fragility.........................

 

. . . the dissociative or abstract quality of children's television in general these days—makes it an ideal vehicle for psychological adjustment; for constructing and managing the kind of selves that society requires, without meddling interference from the nature of things. . . . when dumb nature is understood to be threatening to our freedom as rational beings, it becomes attractive to construct a virtual reality that will be less so, . . .With this comes fragility—that of a self that can't tolerate conflict and frustration.  And this fragility, in turn, makes us more pliable to whoever can present the most enthralling representations that save us from direct contact with the world.

-Matthew B. Crawford,  The World Beyond Your Head: On Becoming An Individual In An Age Of Distraction

the decadence has been noticed......

 

BMW, a company that until recently was exemplary in preserving the bonds between car and driver, now gives us fake engine sounds, piped into the car's sound system to enhance the driving experience.  I suppose one could call this auditory "information," but it doesn't inform one of anything.  When falsification is offered as a remedy for abstraction, we have the engineering equivalent of the last, desperate days of the Roman Empire.  Powdered mandarins glided about the Senate, ripe for conquest and slaughter.  This decadence did not go unnoticed by the surrounding barbarians, and a new chapter in history began.

-Matthew B. Crawford, The World Beyond Your Head: On Becoming an Individual in an Age of Distraction

intractable contingencies...............

Managing frustration by sidestepping the intractable contingencies of life is a growth industry; the demand for manufactured experiences is met by a growing economy of "affective capitalism . . . 

-Matthew B. Crawford, The World Beyond Your Head: On Becoming An Individual In Age Of Distraction

Ouch.............that stings.....

 

     more ouches here

Restless intelligence.......................

 

...................or whatever you want to call it.

an atmosphere of quiet.........

 

A happy life must be to a great extent a quiet life, for it is only in an atmosphere of quiet that true joy can live.

-Bertrand Russell

sense.......................

 The trouble with fiction . . . is that it makes too much sense. Reality never makes sense.

-Aldous Huxley

unintended.........................

 Don't aim at success. The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one's personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one's surrender to a person other than oneself.

-Viktor Frankl

Let it go....................

 

Whatever you fight, you strengthen, and what you resist, persists.

-Eckhart Tolle

Wisdom........................

 Life is unexpected and often unfair in many ways.

You can do all the right things and plan for a host of eventualities but sometimes it doesn’t matter. Life can get in the way regardless of your plans.

So you do the best you can. You save. You give yourself a margin of safety. You enjoy yourself today while planning for tomorrow.

Then you roll with the punches depending on what life throws your way.

-Ben Carlson, from here

Highly recommended..................

 

You can make someone's day better and your own day better with the same act of kindness and generosity.  And you don't need to be rich or flush with cash to do it.

Being curious and being a good listener are a big part of how to effectively utilize your relationships . . . it's only when you learn to soak up what those people tell you—not just let it go in one ear, out the other—that you truly begin to make yourself useful to others and become a resource yourself.

Curiosity.  Hunger for information. Being open-minded.  Putting your knowledge to good use.  This, it turns out, is a formula for anyone to create real, meaningful change . . .

None of us has ever done anything on our own when you really think about it.  We have always had help or guidance.  Others have paved or pointed the way for us . . .

. . . it's important for you to recognize that you have a responsibility to give back. To help others.  To send the ladder back down and lift the next group up.  To pay it forward. To be useful.

Remember......................

Opening cemetery scene from Saving Private Ryan

 

"busy".........................

 

Let me put it another way: busyness is bullshit.  We're all "busy."  We all have things to do every day. Obligations and responsibilities.  We all have to eat, sleep, pay the bills.  What does that have to do with putting in the work to reach your vision?  If it matters to you, make the time.

-Arnold Schwarzenegger, Be Useful:  Seven Tools for Life

In the background..........................

Lee Ritenour...............This Is Love album

 

no growth hack............

 

If there is one unavoidable truth in this world, it's that there is no substitute for putting in the work.  There is no shortcut or growth hack or magic pill that can get you around the hard work of doing your job well, of winning something you care about, or of making your dreams come true.

-Arnold Schwarzenegger, Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life

its normal crop........................

 

Nobody is surprised when a fig tree brings forth figs.  Similarly, we ought to be ashamed of our surprise when the world produces its normal crop of happenings.  A physician or a shipmaster would blush to be surprised if a patient proves feverish, or a wind contrary.

-Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 8:15

unlocking......................

Watching someone with a crazy goal give it everything they've got and then succeed is so powerful.  It's like magic, because it unlocks potential we didn't even know we had.  It shows us what is possible if we put our mind to something and then back that up with effort. 

-Arnold Schwarzenegger, Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life

unhappy is he..................

 No man is more unhappy than he who never faces adversity. For he is not permitted to prove himself.

-Seneca

naysayers.........................

 

When it comes to you and your dreams, the naysayers have no idea what they are talking about.  And if they haven't done the things you are trying to do, the question you need to ask yourself is: Why should I ever listen to them?

     The answer is, you shouldn't. You should ignore them. Or better yet, hear what they have to say and then use it as motivation. . . .

     You have a choice with the naysayers you face on the road to achieving your goals.  You can ignore them or you can use them, you just can't ever believe them.

-Arnold Schwarzenegger,  Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life