🤔 Morning thoughts (January 29 - February 4)
Every Sunday I share a quote and a reflection on it for each day of the week.
Themes of the week: inner action, shadow, hero, patience, creating, universe
Sunday - February 4, 2024
There’s a second kind of action we’re much less aware of. It’s called inner action. Just as outer action is meant to affect the world around you, inner action is meant to affect the world inside you. This is the world of your thoughts and feelings—your inner state.
Phil Stutz, Coming alive
The way you act on the inside influences the outside and vice versa. Changing your state is as active as going to the gym. It also requires the same level of commitment if you want to get results.
Saturday - February 3, 2024
"Each of us has all the great archetypal themes hidden inside. We all have the seeds of the heroic quest within us; we must live it out sometime, on some level."
Robert A. Johnson, Inner Work
When in doubt be your own hero. To your present and past self. So your future self can live it.
Friday - February 2, 2024
"There is an old idea that goes all the way back to the Stoics but was wonderfully expressed by the English poet John Dryden: Beware the fury of the patient man."
Ryan Holiday, Discipline Is Destiny
Being able to maintain your course is as active a skill as taking massive action or changing trajectory. You still need to exercise a muscle. Just a different one.
Thursday - February 1, 2024
The creator won’t accept that fate. Everything he does is with the intention of making an impact on the world. His code ensures this: He doesn’t accept the world as he finds it; he brings things into the world that aren’t already there. He doesn’t follow the herd; he sets his own course. He ignores the reactions of others. He resists superficial distractions. He remains focused on his goals even if he has to sacrifice his immediate gratification.
Phil Stutz, The tools
To create your own reality you’ve got to have a certain level of obsession and single mindedness. Some kind of refusal to adapt and accept the world as is. And the grit to face the constant work behind it all.
Wednesday -January 31, 2024
"Life needs a man to be fierce—and fiercely devoted. The wounds he will take throughout his life will cause him to lose heart if all he has been trained to be is soft."
John Eldredge, Wild at Heart
Your life will subject you to pain. It’s not a matter of IF, but WHEN. How prepared are you? You’ve got to have an aggressive part, always at the ready. One that’s also loyal to the cause. Whether that is your craft, or your mission, or your loved ones. Do not fear that side of you. Invite him in.
Tuesday - January 30, 2024
In general, human beings want to succeed in the outer world—build a successful business, say, or find a life partner. In contrast, the universe doesn’t care about our external success; its goal is to develop our inner strength. We care about what we achieve on the outside; the universe is interested in who we are on the inside.
Phil Stutz, The tools
How are you meeting the universe’s needs today? To align with the forces you cannot see or understand, work on becoming better.
Monday - January 29, 2024
“Many people declare with all sincerity that they are committed to their own integrity, while engaging in thoughtless or intemperate actions. They proceed willy-nilly, undercutting their otherwise well-intentioned efforts by failing to face themselves and to articulate a coherent personal moral code to which their future actions would conform. Don’t listen to what people say. Watch what they do and evaluate the attendant consequences.”
Epictetus, The Art of Living
Having clear values means facing and being honest with yourself. Values lead to clarity, clarity leads to character, character leads to actions.