PERSPECTIVE

These are pocket-sized perspectives that I reference and share to break common spells of suffering.

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As humans, we have the unique ability to superimpose perspective onto our experience, to frame or color our experience. This is called metacognition, our ability to think about thinking. This ability distinguishes us from other primates and artificial intelligence. The following concepts help reframe how you interface with your reality.

  • It is important to separate our concept of reality from yesterday and tomorrow, they only exist in our memory and imagination. Yesterday is gone forever, every day is a new beginning, and tomorrow never comes.

    This concept allows us to explore experience with a renewed sense of freedom, curiosity, humility, and urgency.

  • Our fates are interwoven, we win or lose together. This challenges the me vs you movement, and it a great concept to apply across all relationships.

    Reserve competition for yourself only, and be selective when collaborating with others.

  • If we chase numbers, our sense of fulfillment gets further and further away.

    However, if we focus on making small, consistent daily improvements, the numbers will arrive on their own. Strive to become 1% better per day, every day.

  • Abundance is not something we seek, and it is not excess; it is the perspective that we already have more than we need.

    We will never acquire everything we desire. Desire is a cyclical state of being, it is not able to be satisfied.

  • If we want to consistently make sound decisions for ourselves and our community, we need to intermittently shut out the noise.

    Develop daily, chaos-proof grounding practices (i.e. breathing, walking)

  • Replace the desire to dominate a domain with the goal of becoming virtuous within it.

    The fuel of virtuosity is playful curiosity. Keep play at the center of all things and you will evolve organically.

  • Joy is the only direction that we need. Society has conditioned us to do things that we do not enjoy, in order to survive.

    To live joyfully is to go against the current. Hence, we find plenty of adversity and saboteurs on the while following a joyful path.

  • They stir, build, peak, and trough, only to be pulled back into the vast ocean. This cycle repeats so long as you are conscious and even as you sleep.

    Observe them from the shore, become a good swimmer, and do not drown.

  • Self-rejection is cancer is our minds.

    We do not need to be qualified for self-acceptance. Freedom is the absence of the desire for praise and the fear of criticism. Accept yourself exactly the way you are, and do it now.

  • The quality of our mind is a direct reflection of what we gift our attention to. Aggressively filter for what is not essential, and do not waste time. Time is non-refundable.

  • Sonder is the profound, sudden realization that every other being is living a life as vivid, complex, and chaotic as your own.

    This is invisible thread that connects me to you, and you to everyone else. I see myself in both your joy and suffering.

  • We are neither the images we wish to portray, nor the external perception of those images.

    We are streams of consciousness flowing through a fabric of space and time. There is no way to separate from the fabric, and there is no rewinding.

    We are a burning film that is moving in a forward direction.

  • Nobody else can do your work of becoming a better human being, and absolutely nothing outside of you can save you from what is inside of you.

    This is your only real duty.

  • When we make decisions from a place other than love, and we experience loss, we are left with deep regret.

    If we live centered in our heart, we will still experience pain and adversity but not regret. Love is the only path to living a beautiful and complete life.

  • Slow down! Be kind to yourself, enjoy your journey, love a lot, and do not wait to celebrate being alive. 99% of beings that ever lived are dead, we are blessed to be here now.