Erlank Pienaar
@erlank
•leave•no•path•untaken•
Erlank Pienaar
twitter.com
The examined life
What if our worst qualities are actually our best? Recently I listened to an interview with Irish theologist and poet John O’Donohue from 2006 in which he asked what would happen if the things we hate about ourselves, the qualities we despise and can’t stand, are actually the best things about who we are. It was a powerful reframe... See more
What if our worst qualities are actually our best? Recently I listened to an interview with Irish theologist and poet John O’Donohue from 2006 in which he asked what would happen if the things we hate about ourselves, the qualities we despise and can’t stand, are actually the best things about who we are. It was a powerful reframe... See more
Good Billionaires and the Last of Silicon Valley’s Original Founders
When up is down…
The most intelligent men, like the strongest, find their happiness where others would find only disaster: in the labyrinth, in being hard with themselves and with others, in effort; their delight is in self-mastery; in them asceticism becomes second nature, a necessity, an instinct. They regard a difficult task as a privilege; it is to them a recre
... See moreWriter and designer Edith Wharton, the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize, on what causes old age:
“The producer of old age is habit: the deathly process of doing the same thing in the same way at the same hour day after day, first from carelessness, then from inclination, at last from cowardice or inertia.
Habit is necessary; but it is the habit ... See more
“The producer of old age is habit: the deathly process of doing the same thing in the same way at the same hour day after day, first from carelessness, then from inclination, at last from cowardice or inertia.
Habit is necessary; but it is the habit ... See more
3-2-1 Thursday newsletter - James Clear • 3-2-1: How to Connect With Others, What Causes Old Age, and the Recipe for Success
Traveling light means high uncertainty, but also high flexibility, high opportunity. Habit is hanging on, possessed. Letting go of possession(s), become light and open to possibility.
"Things became a lot easier when I no longer expected to win. When you
understand that, you abandon your masterpiece and sink into the real
masterpiece." - Leonard Cohen
Authenticity shines, insecurity shouts... Bricks and mortar. Make good bricks. Have ready mortar. Humbly, the house rises. Build slowly but surely. The first house, you were born into. Good, bad, otherwise. The second house, you build yourself. Probably lopsided. Relax, the present determines the past, you’ll see ;) It gets better as you go along. Once you know it to be so. It takes a while, stay with it. The sand you stand on now, was your parents rock, then. Sand is in bricks and mortar; all’s connected. Find your own site, the rock of you, build there. It becomes the sand for the bricks your kids will be made from, and will make themselves and their world of.
On the importance of tacit knowledge and why reality has a surprising amount of detail. Without some kind of direct experience to use as a touchstone, people don't have the context that gives them a place in their minds to put the things you are telling them.
The things you say often don't stick, and the few things that do stick are often distorted
... See moreYou are caught in the river of life’s expectations. For you to be alive and knowingly flow with the stream of consciousness, riding the crest of the wave into the future of creation becoming aware of itself through your courageous exploration and the difficult assimilation of life’s lessons, traumas and all. Hanging on to excessive, heavy, indulgen
... See moreI was a film geek. Film geeks don't have a whole lot of tangible things to show for their passion and commitment to film. They just watch movies all the time. What they do have to show is a high regard for their own opinion. They've learned to break down a movie. They understand what they like and don't like about a film. And they feel that they're
... See moreWriter and scholar C.S. Lewis on what why small choices matter:
“Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance. The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never d... See more
“Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance. The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never d... See more
James Clear • 3-2-1: Two ways to grow, how to criticize, and a simple recipe for finding good opportunities
Poet and writer Joseph Brodsky on how to deal with the critics, detractors, and negative influences in your life:
“Try not to pay attention to those who will try to make life miserable for you. There will be a lot of those — in the official capacity as well as the self-appointed. Suffer them if you can’t escape them, but once you have steered clear ... See more
“Try not to pay attention to those who will try to make life miserable for you. There will be a lot of those — in the official capacity as well as the self-appointed. Suffer them if you can’t escape them, but once you have steered clear ... See more
James Clear • 3-2-1: What Top Performers Do, and How to Deal With Critics and Detractors
Un-Trolling Your Life