Timeless Ideas | May 2, 2021
Here’s your weekly dose of timeless ideas to sharpen your mind, make smarter decisions, and live better.
Quotes
I.
The decisions you make today will determine the stories you tell tomorrow.
― Craig Groeschel
II.
We have two lives. The second one begins when we realize that we only have one.
― Confucius
III.
Your silence gives consent.
— Plato
Ideas
I.
The process of concentrating on the goal every day greatly increases the likelihood of noticing an opportunity in the environment. The coincidence will create the illusion that writing down the goal causes the environment to produce opportunities. But in reality the only thing that changes is the person’s ability to notice the opportunities.
Scott Adams in God's Debris: A Thought Experiment
II.
To complain is always nonacceptance of what is. It invariably carries an unconscious negative charge. When you complain, you make yourself into a victim. When you speak out, you are in your power. So change the situation by taking action or by speaking out if necessary or possible; leave the situation or accept it. All else is madness.
Eckhart Tolle in The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
III.
What does responsibility mean? Responsibility means not blaming anyone or anything for your situation, including yourself. Having accepted this circumstance, this event, this problem, responsibility then means the ability to have a creative response to the situation as it is now. All problems contain the seeds of opportunity, and this awareness allows you to take the moment and transform it to a better situation or thing.
Deepak Chopra in The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success
Articles Worth Reading
I.
There’s a Name for the Blah You’re Feeling: It’s Called Languishing
Adam Grant | The New York Times
Languishing is a sense of stagnation and emptiness. It feels as if you’re muddling through your days, looking at your life through a foggy windshield. And it might be the dominant emotion of 2021.
II.
2 Competing Impulses Will Drive Post-pandemic Social Life
Joe Pinsker | The Atlantic
A post-pandemic discussion question: You get home from work on a Friday night and change into sweatpants. It’s been an exhausting week. A text message comes in. Your good friend wants to know if you’d like to meet up last minute for a drink, which is something that’s safe to do again. You’d love to catch up, but you’re pretty tired. Do you go?
III.
How Food Companies Get Us 'Hooked' On Junk
Dave Davies | NPR
If you're someone who has turned to snacking on junk food more in the pandemic, you're not alone. Processed food is engineered to be "craveable," not unlike a cigarette or a hit of cocaine. The advertising from the companies is cueing us to remember those products and we want those products constantly.
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