boseman, and it just is like how is this possible? And I really do think there’s something about the idea that we’re being invited to realize that our heroes are human, which means that we all have the capacity to be the heroes of our communities and our lives and our story. The time for hero worship is maybe coming to an end and it’s time for us to all stand up and serve. These singular people can’t shoulder all the weight.”

            Kerry Washington, Ellen

            Beyond the Quote (264/365)

            Our heroes are human. They always have been. They have the same amount of time in their days as we do. They have the same basic needs for survival, too. And they certainly live lives filled with problems and challenges just like each of us. So, what’s the difference between the average human and our “heroes?” I like to think that the scale of their impact and influence is in proportion to how they choose to be selfish and in how they choose to be selfless.

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            Why I DON’T Do “Pinky Promises”

              Why I DON'T Do "Pinky Promises"

              “We started our relationship based on pinky promises, where we linked our pinkies and kissed our hands to demonstrate that we cannot lie and break that bond. Because like little kids a pinky promise means a lot more.”

              Unknown

              Beyond the Quote (263/365)

              I saw a meme that asked, “Do you trust pinky promises?” with the response, “You are wack if you don’t take these seriously.”

              Unpopular opinion: You are wack if you need a promise to be “pinkyed” to be taken seriously.

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              Mark Ruffalo Emmy Award Acceptance Speech on Using Privilege To Fight For Those Less Fortunate

                Mark Ruffalo Emmy Award Acceptance Speech on Using Privilege To Fight For Those Less Fortunate

                “[Our story] asks a big question, how are we going to deal and honor and take care of each other and our most vulnerable people? And we do that with love, and we do that with compassion, and we do that by fighting for them. And that’s what we have to do today. We have to come together with love, for each other. And if you have privilege, you have to fight for those who are less fortunate, and more vulnerable. And that is what is great about America, our diversity. One thing I’ve learned from my wife and children, is that we’re stronger together when we love each other and we respect each other’s diversity. And so we have a big, important moment ahead of us. Are we going to be a country of division and hatred? A country only for certain kind of people? Or are we going to be one of love, and strength, and fighting for those—all of us—so all of us can have the American dream and the pursuit of life, and liberty, and love, and happiness, in this great country of ours? That’s what we’re facing right now. So get out and vote, make a plan, and vote for love and compassion and kindness. I love you all. Thank you so much.”

                Mark Ruffalo, Emmy Award Acceptance Speech

                Beyond the Quote (262/365)

                Our first priority is to ensure that we are able to care properly for ourselves. Next, is to ensure that we are able to properly care for our family and loved ones. What’s next is where we are all given a destiny altering choice that can—quite literally—reshape the structure of our world. We can choose to either move from “properly cared for” to “overly cared for” or we can choose to continue broadening our circle of care outwards. In other words, with privilege, we can choose luxury or greater impact. The path you choose, and the degree to which you choose to follow that path, can alter the very essence and purpose of your life.

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                Ruth Bader Ginsburg Quote on Intentionally Being A Little Deaf Towards Thoughtless Or Unkind Words

                  Ruth Bader Ginsburg Quote on Intentionally Being A Little Deaf Towards Thoughtless Or Unkind Words

                  “Another often-asked question when I speak in public: ‘Do you have some good advice you might share with us?‘ Yes, I do. It comes from my savvy mother-in-law, advice she gave me on my wedding day. ‘In every good marriage,’ she counseled, ‘it helps sometimes to be a little deaf.’ I have followed that advice assiduously, and not only at home through fifty-six years of a marital partnership nonpareil. I have employed it as well in every workplace, including the Supreme Court of the United States. When a thoughtless or unkind word is spoken, best tune out. Reacting in anger or annoyance will not advance one’s ability to persuade.”

                  Ruth Bader Ginsburg, My Own Words

                  Beyond the Quote (260/365)

                  In every relationship in life, I think it helps to be a little deaf. And I, nor RBG, mean this in a demeaning, belittling, dismissive way for the other person. We mean it in a self-loving kind of way. We choose to be a little deaf towards the thoughtless and unkind types of remarks. The remarks that are not backed by thought, but are rather reactive, emotional, and are lacking of reason or fact. The remarks that do not serve the higher purpose of advancing the argument, but rather attack the person and are derogatory or unkind in nature. Those are the types of thoughts that should fall on deaf ears.

