“When life gets scary and difficult, we tend to look for solutions in places where it is easy or at least familiar to do so, and not in the dark, uncomfortable places where real solutions might lie.”
Robert Maurer, One Small Step Can Change Your Life
“The advice shouldn’t be to act your age. It should be to act your spirit. Your age may try to prohibit you from dancing like that, or starting over, or trying something new. But your spirit would never do such a thing. If something feels aligned, your spirit wants you to go for it, whether you’re 15 or 85. Acting your age makes you fit in more, while acting your spirit will indeed cause you to stand out—in a bad way to people who act their age, but in an inspiring way to those who act their spirit. Try acting your spirit from time to time, and you can see for yourself which path makes you feel more alive.”
Light Watkins
“Life is a series of tradeoffs, and greater results usually require greater tradeoffs. The question is not, ‘Do you want to be great at this?’ The question is, ‘What are you willing to give up in order to be great at this?’”
James Clear, Blog
“On the ground, a rock is just a rock. But when moving at high speed through the atmosphere, a rock becomes a meteor—alive with fire and burning bright. People are not so different. Without activity, we are lifeless and dull. When moving fast and taking action, we come alive.”
James Clear, Blog
“There can be only one way to fight the general evil of life: it is in the moral, religious, and spiritual perfection of your own life.”
Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 180)
“Yes, love is about giving, but self-love is about doing what you need to do to enhance your own inner light and knowing your own limits. Treating yourself well is critical if you want to build harmony with another human being. The interaction between love and self-love should help form a balance where both people can aspire to be selfless but at the same time are clear on what they need so that their personal happiness can be supported.”
Yung Pueblo
“Say your son or daughter jumps into the car after soccer practice and says, ‘I hate it. I’m never going back. I quit.’ This always strikes a nerve with parents who are likely to respond with: ‘You can’t quit. Where’s your team spirit?’ or ‘Oh my God, what happened? I’m going to call the coach!’ or ‘Are you hungry? Let’s go eat. You’ll feel better.’ None of that is listening. Grilling them about what happened is interrogating. Telling them they shouldn’t feel how they feel is minimizing. And changing the subject is just maddening. Kids, like all of us, just want to be heard. Try instead, ‘Have you always felt this way?’ or ‘What would quitting mean?’ Look at it as an invitation to have a conversation, not as something to be fixed or get upset about.”
Kate Murphy, You’re Not Listening
“The most valuable lesson I’ve learned as a journalist is that everybody is interesting if you ask the right questions. If someone is dull or uninteresting, it’s on you.”
Kate Murphy, You’re Not Listening
“People are naturally more emotional and permeable to the moods of others. Work with human nature and turn this into a positive by infecting the group with the proper set of emotions. People are more susceptible to the moods and attitudes of the leader than of anyone else.”
Robert Greene, The Daily Laws (Page 208)
“The Kiso road was dangerous, winding over several steep mountain passes. Much as we tried to help one another, our inexperience showed. There were many mistakes. Nervous and worried, we made mistakes, but learning to laugh at them gave us courage to continue.”
Bashō, Narrow Road To The Interior (Page 89)
“There is only one thing in the world which is worth dedicating all your life. This is creating more love among people and destroying barriers which exist between them.”
Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 173)
“Almost every effort of the human mind is directed, not toward lightening the work of the laborer, but toward making more pleasant the idleness of the leisured.”
Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 173)
“Always respond to hatred with kindness. The most difficult enterprises are easiest at their inception, and the greatest of enterprises have humble origins. Confront difficulties while they are still easy, then, and tackle a big thing when it is still small.”
Lao-Tzu, via A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 172)
“Each twist in the road brought new sights, each dawn renewed my inspiration. Wherever I met another person with even the least appreciation for artistic excellence, I was overcome with joy. Even those I’d expected to be stubbornly old-fashioned often proved to be good companions. People often say that the greatest pleasures of traveling are finding a sage hidden behind weeds or treasures hidden in trash, gold among discarded pottery. Whenever I encountered someone of genius, I wrote about it in order to tell my friends.”
Bashō, Narrow Road To The Interior (Page 81)
“Realize the following: the word personality comes from the Latin persona, which means ‘mask.’ In public, we all wear masks, and this has a positive function. If we displayed exactly who we are and spoke our minds truthfully, we would offend almost everyone and reveal qualities that are best concealed. Having a persona, playing a role well, actually protects us from people looking too closely at us, with all of the insecurities that would churn up.”
Robert Greene, The Daily Laws (Page 204)
“An evildoer is happy while the evil is not yet ripe, but when it is ripe and ready, he will understand what evil is, and his evil will return to him like dust thrown against the wind. Neither in the sky nor in the earth nor in the depth of mountains, nor anywhere in this world is there a place where one can escape the results of sin.”
Dhammapada, via A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 170)
“The greatest virtue is to do no evil, even to your enemies. If you respect yourself, you will not commit evil, even in the slightest way.”
Indian Wisdom, via A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 170)
“Everyone knows that focus matters. Most people don’t know where to focus. Telling people ‘to focus more’ is about as helpful as telling them to ‘make better decisions.’ Common advice but useless in practice. Not all focus is equal. Some focus is asymmetric. Knowing where to focus makes a difference.”
Shane Parrish
“While our values, cultures, and life circumstances change—our core struggles as humans remain the same. Relationships are hard, but necessary. Trauma is inevitable, but healing is possible. Emotions cannot be conquered, but must be accepted and managed. A sense of purpose is not found, it must be created.”
Mark Manson