🤔 Morning thoughts (February 19 - 25)
Every Sunday I share a quote and a reflection on it for each day of the week.
Themes of the week: reflection, self-discipline, impermanence, intentionality, self-control, negativity, balance
Sunday - February 25, 2024
Speeding up in pursuit of fleeting moments of hyper-visibility is not necessarily the path to impact. It’s in slowing down that the real magic happens.
Cal Newport, On Slow Writing
To become one with the words you write, you first have to become one with your thoughts. The only way to do that is to slow down. Take it thought after thought, let your mind wonder, then go word by word.
Saturday - February 24, 2024
"The body, you must understand, is a metaphor. It’s a training ground, a proving ground for the mind and the soul."
Ryan Holiday, Discipline Is Destiny
When your mental state is not where you want it to be, look at your body. Often the outside leads to the inside.
Friday - February 23, 2024
"Man considering the Universe, of which he is a unit, sees nothing but change in matter, forces, and mental states. He sees that nothing really IS, but that everything is BECOMING and CHANGING"
The Kybalion
Realize the impermanent nature of reality by going deep within yourself. If everything is constantly passing away, there’s nothing to cling on to. But everything to experience - while it lasts.
Thursday - February 22, 2024
no thought lives in your head rent-free.” Each thought you have will either be an investment or a cost. It will either move you toward happiness and success or away from it. It will either empower you or disempower you. That’s why it is imperative you choose your thoughts and beliefs wisely.
T. Harv Eker, Secrets of the millionaire mind
Be intentional about what you fill your head with. Guard your thoughts closely.
Wednesday - February 21, 2024
This is another great benefit of self-control. Not only do you gain confidence in yourself, you also have a profoundly uplifting effect on the people around you. Because they no longer have to protect themselves from your bad habits, they can start to take responsibility for their own. We are all connected. We can’t help having an impact on one another, for good or for ill.
Phil Stutz, Coming alive
When you start seeing self control as selfless mastery, in service of both you and others, you really start internalizing its power.
Tuesday - February 20, 2024
It’s dynamic—negative thinking represents a force in your consciousness that wants to displace anything healthy. It’s irrational—the thoughts seem real when you’re having them, but when you look back, they are almost always exaggerated or out of touch with reality. It’s a habit—and like all habits, the more you practice negative thinking, the stronger it becomes and the harder it is to stop.
Phil Stutz, Lessons for living
The sooner you start seeing negative thinking as a force constantly working towards you failing, the better equipped you are to deal with it.
Monday - February 19, 2024
A sense of balance is personal, and it’s different for everyone. You don’t find it by trying to make everyone happy; you create it by taking a hard look at what you really want, and what it will take to have that in your life. Your life, no one else’s. If you’re worried about what’s “normal,” what others will think and whether they’ll approve, you’re done. Keep fitting in. Winners stand out.
Tim Grover, Winning
Finding your balance could mean realizing you don’t need one. Or that your definition of balance is entirely different from what you expected it to be. If you’re not there yet, keep looking.
P.S. Bit of a late one this Sunday, but I just got back from a weekend hiking, backpacking and camping in Wales. I might start doing it once a month. It’s a reminder to appreciate nature, all our comforts and time slowing down, thinking.