Gratitude
“Be thankful for what is, and also be thankful for what has not yet come to you. For that means there are still many possibilities available. Find peace in the thought that you can’t ever have it all or know it all either. You are always just a fraction of the whole. For if you weren’t, there would be nothing more to experience. Value what you know, and also value the countless things you don’t yet understand. For in what you don’t understand, there is the joy of growth.”
via Marc and Angel
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Agency
“Among the privileged, especially the privileged young, you see people who have been raised to be approval-seeking machines. They act active, busy and sleepless, but inside they often feel passive and not in control. Their lives are directed by other people’s expectations, external criteria and definitions of success that don’t actually fit them.
So many people are struggling for agency. They are searching for the solid criteria that will help them make their own judgments. They are hoping to light an inner fire that will fuel relentless action in the same direction….
…Agency is not automatic. It has to be given birth to, with pushing and effort. It’s not just the confidence and drive to act. It’s having engraved inner criteria to guide action. The agency moment can happen at any age, or never. I guess that’s when adulthood starts.”
David Brooks via NY Times
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Wrong Turn
“On the morning of June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo — an act that became the cause of World War I. The shooting occurred after the driver of the Archduke’s car made a wrong turn off a main street and into a narrow passageway, pulling right in front of Princip, a member of the Serbian terrorist organization, Black Hand. Princip recognized the passengers, drew his pistol, and shot the Archduke and his wife dead.
The Better Letter: Unintended Consequences by Bob Seawright
The resulting chain reaction proved catastrophic. Austria began planning an invasion of Serbia. Russia guaranteed the Serbs protection. Germany offered to help Austria if Russia jumped in, and so on.
World War I was on.
The favored narrative at the time — a future of peace governed by reason — was shown to be dreadfully and cruelly false. By the time the war ended five horrific years later, ten million people had died. Multiple competing explanations have since been offered as to why the war broke out. Beforehand, no experts were predicting an imminent conflagration of global proportion.”
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“Always remember that to argue, and win, is to break down the reality of the person you are arguing against. It is painful to lose your reality, so be kind, even if you are right.”
Haruki Murakami
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“Chipping away at something for years or decades can lead to a pile of dust or to a finely made and intricately tooled piece of art. It’s often hard to know which one you’re working toward.”
12 habits of highly productive writers by Rachel Toor
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Curious?
“The difference between smart and curious people and only smart people is that curiosity helps you move forward in life.
If you shut the door to curiosity. You shut the door to learning. And when you don’t learn. You don’t move forward.
You must be curious to learn. Otherwise, you won’t even consider learning….
…Or if I can put this into perspective, if you’re smart without being curious, you stand still while the world is changing. Which, basically, means that you’re falling behind.“
Why Curiosity Is Better Than Being Smart? by Ivaylo Durmonski
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As always, thanks for reading!
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