#156 Making the future just a little brighter

ByLukas
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A compelling vision of who I want to be doesn’t just guide my present actions and brings me toward a fulfilling future.

It also helps me deal with the suffering that’s part of living in a complex physical body with a complex mind in a complex society in a complex, uncontrollable world.

Because no matter how strong my vision or purpose is, and no matter what I do or say, inevitable hardship will happen anyway.

So if I know why I’m doing what I do, why I’m going where I go, and why I’m becoming who I want to be, then hopefully, when life gets rough, I’ll react in a better way.

I’ll trust myself to handle the unavoidable suffering.

I’ll trust myself to minimize how much I add to the suffering.

And that makes the future just a little bit brighter for me, everyone, and everything around me.

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    #8 Musenküsse

    ByLukas
    klimt-the-kiss-musenkuss
    Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss (1907-1908).

    der Musenkuss (German) The kiss of the Muse

    Creativity becomes much easier if you see it as a game of finding new ways of describing what has always been there.

    Observing, rather than inventing.

    It’s liberating. Because now the game changes from pulling ideas out of thin air to a game of discovery. Observation. Paying attention. Building upon what’s already discovered, then connecting the dots in way nobody else has.

    Most of all: listening, when the muse finally arrives and visits you for a kiss.

    There’s this voice in my mind
    Impossible to ignore
    And yet I fill my head with noise
    Drowning out
    What deep down I know to be true
    Do I even want to admit
    That this song in my heart
    Is not about me
    But about you?

    P.S.: I’ve observed the same principle in language learning (and wrote a book about the consequences of this mindset shift).

    Which begs the question…

    Where else would we do better if we observed a bit more, rather than trying to invent from scratch?

  • |

    #207 Overgeneralization vs Undergeneralization

    ByLukas

    Overgeneralization: I failed to stick to a new habit once, so I’ll always give up.

    Undergeneralization: Even though I’ve been writing consistently for months, I’m still expecting the day I’ll finally give up again.

    Both are manifestations of self-sabotage and perpetuations of a negative self-image.

    The only way out: don’t focus on habits, focus on Tiny Trust Builders.

    Let your actions be a vote for who you want to be.

    Let your actions overrule your thoughts.

    Let your actions change your identity.

    One day at a time.

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    #111 Your Purpose and Unique Voice

    ByLukas

    In writing every day, I find out what I want to say.
    And in writing every day, I learn to say it my way.
    I will never go astray as long as I stay on the field of play.

    You can’t start taking action after finding your purpose.
    You find your purpose by taking action.

    Neither can you wait to start creating until you’ve found your unique voice.
    Because your unique voice emerges from the daily act of creating.

    Envision, want, choose

  • #154 When results have become irrelevant

    ByLukas

    When technology and AI outpace us and we can’t be the best, smartest, fastest, strongest on the planet anymore – will we still care about our economic output?

    When results have become irrelevant, what are the things I will still want to do?

    Maybe we’ll rediscover value in our actions themselves and the pleasure and pain they make us feel – happy, sad, useful, worthless, brimming with purpose, overflowing with self-hatred…?

    Will I still write just because I enjoy writing, even if AI could write a better-researched, more insightful book than I ever could?

    Will I still learn a language just because learning a language makes me feel good, even if I could use an instant translation device to talk to anyone in the world?

    Will I still spend my days in an office cubicle if that’s a painful prospect?

    An era of soul-searching is coming.

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