No, no, there is no going back.
Less and less you are
that possibility you were.
More and more you have become
those lives and deaths
that have belonged to you.
You have become a sort of grave
containing much that was
and is no more in time, beloved
then, now, and always.
And so you have become a sort of tree
standing over a grave.
Now more than ever you can be
generous toward each day
that comes, young, to disappear
forever, and yet remain
unaging in the mind.
Every day you have less reason
not to give yourself away.
Tag: living
Look back in memory and consider when you ever had a fixed plan, how few days have passed as you had intended, when you were ever at your own disposal, when your face ever wore its natural expression, when your mind was ever unperturbed, what work you have achieved in so long a life, how many have robbed you of life when you were not aware of what you were losing, how much was taken up in useless sorrow, in foolish joy, in greedy desire, in the allurements of society, how little of yourself was left to you; you will perceive that you are dying before your season!
Seneca. I’ll probably have a few more from this one soon…
Self-Direction « RyanHoliday.net
Think about how easy it has to have one more—to go beyond what you allowed yourself and have one more piece, one more glass, one more handful. And yet, think about how much harder it is to do one more—one more lap, one more page, one more hour, one more rep than you intended. There’s always rationalization on hand for the one and an convenient excuse ready for the other.
This is timely.
You act like mortals in all that you fear, and like immortals in all that you desire.
We live in what is, but we find a thousand ways not to face it. Great theater strengthens our faculty to face it.
THE NEW YORKER: Barry Michels’s & Phil Stutz’ Therapy Drawings
See also: “Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work.” -Thomas Edison.
40 Things I Learned in My First 40 Years – Bryan Caplan | EconLog
4. Obsessiveness is a powerful solution for physical and social problems. Unfortunately it’s also a major cause of emotional problems.
9. Your mind ages at a slower rate than you expect when you’re young, your body at a faster rate.
40 Things I Learned in My First 40 Years – Bryan Caplan | EconLog
People just wait for you to grow up and do the right thing. They’re just waiting for you to participate in the improvement of your life as a human being. When are you going to do it?
When I was younger I developed what I called the Baseball Theory of life. At that point the average life expectancy was something like 72 years. If you divide that by nine, it’s eight years an inning. Once you turn 32 you’re in the top of the fifth inning. At 36 you’re in the bottom of the fifth. It’s an official game at that point. You can’t mess around any more.
Chris Jones of Esquire (via dontdrinkfromthecarton)
Via mhsteger, a few of Sydney Smith’s prescriptions for low spirits, from a February, 1820 letter to Lady Georgiana Morpeth:
6th. See as much as you can of those friends who respect and like you.
7th. And of those acquaintances who amuse you.
11th. Don’t expect too much from human life—a sorry business at the best.
14th. Be as much as you can in the open air without fatigue.
15th. Make the room where you commonly sit gay and pleasant.
17th. Don’t be too severe upon yourself, or underrate yourself, but do yourself justice.
18th. Keep good blazing fires.
Abandon resolutions. Stop looking for a soulmate. Reject positive thinking | Science | The Guardian
I’ve come back to read this several times over the past couple weeks. (via)
Abandon resolutions. Stop looking for a soulmate. Reject positive thinking | Science | The Guardian
Besides, I am destined to perish, definitively, and only some instant of myself can survive in him. Little by little, I am giving over everything to him.
From Borges’ short story Borges and I, which, even though it’s so short, I’ve tumbled before. My reading of his work has been scattered (I picked up a few different collections to fix that), but it almost always hurts my brain in a good way. For the volume of imagination and inventiveness and ideas in such efficient form, I remain convinced that the right Borges at the right time can be more worthwhile than entire literature classes.
Abandon resolutions. Stop looking for a soulmate. Reject positive thinking | Science | The Guardian
I’ve come back to read this several times over the past couple weeks. (via)
Abandon resolutions. Stop looking for a soulmate. Reject positive thinking | Science | The Guardian
Besides, I am destined to perish, definitively, and only some instant of myself can survive in him. Little by little, I am giving over everything to him.
From Borges’ short story Borges and I, which, even though it’s so short, I’ve tumbled before. My reading of his work has been scattered (I picked up a few different collections to fix that), but it almost always hurts my brain in a good way. For the volume of imagination and inventiveness and ideas in such efficient form, I remain convinced that the right Borges at the right time can more worthwhile than entire literature classes.
Life gets a lot easier when you give up being outwardly sad about anything.
Colin Marshall. Still pondering this one.
Life gets a lot easier when you give up being outwardly sad about anything.
Colin Marshall. Still pondering this one.
Your ancestors set up those trophies, not that you may gaze at them in wonder but that you may also imitate the virtues of the men who set them up.
Demosthenes, quoted in Trophies « RyanHoliday.net.
The difference between potential and output comes from human qualities. You can make a list of the qualities you admire and those you despise. To turn the tables, think if this is the way I react to the qualities on the list, which is the way the world will react to me. You can learn to turn on those qualities you want and turn off those qualities you wish to avoid. The chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken. You can’t change at 60; the time to look at that list is now.
Warren Buffett on habits and being a better person. Ties in with some of my thoughts on a well-balanced life earlier this year. Write it down, check in every so often, re-calibrate as needed.
Mark Larson 