read this when the mind is loud

Aldous Huxley on approaching life with lightness, even in the face of difficulty:

"It's dark because you are trying too hard. Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly. Yes, feel lightly even though you're feeling deeply. Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them. I was so preposterously serious in those days, such

Obvious to you. Amazing to others. Any creator of anything knows this feeling: You experience someone else’s innovative work. It’s beautiful, brilliant, breath-taking. You’re stunned. Their ideas are unexpected and surprising, but perfect. You think, “I never would have thought of that. How do they even come up with that? It’s genius!” Afterwards,

On a small level, it can be that little nervous moment, when you’re scared to talk to someone intimidating. You notice you’re scared. Aha! Whatever scares you, go do it. So you go talk to them. On a big level, it can be that huge terrifying idea that won’t go away. Starting a business. Visiting a country. Quitting your job. Whatever scares you, go

M: Because he has been conditioned to believe that if he does X, Y, and Z . . . he will attain the thing he is trying to attain. He fails to understand that the X’s, the Y’s, and the Z’s serve only themselves. They do not serve the thing he is trying to attain.

If you keep thinking about doing something big, and you fnd that the idea both terrifes and intrigues you, it’s probably a worthy endeavor for you. You grow by doing what excites you and what scares you. 130 sive.rs/passion

Haruki Murakami on how our challenges shape us:

"And once the storm is over, you won't remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won't even be sure whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won't be the same person who walked in. That's what this storm's all about.&q

Comparing up versus comparing down: Your happiness depends on where you’re focusing. The metaphor is easy to understand, but hard to remember in regular life. If you catch yourself burning with envy or resentment, think like the bronze medalist, not the silver. Change your focus. Instead of comparing up to the next-higher situation, compare down to

If you ever want to have peace in your life, you have to move beyond good and evil. Nature has no concept of happiness or unhappiness. Nature follows unbroken mathematical laws and a chain of cause and effect from the Big Bang to now. Everything is perfect exactly the way it is. It is only in our particular minds we are unhappy or not happy, and th

I created the environment that made them feel they had to lie. I mistook their neutral behavior as betrayal. I made it more appealing for them to disappear than to communicate. It felt so good to think it was all my fault! This is way better than forgiving. When you forgive, you’re still assuming that they’re wrong and you’re the victim. But to dec