Some pre-birthday reflection on my core believes 👇
LOVE: In contrast to money, love is a resource that grows as you spend it and depletes as you keep it to yourself (Machado’s maxim). Fun is similar to love.
FAMILY: You have to think how to do family right; it doesn't just happen. Understand each house member, their hopes and fears, and figure out how you build a thriving ecosystem.
FEAR is our biggest enemy, the gateway to paralysis, hate, anger, and suffering (Yoda’s maxim). Embrace it without letting it take over you. Understand you are not your emotions. Realize that fear is a reflection of you, your values and perspectives, not the world around you.
OPTIMISM is the strongest weapon a rational mind has to fight fear. The future is fundamentally uncertain, other people’s minds are fundamentally uncertain. Optimism will help you move forward and discard what you can’t control.
EVOLUTION: Meditate on its magnificence. it is the scientific theory most likely to both humble and empower a person. How we treat ourselves, our sons and daughters and how we treat nature is our direct, tiny, yet significant contribution to evolution.
CIRCUMSTANCES: Your lot in life is part of who you are (Gasset’s maxim). The fastest way to change is to alter your circumstances. I am my circumstances + metacognition - my feelings.
HOW TO CHANGE: Key to change is learning. The main challenge to learning: it will always feel inauthentic. You need to define yourself as a learning being
EGO MANAGEMENT: The only value of the ego is because we assume the other values their ego. If no one values theirs, what is the value in mine? Ego is a bubble.
TO BE A GROWN UP: Never fool yourself, never fool others, and don’t let others fool you (Chabad’s maxim)
PERSPECTIVE ON THE OTHER: The death scenario. Assume everyone you know is dying - because they are-; you will care less what they think and treat them more compassionately.
MEANING: Reinterpretation of events and symbols. There is something profoundly powerful and lightweight once you accept everything is someone else’s narrative. This points to the absolute value of a human life as each of us is the owner of its own story.
GENEROSITY: Give your tithe, both in money and in time
