⚡️ Enlightening Bolts

👁 End of Life Dreams: A hospice doctor makes sense of our final visions.  Read it here. 

🕊 Bird by Bird with Anne: Perhaps best known for her widely celebrated book on writing, Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott is one of the rare artists who can teach us not only how to write, but how to live.  Watch it here. 

🌆 Cabin's Network City: Coliving in nature for creators & remote workers.  Learn more here. 

🎇 Image of The Week

This 2.5-ton Geode is called the Empress of Uruguay. It's the largest Amethyst geode in the world.

🤔 Your Own Breed of Success

The internet abounds with individuals eager to share their advice, many of whom have achieved some level of success. They offer tips and tricks on emulating their achievements, but this guidance can be problematic for several reasons.

Firstly, they might not accurately pinpoint the factors that contributed to their success. They could attribute their accomplishments to a specific habit (e.g., doing X daily), when, in reality, other factors played a more significant role. This advice often overlooks the intangible qualities that they possess but are unable to recognize in themselves. These qualities can be difficult to replicate, and attempting to do so might prove fruitless.

Additionally, the path to success is constantly evolving. Even if their advice were accurate, the world has changed since they embarked on their journey, and the same strategies may no longer be relevant.

A common issue is the tendency to imitate the success of others rather than forging one's own unique path. Our life trajectory is determined by the interplay between our individual skills and the unique circumstances we encounter. What works for one person might be ineffective or even harmful to another.

Instead of piecing together a one-size-fits-all formula for success, focus on understanding your specific circumstances and identifying the opportunities that arise from them. Embrace the mythological significance of your life's journey and allow it to unfold naturally, rather than striving to attain a socially prescribed notion of success.

🧭 The Uncharted Paths

Enjoy these thought provoking words on how we spend our lives from none other than Steve Jobs:

"So to be a creative person, you need to "feed" or "invest" in yourself by exploring uncharted paths that are outside the realm of your past experience. Seek out new dimensions of yourself -especially those that carry a romantic scent.

But one has no way of knowing which of these paths will lead anywhere in advance. That's the wonderful thing about it, in a way.

The only thing one can do is to believe that some of what you follow with your heart will indeed come back to make your life much richer.

And it will. And you will gain an ever firmer trust in your instincts and intuition.

The enemy of most dreams and intuitions, and one of the most dangerous and stifling concepts ever invented by humans, is the "Career." A career is a concept for how one is supposed to progress through stages during the training for and practicing of your working life.

There are some big problems here. First and foremost is the notion that your work is different and separate from the rest of your life. If you are passionate about your life and your work, this can't be so.

They will become more or less one. This is a much better way to live one's life.

The risk factor quotient goes down as you encounter the real world.

Many people find what they believe to be safe harbors (lawyers and accountants), only to wake up ten or fifteen years later and discover the price they paid.

Make your avocation your vocation. Make what you love your work."

🤓 Learn This Word

Familect: a set of invented words or phrases with meanings understood within members of a family or other small intimate group

⏳ From The Archives

A hand-picked classic HighExistence article.

 The Mystery of Affirmations: Magic, Myth, or Misunderstood? 

Affirmations Disclaimer:

It’s asked at the beginning of every year: “So… any New Year’s resolutions?”

Many people are annoyed by this question, and until last year, I was one of them. Like most people, I start strong with my goals in January. By February, they begin to wane. And by March, they’re largely forgotten.

Last year I decided to try a technique that would only cost me 30 seconds a day and, if successful, would finally allow me to accomplish a goal I had for eight years.

The technique, as you may have guessed, was affirmations.

If you cringed at that last sentence, I understand. Affirmations are a controversial topic. For those who don’t know, affirmations are written and/or spoken statements that “affirm” your desires and goals. Example:

• “I, [your name], will make a million dollars within three years.”

Some people believe affirmations are a magical means to manifest money, sex, and happiness. They’ll tell you stories about how they’ve stated their desires to the universe and the universe provided — they bought the house they always wanted, they found their dream guy or girl, and they got a job that keeps them wealthy and creatively fulfilled.

Other people believe affirmations are silly New Age nonsense with zero scientific evidence backing them up. They’ll tell you that there’s no such thing as magic, and your thoughts don’t “jump out” into the universe. They’ll say you don’t shape or “manifest” your reality, you just make choices based on the options given to you.

I believe something else. I’m an open-minded skeptic who hates extremes, and I believe reality is far too complex for anyone to comprehend. The truth is we’re all extremely limited by our own experience, and people who blindly flock to extreme points of view are sadly misguided.

 [Continue Reading] 

🎬 Endnote

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