These are two things that I've started thinking about recently. Here I'm just reporting my observations and thoughts on them.
Mortality
This is a deep topic and I've started reading up on it and exploring it only recently. So I don't have a fair understanding of it. I am subscribed to a newsletter by Nathaniel Drew, whose content I enjoy watching on YouTube. He starts the newsletters off with a couple of sentences. He talks about Memento Mori, which is Latin for 'remember you must die'. It is an ancient practice of reflection on our mortality. This topic is a little uncomfortable for me to talk about, since obviously it points towards the negative undertone attached to death. Death is when everything ends and we no longer are in a position to walk around and do things we like. I've lived the longest part of my life thinking that I'll be around forever and so I postponed doing many things by telling myself that I'll do them on some other day, which never happened. But since I've been gravitating towards this idea, it is becoming clearer to me that there is no better day to do something than right now. It is helping me prioritize what is most important and lead a meaningful life.
Seeking approval
Here are a few reasons why I think we do this. Writing these down will hopefully help me become a better decision maker.
1) Our biology is inescapable. We have an innate desire to fit in, because right from the early stages of human history, we lived in groups of about 150 people, so fitting in and abiding by the norms meant having safety and comfort. So being left out is a fear all of us have ingrained in our brain.
2) If we fail, we use that approval as a guard against the consequences that follow. And blaming someone is much easier than taking accountability for our own actions.
3) Going the unconventional route exposes us to the unknown which is what our brains are wired to protect us against. So we take time to ask someone to guide us or give us permission, which we somehow think will help us battle those fears.
Some things that I've started doing
Let's get a little light hearted now :D
1) I'm getting better and better with my typing speed on the keyboard. Thanks to this daily practice of blogging!
2) I'm slowly understanding German. And it is crazy how learning new languages is something that I deeply care about. I loved learning Sanskrit. Now I'm learning German and Tamil.
Book highlights
These are coming straight out of the 5 AM club by Robin Sharma
1) A bad day for the ego is a great day for the soul
2) A child has no trouble believing the unbelievable, nor does the genius or the madman. It's only you and I, with our big brains and our tiny hearts who doubt and overthink and hesitate. - Steven Pressfield
3) Rest and recovery isn't a luxury for anyone committed to mastery. It is a necessity.
4) 2X3X mindset : To double your income and impact, triple your investment in two areas - personal mastery and professional capability.
Closing thoughts
I normally set a timer for an hour and then write. Today was the most difficult since I couldn't think of what to write for a long time. I spent half an hour finalizing on what I wanted to write about. I'm improving slowly in that area. Anyways, see you later. Bye!