Why are YOU doing that?
To know the world requires knowing yourself, until you do, judge lightly.
Learn to ask of all actions, “Why are they doing that?”. Start with your own.
— Meditations, Marcus Aurelius
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Finite is all
Embrace constraints. Choice is all there is.
Any finite life — even the best one you could possibly imagine — is therefore a matter of ceaselessly waving goodbye to possibility.
— Four Thousand Weeks, Oliver Burkeman
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Declare war with yourself
I can’t. They’re [better, smarter, prettier, stronger, more gifted]. I don’t deserve. Back when I was younger I could…
These silent whispers - listen, then obliterate without mercy.
The greatest battle of all is with yourself — your weaknesses, your emotions, your lack of resolution in seeing things through to the end. You must declare unceasing war on yourself.
— Robert Greene
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We're all imposters
Feeling like an imposter? You should. Underneath the facade, we’re all pretty ridiculous.
It’s lucky no one else knows what our most secret thoughts are. We’d all be seen for the cunning, self-aggrandizing fools we are.
— The Poet, Michael Connelly
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Shadow work
Your inner flaws - your shadow - are part of being human. Acknowledge, accept, overcome - shadow-work.
If an inferiority is conscious, one always has a chance to correct it.
— Carl Jung
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Explore
Explore then exploit, in that order.
As you drop off your child this month, remember that they will have ample time to figure out their career. Before that, encourage them to take risks, and to stretch their brains and themselves. Only by doing that will they begin to discover what will give their life meaning and worth over the next 70 years.
— The Worst Advice Parents Can Give First-Year Students, Ezekiel J. Emanuel
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Ripples
Good storytelling explores the interplay of unintended consequences - second (or higher) order effects.
As in life, it’s these ripple effects — not the direct outcomes of our actions — that create the highest highs, and the lowest lows.
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Wake up
It is up to you.
Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakes.
— Carl Jung
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Don't listen to them
Your choice - be free, or meet the expectations of the programmed.
People won’t let you live the way you want to, but if you’re strong enough or quick enough, at least you don’t have to live the way they want you to. I live, though, no matter what.
— Flood, Andrew Vachss
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Help yourself
Most will yield, allowing you to pass, and do the same when you fall. Stake your progress.
There aren’t just 2 kinds of people, good and bad, like I thought when I was a kid who got most of his ideas on how people act from TV. There are 3. The third type of people go along to get along. Those are the most people in the world and I think they are gray people. They will not hurt you (at least on purpose) but they won’t help you much, either. They will say do what you want and God help you. I think in this world you have to help yourself.
— Billy Summers, Stephen King