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Conquest of happiness

Bertrand Russell 

The world is vast
 and our own powers are limited.
 If all our happiness is bound up 
entirely in our personal circumstances 
it is difficult not to demand of life 
more than it has to give. 

And to demand too much 
is the surest way of getting even less
 than is possible. 

The man* who can forget his worries 
by means of a genuine interest in, say,
 the Council of Trent, or the life history of stars, 
will find that, 
when he returns from his excursion
 into the impersonal world, 
he has acquired a poise and calm
 which enable him to deal with his worries 
in the best way, 
and he will in the meantime have experienced
 a genuine even if temporary happiness

Secret of happiness

 Maria Popova

In my darkest hours what  had saved me again and again

Is some action of unselfing ,

Some instinctive wakefulness to an aspect of the world

Other than myself-

An helping hand extended to someone else's struggle

The dazzling galaxy just discovered millions of light years away-

Cardinal trembling of the tree outside the window


So to contact happiness of angry kind is

To be dissolved into something complete and great 

Something beyond the bruising boundaries of the ego. 

The attainment of happiness then is then less a matter of pursuit than surrender to the world's wonder 

Ready as it comes!!!


Position and possession

 A lone lion has an hunting success rate of only 15%. During a night hunt, their success rate can climb to over 40%. In areas with tall grass, they manage a success rate of over 50%, because they are able to get much closer to prey. 

They look for high probability successes- before giving the chase

Huge amount of patience waiting and watching for hours.- to find the best opportunity of chasing down the prey. 

Lions are king of beasts, but they not waste time in low probability chases. When hungry they do not run into the Savannah

And chase their prey randomly thinking

That they will just chase it down and get their dinner!!!

Lions Get into position first,  to have a higher probability of possession!!!

Now is there a lesson for us here?

A famous soccer coach said once to his student: you need to get first into position ,to get possession of the ball!

So a solution is to make the move. The puck goes where Gretzky is they say!

Anticipate...make a move....you stand better odds of possession! 

Deft footwork- like Gretzky or Tendulkar!

மனிதன்

 கண்ணதாசன் 

அர்த்தமுள்ள இந்து மதம் 

தொட்ட பின்பே பாம்பு என்றறியும் மனிதர்கள் 

சுட்ட பின்பே நெருப்பென்றறியும் அப்பாவிகள்

பட்ட பின்பே பரம்பொருளை நினைக்கிறார் !

தேடல்

 கண்ணதாசன் 

அர்த்தமுள்ள இந்து மதம் 

உண்டு உண்டு என்று அலைந்து 

இல்லை இல்லை என ஏமாந்து 

எங்கே எங்கே எனத் தேடி 

இங்கே இங்கே என்று கண்மயங்கி

ஆடி ஓடி  அயர்ந்து ஓய்ந்தேன் பராபரமே!!!

Who am I?

 Herbert Hancock 

Maria Popova Blog 


We usually define ourselves by what we do;

I am a writer 

Or I am a doctor 

Or I am a dancer 

Or I do construction 

That's how we define ourselves 

There's a big trip with all of that

[....]

We are not this or that thing 

That We define ourselves as!

The core of which we are is a human being, 

It changes everything

So music now,  I look at it from the standpoint of human being

And use that as the foundation. 

And then I use what I do to translate what initiates from my humanity 

Into musical terms

That why I am able to make every record be different

From every other record!



Civilization

 All the world's so called progress seems to be:

Bringing the following,At the flip of switch or opening of a tap

With scale and speed

  • Air - Fan
  • Water- Tap 
  • Fire - Cooking gas
  • Earth - House
  • Sky - Air conditioning,  lighting 
Now, does material abundance alone constitute civilizational progress?
What about the scale and speed of spiritual abundance?


Double down!!!

 Double down on what's working the best!!!

-James Clear

Focus on strengths!

Strengths multiply!

Find out the strengths

Based on what's working the best!

And make a list of what I need to do

This is the life of blueprint!

Not the life of Auto-pilot!!!

To crave the results,  but not to the process 

Is to guarantee disappointment!!!

James Clear


Prayer to the Lord

 Taittiriya Upanishad 

Pg.296

Lord, may I grow in spiritual wisdom

And may I have food and clothes and cattle,

May students come to me from far and near

Like a flowing river all the year

May i be enabled to guide them all

To train their senses and still their minds

May this be my wealth, 

May this be my fame🙏🙏🙏

My notes:

May this be my motto towards

Education and towards being a coach !!!

