Wisdom Journal
Personal Musings
Don’t expect external conditions (your job, society, etc.) to inspire you. “I’m not passionate about what I do” is a disempowering belief and a choice. Get clear about the stories you tell yourself, and bring your passion to your work (and everything else you do) - every day.
You must be rigourously introspective while simultaneously being unrelentingly self-compassionate.
Be careful what games you choose to play. If you play stupid games, even if you win, you’ll win stupid prizes.
Where can your personal resources (time, energy, attention, money) be best invested in order to yield the results you’re looking for? Does your bank statement and calendar activities match what you say is truly important to your life?
Don’t mindlessly follow empty platitudes like “Follow your dreams and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.”
Make personal mastery a high priority at a deep level because that’s the foundation of wise choices and actions.
Success is living purposefully and in alignment with one’s goals and values. It’s about the ongoing joy of experiencing life through a lens of genuine appreciation and wonder. Happiness can be fleeting unless we make the effort to savour beautiful moments.
Success and life enjoyment is not about some imagined “I’ll be happy when,” but rather how we pursue adventure and achievement while loving where we are right now.
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No, non-attachment does not lead to laziness and lack of ambition
While fear, social comparison and desire for things, people and status do drive us, I believe true intrinsic motivation comes from much more, such as:
Focus on a mission
Passion that comes from self-efficacy produced through many hours of deliberate effort
A sense of commitment to a meaningful purpose
If fear, envy and greed are your only motivations not to be lazy you’ve got a bigger problem on your hands.
The discipline is to look at your anxieties and keep the aspects of them that actually help (probably very little) and let go of the rest. Enjoy and appreciate what you have, but don’t make your happiness conditional on them. Being non-attached means making the most of what you have and aspiring to greater things without depending on them for your ongoing emotional well-being.
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The Artisan Mindset
“Takumi, literally translates as ‘artisan,’ describes the spirit of craftsmanship that pervades Japan’s traditional arts, from screen making to kimono dyeing … It’s a term that encompasses the sustained dedication to a singular task whose reward is not the product, but the opportunity to share one’s passion.”
- Jacques Marie Mage Journal article
This idea is inspirational to me because I believe this sort of craftsman’s mindset of extensive deliberate practice and honing knowledge and skills over a long period of time is what leads to mastery. And mastery of this sort opens the door to meaning and fulfillment.
My principles of living the artisan’s life:
Simplicity
Appreciation
Awareness
Knowledge
Dedication to my craft
Service to others