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    #303 Why you do what you do

    I don’t know yet what I want to say today, and I write anyway.

    I write anyway because it’s the only way to figure out what I want to say.

    I do yoga because it’s the only way to understand why yoga is important.

    I run because it’s the only way to figure out why running is worth it.

    I spend time with family because it’s the only way to understand why love is important.

    There’s no need to wait for reasons of motivation.

    You do what you do to figure out why you’re doing it.

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    #45 The tragedy of the spoken word

    Language helps us describe the world we perceive. Yet in doing so, it closes our eyes, our ears, our touch, and our heart to the parts of the world we don’t have words for.

    Every language is a lens on a felt reality within and around us – both clarifying and categorizing the world, and limiting it by the words it has available.

    Learning more languages gives you new lenses – and a richer sense of reality.

    But just like the structure of our ears limit the sounds we can hear, and the structure of our eyes limit colors we can see, the structure of any language somehow limits our felt experience of the world.

    How do we re-access memories, emotions, hidden away in a long-forgotten language?

    How do we re-learn to listen to the voices of the wordless world speaking to our animal self… the voices that once upon a time, before verbal language emerged, were all we had?

    there’s an eternal song
    drowned out by the confines of my mother tongue
    a wordless melody that once made sense
    until our brain started blurring it with a lens
    narrowing it down
    neglecting its nuances through verbs and nouns

    with all its might language wants us to abide
    but the wordless world it tries to hide
    will forever be inside

    Lukas Van Vyve
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    #352 You’re ready to take the first step

    You don’t have to feel ready to be a successful writer to pick up a pen or open a document and write today.

    In fact, you’ll probably never feel ready to be a successful writer unless you write today.

    This means, strangely enough, that despite how you feel in this very moment, you are entirely ready.

    Ready to take the first step.

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    #242 The accomplishments that slipped away

    Over the years, I’ve become quite skilled at letting present worries overshadow past triumphs.

    But what would it be like to let past triumphs overshadow present worries?

    And what would it be like to have present triumphs overshadow past worries?

    Maybe you know better than me, my friend. Or maybe it’s something you’d like to practice too.

    Here’s a journal prompt to get us started:

    What’s a forgotten accomplishment from your past that once filled you with pride but has since slipped away from your thoughts?

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    #126 Invisible ink tattooed on your mind

    Every promise to yourself is a contract in invisible ink.

    Jo Franco on the Not Your Average Jo podcast. I recommend you listen to this episode

    But it’s not because it’s hidden from view that it doesn’t carry any weight.

    Every broken contract with yourself goes on the pile of self-distrust.

    So don’t overextend. Don’t make promises to yourself that you can’t keep anyway.

    Start with a tiny contract with yourself. Then stick to the terms.

    Build trust every day through Tiny Trust Builders.

    Remember that the contract is made, so now is not the time to negotiate.

    Retrace the letters of that invisible contract every single day.

    Then, one day, the invisible ink is tattooed on your mind, and you’ve forged an unbreakable bond between your words and actions.

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