Deserve and then desire

 My high school soccer coach had a saying that I love:

 If you’re not in possession, get in position

Exceptional results

 "The 2-step process for exceptional results:

(1) Spend a little time each day thinking about the highest leverage activity available to you.

(2) Spend a little time each day working on it."

James Clear

Problem solving

 Problem solving 

More deliberation is needed in settling than propounding a problem

Seneca, letters from a stoic 

My notes:

Problem solving requires a deep state of mind as 

It involves both IQ and EQ .

EQ because you should not first become unsettled by the problem.

IQ because you need to deliberate upon the problem and find a solution towards solving it.

Problem solving = IQ *EQ


Value what you have

 Value what you have,

 not What you want to have!

Imagine that you lost something that you possess

Something today 

A purse, money or phone

See , how valuable you feel about it then!

Now start to assign the same value when you have it now!

Value what you have, not

What you want to have!


Stamp them with special labels

 Stamp them with special labels 

Seneca

Letters from a stoic 

Show me how I am able to see through this resemblance:

Enemy comes to me full of compliments disguised as friend;

Vices creep into hearts under name of virtue

Rashness lurks under the appellation of Bravery 

Moderation as sluggishness 

Coward is regarded as prudent;

My words:

Beware of the trickeries and word- plays 

Not to know does no harm

Mastering them does no good!



On attention!

 D H Lawrence 

Maria Popova Blog

If you live by the cosmos

You look into the cosmos for a clue

If you live by a personal god

You pray to Him

If you are rational, you think about things over

But it all amounts to the same thing in the end

Prayer or thought or watching the flight of birds

It is all the same process, ultimately of divination


All it depends on is the amount of true , sincere religious concentration 

You can bring to bear on your object

An act of pure attention,  if you are capable of it

Will bring it's own answer. 

And you choose that object to concentrate upon 

Which will best focus your consciousness. 


Every real discovery made   every serious and significant decision ever reached, 

Was reached and made by divination 

The soul stirs   and makes an act of pure attention, 

And that is a discovery 

[•••]

It is the same with the study of the stars

Or the sky of the stars

Whatever object will bring consciousness into a state of pure attention 

In a time of perplexity ,

Will also give back an answer to  the perplexity!!!

Solving for problems and opportunities

 Ability to think deep about a problem - 

Through writing,

and Finding the next actions 

is the most important thing to do!

Infact that is the only thing I can do!

Don't allow things to boil in mind alone!


Living Happily

 Mediations, Marcus Aurelius 

If you work at that which is before you

Following right reason vigorously, calmly

Without allowing anyone / anything else to distract you

But keeping your divine part pure,

As if you should be bound to give it back immediately 

If you hold to this, expecting nothing, fearing nothing,

But satisfied with present activity

According to Nature,

And with heroic truth in every word and sound you utter,

You would live happily!!!

Have a toolkit

 Marcus Aurelius 

Meditations

Like physicians who have always their knives and instruments 

Ready for cures which require their skills

So do you have to have principles for understanding 

Of things divine and things human

And for doing everything, even the smallest,

With a recollection of the bond that 

unites divine and human to one another!

For neither shall you do anything which pertains to human without having a reference to things divine

Nor the contrary!!!


The private man

 Theory of moral sentiments 

Adam Smith

The private man has no other funds to pay them for

But the labor of his body 

And activity of his mind

He must therefore acknowledge superior knowledge of his profession 

And superior industry in the exercise of it

He must be patient in labor

Resolute in danger 

And firm in distress!!!

Passion is one-way entry

 LoC i1018 

Adam Smith , Theory of moral sentiments 

“Love (passion) is commonly succeeded by ambition;

But ambition is hardly ever succeeded by Love”

That passion, when once it has got entire possession of the breast,

Will admit neither a rival nor a successor ;

To those who have been accustomed to the possession 

Or even to the hope of public admiration 

All other pleasures sicken and decay ;

Are you in earnest, resolved never to barter your liberty 

For the lordly servitude of a court,

But to live freely, fearless and independent?

There seems to be one way to contrive in that virtuous resolution- and perhaps but one;

Never enter the place from where so few have been to able to return 

never come within the circle of ambition 

Nor even bring yourself into comparison with those masters of earth

Who have already engrossed the attention of half of mankind before you!




