Month: July 2023

Generally speaking, all humans worry about things they can’t control that are threats to survival. (Spoiler: Which is everything.) It takes discipline, mindset, and narration to overcome this.

We all worry about extending our life. Not to live forever, of course, but we don’t feel like we have enough time.

This is why we focus on legacy, impact, generosity, and how to make ideas spread. Because those things live in the ether. There is no expiration date.

Even today, we don’t know who invented the wheel, but we all appreciate it and recognize its impact.

Being alone and feeling lonely are not the same things.

You can feel alone in a crowd.

You can also be alone in your own thoughts.

Often, when someone is seeking constant attention, it is because they don’t want to be alone in their thoughts.

That creates tension that we often want to dissolve. So, we seek distractions like social media.

To keep us from realizing that today is the day we could turn this all around.

Endings are all the same for all human beings. So, we focus on the experience, the journey along the way, not what is inevitable.

However, because we work overtime to hide from this fact, ironically, we become goal-oriented in our capitalistic mindset. But humans have a magical ability to also transcend the physical realm. With our ideas, our words, our influence, we can live on.

We are all echoes of everyone that has come before us.

Setting goals for others is a heavy burden to place on someone.

Because what we are looking for is a success story for ourselves.

Because we are telling someone to live up to our ideals.

When we drop expectations, we can focus on what is actually happening. As a result, we can drop the storyline and spend less time in the ether (our imaginary world of wishing for things to be different).

Starting a tradition isn’t a tradition at first.

It’s a set up for a long run.

We get to decide which path/journey we want to be on.

When it’s new it’s fun.

When it’s been around it’s work.

But the meaning, the juice is when we imbed these habits and rituals deep into our identities and make them something bigger than ourselves.

I know so many people in my personal life that live under the assumption of a promise that tomorrow will be better than today.

Capitalism. Investments. Religion. Even climate action requires forward thinking. All make similar promises. Suffer today and tomorrow will be better.

But at the same time, there is this tension that we shove to the background that we don’t get to live forever and tomorrow is no guarantee.

So, what do you do? If we did whatever we wanted all the time then we couldn’t enjoy a clean planet or retirement and who knows if we make all the responsible decisions if we get to enjoy it.

That’s the problem when we view things from an individualist viewpoint—”What about me?” The alternative is to lose the self and think of the collective. However, we also must remember that many of the situations we find unpalatable are the ones we create. Which means, we can also change them. No one is forcing you to go to that job that doesn’t appreciate you. You just need to have the guts to take a chance to change your circumstances.

It turns out there are several theories of how aircraft can get off the ground. But most of them are debunked.

That’s the importance of the scientific method. We can keep testing until we find a reasonable conclusion. Until we discover the next thing.

What we think is possible and how we explain it are two different things. Sometimes we know something is true and yet we have not found an explanation. Indeed, waiting to find the right answer instead of rushing to find a good enough answer, takes lots of patience but also solves future problems because we are seeing things more clearly.

The light can shine even in here.

If you let it.

Because how you dress, how you talk, where you work, how you spend your money, how you vote, what kind of food you eat…all say something about you.

Every action sends a signal to the rest of the world about what it is you believe.