The ability to deliberately manipulate the way our own minds work and the degree to which they work is maybe what separates us from other animals. That’s the reason our ineffective, pornographic education system wrankles me the way it does.
But that’s not the only reason I’m sharing this excellent video of Ken Robinson’s talk about education.
The real reason is that his way of...
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A bunch of people are pissed off with me about saying drugs are cool, which is a perfect opportunity to write about thinking and feeling.
I’ve talked about the paleomammalian brain before: the part of us that evolved before our frontal lobe. The part that’s ruled by passion, and won’t let you eat Chinese food anymore even though your comparatively emaciated neocortex wants you to....
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People who are trying to improve themselves by thinking about the way they think often ask the questions:
What’s wrong? and How can I fix it?
Which is a more useful tool than thinking about nothing and doing nothing. So honor yourself for that.
But they say what we focus on becomes our reality. So when we focus on all our problems, our self image becomes a collection of problems in various stages of...
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Epiphany: you can learn what to expect from people by finding out what they expect from people.
1.
Everyone models other people as anomalous versions of themselves.
I once walked from the tower by the river where I used to work to get sushi with Brad, the guy who sat in the cube across from me picking his nose all day instead of writing software.
We passed a craggy-faced man who smelled like a rancid...
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I think everyone should do drugs at least a couple times. It’s not super important which drug you choose, but maybe MDMA or psychedelic mushrooms would be a good choice. (Do your research if you take me seriously, these are relatively safe drugs, but they do interact badly with certain preexisting conditions just like any medicine).
The reason is that the world we live in is so terribly convincing....
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This is the first episode of a British show called How TV Ruined Your Life. I’m sharing it because it drives home the point that the influences we subject ourselves to deeply influence our perception of the world. TV is the pet example here, but remember that it’s one of many....
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Update: I called Erica “a millionaire entrepreneur” in this interview, but she corrected me, clarifying that while she did sell her hosting company for $1.1 million when she was 26, she is not a millionaire. Buying companies is more complicated than buying a candy bar in which you get a whole candy bar for cash up front. She’s still damned impressive, but some people are pedants, so...
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You are perfect and complete.
This has happened to me twice now, so I need to share it. The first time was with a Christian missionary in Kansas City. The second time, exactly like the first, was with a Hare Krisha devotee in St. Augustine. I like the second version better.
Giorgio (like Giorgio Armani, he said. I met him once, in Rome, he said.) approached me on the street and told me I should consider...
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This video is awesome because Brené teaches you how to be vulnerable and fearless, empathic and passionate. It touches on most of the subjects I talk about on this blog.
She teaches us to love ourselves and create deep connections with other people. She’s talking about basic human needs, she’s talking about our reason for existing.
You need to watch this, it’s 20 minutes well-spent....
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What you believe becomes your reality. When all women are bitches, and all guys are assholes, and money is nothing but stress, and business is hard, then you’re going to end up a stressed out bitch surrounded by assholes slogging through a hard business.
But it works the other way too. My expectation that the people in my life will fill me with light and energy is a self fulfilling prophecy because...
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