Daily Path - Week 9

W9E1 - Power of framing and emotional antifragility

In episode "W4E4 - Power of framing", we introduced our ability to make sense of any situation as a very powerful tool for emotional stability or temperance: we always control the ability to choose the context, or the framing, of the events in our life. Today we'll revisit the power of context/framing/meaning making and its essential role in creating an antifragile emotional system. The frame of mind you pick will change how you go through life. Confidence can be boosted by any events in our life when the right frame is picked. Negative emotions can be seen as the agent to unlock great growth and resilience.

W9E1 - Context - Sunday at 6-59 AM.m4a

W9E2 - Mindfulness and purpose

You don't know what you'll think until you think it. Absence of free will. Each thought is like a wolf and eagle. There is still an impressive difference between happiness and suffering: There is still a lot of wisdom in removing our hand from a hot stove. Finding meaning is about finding reasons to be deeply immersed, fully present with each second of our lives and to find connections with other human beings. 4 states of mind/body. How to think about uncertainty: even bad things offer an opportunity for growth. This is a belief that is worth having. An algorithm that produces resilience and changes your conception of failure. We are all bad at predicting how good or bad events will affect us. Long term prospective. Remain process oriented. This moment does not, mean anything. Mindfulness is the capacity to break this spell and connect with the present moment.
This episode is inspired by the "Mindfulness and purpose" talk in the Waking Up introductory course (Waking Up - A New Operating System for Your Mind)

W9E2 - Meaning - Monday at 6-45 AM.m4a

W9E3 - Simplicity

Learn to enter into a difficult thing by the easiest route — Alan Watts
"Simplicity" by Rabbi Nachman (excerpt from the book "Crossing the narrow bridge" by Chaim Kramer)
The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have. — Vince Lombardi
“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ … You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” — Eleanor Roosevelt
“They tried to bury us. They didn’t know we were seeds.” – Mexican proverb

W9E3 - Simplicity - Tuesday at 6-32 AM.m4a

W9E4 - Cultivate Flow

Focus on simple things. Immerse your Self in beauty. Lower your cognitive load. 3-4 hours focused on one task in the morning are more than enough to have a productive day. Steven Kotler did it for the last 30 years. Dopamine can only be beaten by more, longer lasting, dopamine: fight the dopamine hit from phone's ring with the successes from long deep work tasks. Slow productivity by Cal Newport. Experiment for 2-3 weeks: Deep work gives more flow, more meaning, richer experience, you'll get more done. What seemed impossible will gradually become possible, probable and then finally inevitable. Your greatest asset is your ability to live large amounts of focused time each day. Progress is hindered by distractions.

W9E4 - Cultivate Flow - Wednesday at 6-49 AM.m4a

W9E5 - The Inner Authority

It takes great effort and awareness to tame our lower Self and bring out the best version of our Selves. The inner authority serves as the voice, the conscience of our higher Self. We need to increase the frequency with which we hear it and its volume. This voice tells us:
1) You have a responsibility to contribute to the culture and the times you live in.
2) To serve this higher purpose, you must cultivate what is unique about you. Not following this course is the real reason you feel depressed at times. Moments of depression are a call to listen again to your inner authority.
3) In a world full of endless distractions, you must focus and prioritize.
4) You much adhere to the highest standards in your work.
The inner authority brings you a sense of cohesion and force. You are not gnawed by the anxiety that comes with living below your potential. You move from victim to responsible.
"The excellent men makes great demands on himself, while the common man makes no demands on himself, but content himself with what he is, and is delighted with himself. Contrary to what is usually thought, it is the man of excellence ... who lives in essential servitude." — Jose Ortega y Gasset
Essential servitude: Being of service to something transcendental and actualize the best version of your Self. Restlessness is when the necessity of serving a higher purpose is lacking. It's a signal to strive for new ways of being purposeful. This is the noble life, the disciple way, the virtuous life. Living following the 7 cardinal virtues.
This episode is inspired by Robert Greene "Laws of human nature" - Chapter "Make them want to follow you: The law of fickleness" pages 469-472.

W9E5 - Inner Authority - Thursday at 6-31 AM.m4a

W9E6 - Recap

W9E6 - Friday at 7-10 AM.m4a