Reminders for myself

The joy in being open to experiences lies in allowing yourself to be changed by something unexpected.

“Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it ... he who doesn't ... pays it.”

―

Albert Einstein

On the train ride I repeated this line to myself, your allocation of effort determines your reality . Mastery requires effort sustained over time. The ability to make practice sacred through repetition. It’s the gardener, philosopher, writer, financier, artist, entrepreneur. Our roads, architecture, movies, books, music, everything beautiful in... See more

But there is no substance under the things with which I am clothed. I am hollow, and my structure of pleasure and ambitions has no foundation. I am objectified in them. But they are all destined by their very contingency to be destroyed. And when they are gone there will be nothing left of me but my own nakedness and emptiness and hollowness, to... See more

In my mind, pity isn’t even analogous to compassion. Pity is just the paternalistic cousin of contempt. It allows us to see others as “those less fortunate than ourselves” (a term I loathe). Pity keeps the other person at a distance and me in a rarified state of satisfaction.... Compassion, on the other hand, draws us close.