2 different roads

 Theory of moral sentiments 

LoC 1078 Adam Smith


To deserve , to acquire , to enjoy the respect and admiration of mankind

Are the great objects of Ambition and emulation!

First road to attain above is by

Acquiring wealth, greatness , 

proud ambition,

ostentatious avidity, 

More gaudy and glittering 

That which forces attention of every wandering eye

And attract a great mob

But transient and fleeting!

Second road to attain above is by :

Study of wisdom

Practice of virtue

Humble modesty 

Equitable justice 

Beautiful in outline

Attracting scarce attention of anyone

Of even a small party

But steady and lasting!





Dealing with the Odds

 Not that I have accomplished perfection-but I want to do the best with cards I am handed over

William T Sherman


satisfaction comes not from perfection 

But in attempting to be the best with what was given! (Being resourceful!)

There are multiple paths

But to choose the optimal path

Is  the thoughtfulness

Rather than peering without direction 

Choosing to slow down with direction 

To give yourself 3 to 4 years

And optimise life over it

Not instant gratification 

But delayed one!

That is the way to deal with the cards handed over!


On self control and emotions

 Letter CXVIII Seneca

Letters from a Stoic

There is no vice that at the start is not modest

But afterwards the trouble spreads more quickly- widely;

Every emotion at the start is weak

Afterward it rouses itself and gains strength by progress

It is more easy to forestall it

Than to forego it!

All emotions flow as if it were from a natural source

From within! As a natural spring 

Nature has intermingled pleasure with necessity 

Not in order that we seek pleasure 

But in order that the addition of pleasure

Makes the indispensable means of existence 

Attractive to our eyes;

Should it claim rights of it's own

It is luxury!!!

Let us therefore resist these faults

Demanding entrance 

For it's easier to deny them admittance

Than to make them depart!

Ask no Favors

 What a great-souled action it is 

To be the only person 

Who is canvassing for nothing

Offering prayers to no man

And saying:

" Fortune, I have nothing to do with you 

I am not at your service 

I know men  like Cato are spurned by you

Men like Vatinius are made by you

I ask no favors"

This is the way to reduce the favor to its size

This my dear Lucilius

Is a noble thing

To canvas for nothing-

And to pass by all the elections of fortune!


Complaint against Stoics

 Pg 470 letters from A stoic 

Seneca

This is the complaint against the stoics 

"Your promises are too great

Your counsels too hard

I am a mere mortal

Unable to deny myself everything-

Cannot I sorrow a bit?

Can't I desire moderation?

Cannot I give way to anger a little?"

Do you understand why are you asking me this?

It's because you are in love with your vices

You prefer to give excuses rather than shake them off

The reason is - unwillingness 

The excuse- Inability!!!

( my note : oh my god! What a powerful last two sentences!!!)


The noble soul

 Pg 483 letters from a stoic

The noble soul, knows its better nature 

To take care to conduct itself

Honorably and seriously at the post of duty

Where it is placed

Counts - none of these extraneous objects as it's own

But uses them as if it were a loan

Like a foreign visitor hastening on his way-

And when we come across such a person- (noble soul)

How can we help being conscious of the image of a nature so unusual?

Evil mind

 Pg 483 

Seneca 

Letters from a stoic

The greatest proof of an evil mind is

Unsteadiness

And continued wavering between 

Pretence of virtue and love of vice!

A kind of wandering-off into opposites-

Changing plans and prayers- day by day

One day he imagines to be "would-be" King

And another time - really unassuming-

One time - he scatters money

Another time he steals it-


It is a great role to play

The role of 'one man'

But none can be 'one man'

Except the wise man! 

The rest of us often shift our masks!



Patience

 CXXIII letters from a stoic

Pg 491

A man who is patient

The real strength of mind he possesses

Is by viewing one's own troubles not only fairly but calmly 

Not flying into fits of temper

Or worldly wranglings

Supplying ones own needs by not craving 

Which was really due and 

Reflecting that our habits may not be satisfied 

But never our own real selves!!!!

Avoid trash talking

 Pg.492 ,Letters from a stoic- CXXIII

Seneca

just as you have attended a  concert

And then you carry about music in your head

Trash talk also leaves the seeds of trouble in the soul

And the evil which is sure to spring into new strength 

Follows us about even when we have parted from them

Accordingly  ,close your eyes against evil talk

And right at the outset too

For when such talk has gained an entrance 

And the words admitted in our minds

They become more shameless!!!