Posts Tagged ‘life’

#Stoicism for Breakfast

Posted: December 24, 2023 in Stimulus Space Response
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Studying philosophy, specifically Stoicism has been a life saver for me.

I have found stoicism and a meditation practice go together like peanut butter and jelly.

Which is appropriate, since the most famous work of the most famous stoic in the history of the world is called “Meditations” by Marcus Aurelius.

The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday has been one of the best things I’ve ever incorporated into my life. The book, the podcast, and the YouTube videos. I strongly recommend any and all to any person who reads my words.

Listening to the Daily Stoic Podcast first thing in the morning was a staple of my routine for years when it was just a couple of minutes long. In recent years, especially the last two, watching a Daily Stoic video on YouTube with my morning coffee has been how I start my days.

It puts my head in the right place…along with the coffee of course.

The concept of we don’t control what happens to us, we control how we respond has been not just a game changer, but a life saver. That concept completely changed my paradigm of my life at a time when my life desperately needed that change.

Stoicism is no magic pill of course. No such thing exists.

Philosophy has been a tremendous aide. A wonderful tool in the tool belt of helping myself and developing as a person. A way to help keep my ego in check.

First world, capitalist controlled, consumer countries all have out of control, exploited egos by cultural design. We suffer for it because we can never have enough externally. Stoicism teaches that we already have enough, internally.

Ready to Do

Posted: December 21, 2023 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional, Stimulus Space Response
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You have the want to change.

You have to want help.

You have to decide your’e ready.

You in this case, means me, means us.

I like the spirituality concept that we are all one, or come from one energy source.

Energy, atoms, etc.

Ten years of work to become an over night sensation.

There is a lot of internal work to do before I was ready for external.

So much baggage to let go of. So much to strip away.

Expectation, validation, opinion, anxiety, depression, laziness.

There is a lot of internal work to do.

Philosophy, mediation, exercise, journaling, yoga, psychology, communication…

Then I’m walking from one room to the next and I want to do the thing.

No thought, no worry, no excuse, no waiting, I just wanted to do the thing.

Then I did it and wanted to do it again the next day and the next day.

Years and years of nothing, no thing. No action. No doing.

There was a lot of internal work that was done.

There is a lot of internal work to do.

But I am grateful for the process.

I am grateful for the journey.

Some say that’s what life is…

First Drafts, Second Steps

Posted: December 20, 2023 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional, Stimulus Space Response
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Seeing this image helped something click in my brain.

Call it writer’s block, perfectionism, procrastination, or just being human.

I didn’t want to write, or do much that required effort. Why?

Well what if I fail. What if I don’t get anything out of it.

External. Ego.

The work is the win. It’s about doing what I love doing. Time well spent.

Who cares if it isn’t perfect, great, good?

It’s time well spent, because I like doing it. It’s part of the process.

Everything starts out bad. Every person who was great started out bad.

No exceptions, ever.

We all have to learn.

We have to learn how to live and survive, let alone thrive or specialize.

So it’ll be bad at first and down the road, if I stick with it, hopefully it will be better.

It still might only be me who ever reads these. But that’s fine too.

There’s genuine value in going through the motions.

The value is building beneficial habits.

It’s Okay to Start Again

Posted: December 19, 2023 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional, Stimulus Space Response
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I was going to start blogging again in May. I was inspired to write about one of the graphics that come up at the end of a Daily Calm mediation on the Calm app. I pinned the post to my Facebook and LinkedIn pages. I opened up an account on Medium. I wanted to write online again.

I journal daily or every other day. More consistent day to day, or bi daily journaling is one of the 2023 New Year’s Resolutions I actually stuck to. I’ve been writing but I stopped thinking about blogging again. I blogged regularly for years. That stopped when I started on a new path in life. The month before I moved was the last time I blogged.

I’ve thought about starting again a few times. This was going to be the year. The meditation blog/blurb was in May. It’s December. I was going to start again. Halfway through the year I was going to start again. Now the year is over.

So I’m starting again now. Not waiting for the new year. I’ll still put it on a resolution list. I’ve been making those simple and doable in recent years and sticking to a handful each year. So I’ll put blogging on the list…again.

I love writing. I love to write. I love to learn new things and write about them. I have wanted to write about the things I’ve learned on subjects like fitness, philosophy, spirituality, supplements, nightlife, psychology, and human nature for years now. Post an image or a quote or a link to the thing that inspired me to write, and blog about it in order to share it with the world. Not for clout or fame or attention. But for the good stuff. The deep stuff. The stuff that connects us.

And that’s why I’m writing and posting this. This is essentially a typed out journal piece to myself about starting again. A piece of content that I can look back on hopefully a couple dozen, a couple hundred or a couple of thousand blog posts down the line, and cringe with laughter.

But maybe one person reads this an feels like it is okay for them to start again too. Because it is okay to start again. For any reason. At anytime. It is okay to start again. No one is watching, no one cares, we’re all focused and busy living our own lives, focused on what we’re doing individually, so you might as well do what you want to do anyway.

I want to write. I want to share my writing. I want to write about the things I learn in life that help make me a better person. The things that help keep me sane. The things that help me get through hard times. I want to write about the things that help me live. For the good reasons. To help others, while helping myself.

Sharing means caring after all. What’s better to share than help? Sharing what helps me get through this thing called life. Sharing ideas. Sharing art. Sharing my…gift? Sharing what I love. Sharing, that it’s okay to start again.

Are Parisians Worth More Prayers than Other Terrorist Victimns?

Posted: November 15, 2015 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
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By @anarchyroll
11/14/15

What is a life worth?

Which lives are more valuable than others?

What makes a life or a group of lives more valuable than others?

There has been so much justified sadness and anger at the terrorist attacks on in Paris. But ISIS has been killing people by the hundreds in the Middle East for quite a long time now. The war in Syria has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and displaced millions, literally millions of people.

The news media has reported these facts. The refugee crisis in the Europe grabbed plenty of headlines. President Obama has spoken about Syria publicly. Russia’s direct and indirect involvement there has been international news more than once. But public outcry, sadness, and prayers have been at a minimal if not absent from the discourse completely.

Over 100 dead civillians is a big number for a terrorist attack. It is a tragedy. It is sad. It is horrible in every sense of the word. But why are those lives worth more attention and mourning than the hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths that ISIS has contributed to in the Middle East?

There’s no right or wrong answer. These questions are not being asked from a pedestal. But they are questions worth asking and worth thinking about in between news updates from the blood stained streets of Paris.

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