🤔 Morning thoughts (March 24 - 30)
Every Sunday I share a quote and a reflection on it for each day of the week.
Themes of the week: Self-mastery, Meaning, Discipline, Humility, Awareness, Identity, Effort
Sunday - March 30, 2025
"By fortifying your mind and body you become like a hawk, flying above all other birds who stay lower and out of the way; to do so is to be formidable without the need to give a show of power.”
True Path of the Ninja
The work you do on yourself is a more powerful show of force and respect than any outward action.
Saturday - March 29, 2025
“Warriors of the Light often ask themselves what they are doing here. Often they find their lives meaningless. That is why they are Warriors of the Light. Because they fail. Because they ask questions. Because they keep looking for a meaning. And, in the end, they will find it."
Paulo Coelho, Warrior of the Light
Measure your success by the standards you keep in the pursuit of meaning. Not by the vanity metrics along the way.
Friday - March 28, 2025
"When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you."
Tao Te Ching
It really is that simple yet most of us complicate it. You only realize you have control on your reality when you understand it starts with you. In a way you have to be selfish to be selfless, take to be able to give, control to set others free. But also own it all, even when it’s not on you.
Thursday - March 27, 2025
"It is your job to comport yourself humbly and to consistently hew to your moral ideals. Cling to what you know in your heart is best. Then, if you are steadfast, the very people who ridiculed you will come to admire you"
Epictetus, The Art of Living
Being humble means aligning your conscience with an attitude of service. When your focus is outward but your motivation is intrinsic, people feel a different kind of energy.
Wednesday - March 26, 2025
“Author yourself. You are a blank canvas. You get to paint your life by changing your actions"
Scott Adams, Reframe Your Brain
Just because you got where you are the way you did, doesn’t mean you can change how you’ll move forward. This flexibility requires a certain detachment and boldness. Progress is not cumulative but relative.
Tuesday - March 25, 2025
"If you want to shrink something, you must first allow it to expand. If you want to get rid of something, you must first allow it to flourish. If you want to take something, you must first allow it to be given. This is called the subtle perception of the way things are. The soft overcomes the hard. The slow overcomes the fast. Let your workings remain a mystery. Just show people the results."
Tao Te Ching
There’s a reason why you are where you are. Learn to see the subtle choices, and changes in trajectory that led you there, while keeping the results front of mind. Awareness and context make the master.
Monday - March 24, 2025
"Consistent action pushes you into a life where you don’t have to borrow from the Kardashian’s drama, where the question of meaning in life is answered by effort, where time works for us instead of against us."
Eschenroeder, Kyle, The Pocket Guide to Action
A bias towards action will never give you less energy or momentum. Learn to see movement as progress and trust you’ll have what it takes at each stage.