Reminders for myself

Effectiveness—in politics, and in life—relies, I think, on our ability to meet reality. I wrote this to remind myself of the cost of self-deception, and to commit to the kind of rigorous, unyielding honesty that makes one’s life and work better.

don't deceive yourself

Perfectionism has nothing to do with getting it right. It has nothing to do with fixing things. It has nothing to do with standards. Perfectionism is a refusal to let yourself move ahead. It is a loop—an obsessive, debilitating closed system that causes you to get stuck in the details of what you are writing or painting or making and to lose sight

An easy way to increase agency is to remove "problem" from your vocabulary and replace it with "puzzle". It sounds absurd but "problem" activates your amygdala and "puzzle" activates your prefrontal cortex. Try it. Self-induced placebo that works.

George Mack x.com

I know that limerence can be misleading. It can be the beginning of a good relationship, or a complete disaster. If someone feels like the answer to the question of your life, you might want to address the fundamental sense of lack that they are triggering.

Sasha Chapin • 50 Things I Know

Putting the idealism and pragmatism together is forever uncomfortable. Frequently the direction set by ideals means not taking the clearest practical path. More subtly, often as you go to put principles into practice, you realize that the ideal is not quite as simple as you thought when you started.

Sari Azout • Figuring it out, again and again

The parable of the second arrow is a well-known Buddhist story about dealing with suffering more skilfully. It is said the Buddha once asked a student,

‘If a person is struck by an arrow, is it painful? If the person is struck by a second arrow, is it even more painful?’

He then went on to explain,

‘In life, we can’t always control the first arrow.... See more

The second arrow - Mindfulness Meditation

you eventually reach a point where more reading won't fix you, more podcasts won't fix you, hoarding information left & right won't fix you you already know what you have to do, you just need to be brave

orph x.com

The goal of nonviolence is always winning the friendship and the understanding of the supposed opponent, not their humiliation or personal defeat. It must be done to eventually facilitate the process of reconciliation, and we ourselves must be willing to pay the price for that reconciliation.

Just a moment...

A great decision isn’t one where you avoid the bad outcomes and get the good outcomes. It’s one where you are who you want to be, no matter the outcome.

Joe Hudson x.com