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                  Henry Longfellow Quote on Rain and What The Best Thing To Do When It’s Raining Is…

                    “For after all, the best thing one can do when it is raining, is to let it rain.”

                    Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

                    Beyond the Quote (259/365)

                    You can curse the clouds. Yell at the wind. Blame the rain for ruining your day. You can close your blinds and hide under your blankets. You can turn the TV up real loud so you don’t hear the thunder. You can even browse some “sunny 70” exotic destination locations on IG. But, whether you confront the rain with anger and hostility or dig your head into the pit of your couch and pretend like it doesn’t exist, one thing is for sure—it’s going to keep on raining.

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                    Mira Kirshenbaum Quote on Retreating Back So That You Can Keep Moving Forward in Life

                      The French have an expression: Reculer pour mieux sauter. This means that you have to step back, retreat a little, if you’re going to successfully jump over something. Want to jump across a ditch? You don’t just walk to the edge and then leap. You walk to the edge, gauge the distance, and then retreat a bit to give yourself room to get a full running start before you leap. Sometimes we can’t take the next leap forward unless we take the time to step back first. Where will you get the strength to sauter (leap forward) if you can’t allow yourself to reculer (pull back)?”

                      Mira Kirshenbaum, The Gift of a Year (Page 87)

                      Beyond the Quote (258/365)

                      Keep moving forward is the motto, yes. But, how to move forward if you walked yourself up to a ditch (as is often the case in life)? Moving forward in that case is to fall into the ditch and get stuck (or worse). So, as Kirshenbaum illustrates above, we move backwards so that we can gain the strength and momentum needed to run and jump over the ditch. In other words, sometimes the best way to keep moving forward is to move backwards, first.

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                      Eckhart Tolle Quote on Understanding Who You Are and How You Might Best Influence Others

                        “Who you are is always a more vital teaching and a more powerful transformer of the world than what you say, and more essential even than what you do.”

                        Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now (Page 202)

                        Beyond the Quote (257/365)

                        But, isn’t what we say and what we do, who we are? Sure, our words and actions are key indicators of our identity, but what Tolle points out as being even more important is the intention behind the words and actions. It’s in how we say what we say and in how we do what we do that makes all of the difference. This is a crucial understanding because therefore, it’s the how that points us to understanding who we are.

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                        Quote On Inner Beauty and Questioning How People Would Treat You If They Were All Blind

                          “If the whole world was blind, how many people would you impress?”

                          Unknown

                          Beyond the Quote (256/365)

                          As it stands, the world is predominantly vision based. Meaning, most of what we interpret from our worlds—our environments—is absorbed from what we see. Less of what we learn is from hearing and less from that is tasting, smelling, and feeling. And because most of us rely on vision, vision becomes the predominant method for hierarchically organizing our world. In other words, we organize our world into “desirable” and “less desirable” based on what we see more than any other sense, because sight is our primary source of information gathering.

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                          Quote from Modern Love About Recalibrating the Universe When Anything Bad Happens

                            “Whenever anything bad happens, you should try and recalibrate the universe or whatever you want to call it with its opposite.“

                            Yasmine, Modern Love

                            Beyond the Quote (255/365)

                            Spoilers ahead. In the final episode of Modern Love, Season 1, we are shown a scene of a young man, Rob, who gets stood up at a café. Disheartened and upset, he goes to leave the café and (appropriately enough) walks out into the rain. He slowly pulls back to shield under the café’s awning as an attractive blond women, Yasmine, runs to shield on the other side.

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                            Save Yourself. Because Even The Best Doctors, Teachers, Gurus, Mentors, and Trainers Can’t

                              Save Yourself.

                              Excerpt: Inspired by a quote from Naval Ravikant, this post is about taking responsibility for your own life and depending less on others to do the “saving” for you. Doctors won’t make you healthy. Teachers won’t make you smart. Mentors won’t make you rich. It’s all up to YOU. Save yourself.

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                              Quote from The New Mutants Movie on the Two Bears Inside (and How To Control The Evil Bear In You)

                                Quote from The New Mutants Movie on the Two Bears Inside and How To Control The Evil Bear In You

                                Excerpt: ‘Inside every person there are two bears, forever locked in combat for your soul. One bear is all things good, compassion, love, trust. The other is all things evil, fear, shame, and self-destruction.’ — This quote from The New Mutants Movie lays the foundation for a deeper discussion about what’s going on inside of ourselves. Enjoy!

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