On Tuesday, on the drive back home I called Dad and talked to him for a little bit. He spoke about how he wanted to leverage the Public Book Vault that I've created for myself and shared and have takeaways for himself. He wants to create something similar for himself for the books that he's read and that he wants to read. He also suggested some books that I add to my list, some of which were written by or about eminent Indian historical figures. Definitely looking to continue to get a variety of perspectives in the content that I consume - one of the major takeaways coming into this year based on feedback. But, lowkey, I think my dad is inspired lol. He didn't explicitly say it the other day on the call but he's mentioned he's proud to see the progress that I've made and is always providing ways to potentially improve my content, mindset, and lifestyle. Glad to know I have support! It's cool to see and hear other people be inspired, or at least pause and think, about me. I've noticed that they're not inspired by what I'm saying necessarily. They're inspired b/c of what I'm doing. I don't even need to say "I'd recommend doing this and that" when they haven't asked. All I need to do is show my progress every day, be pure-intentioned, humble, confident, and truthful, and the act of being inspiring just comes naturally. Showing literally every day in the process of being 'an overnight sensation 10 years in the making' is going to be unfathomably valuable.
Something else I've noticed is that energy can manifest itself in different ways. One particular way is through questions. Usually, if I ask a question, not just in my mind but verbally as well, I find that it's usually answered at some point. Or even a thought. I think the common thread there is the intention. Actually, that's probably the right answer lol. If I have a pure, benevolent, straightforward, loving, unassuming intention, whenever I have a thought, then the associated effect is bound to happen, by the Law of Karma. Whether that thought occurs, it is just the energy manifested as an idea, statement, question, etc. That imprint of that thought will be the cause of some manifestation of energy expressed as another thought or word or deed, which itself is the cause of another thought, word or action, and so on. So basically, life is just testing you if you can radiate positive energy and intentions continuously. Pretty simple lol. The thing with being positive energy is that I have to be aware enough to know what my intentions are and potentially sense others' intentions. It's a matter of tuning out the noise and listening to our truest self. When I can continue to perceive things of my mind, body, and spirit in a more focused manner, I can be aware of how my intentions and energy are changing on a minute-by-minute basis.
With that in mind, here are some questions I was thinking about the other day. Who was I in my past lives? What Karma have I accumulated over all these lifetimes? How do I phrase something as my belief when I talk to ppl even if I know it to be a Universal truth? How do I use my eclectic, analytic, synthetic, dialectic philosophy and apply it to the physical world? All questions that I now have varying degrees of answers to. In no rush to answer them, but intentionally putting them out there. I'll receive the answer when I'm ready to with my deal state of relaxed alertness.
As I was reading Meditations Book 1 the other day, there were several moments, phrases, quotes that just resonated more with me. One particular phrase was him describing his adopted father Antoninus Pius as "inaccessible to flatter." That's such a powerful statement! I love that word - inaccessible. Nothing; no situation can access his egoistic sense when others try to flatter him. Sublime! Within that same paragraph is a sentence that I didn't know I related to so closely until I read it. "The things that contribute to the comfort of life, of which fortune had granted him copious supply, he used without ostentation, but also without apology, so as to enjoy them unaffectedly when they were at hand, but to feel no need of them when they were not." His father, who Marcus is again portraying, lives comfortably but if it were all taken away, he himself wouldn't change much. I myself have purchased more things as I've explored more areas of myself and my lifestyle, productivity, fashion, etc. But if I were reduced to just one suitcase, living in an impoverished area, with all the reason to be down I don't think I'd be too much of a different person. If anything, it'd give me more perspective on life. Obviously, I don't wish that on myself or anyone. But if it were to happen, I think I could come out of it stronger. I adjusted very quickly to life a a yurt (yes with all the amenities and such) and could live there if I wanted. I like staying in nice hotels and resorts but if need be, I can survive in the villages and towns of India with rudimentary, bucolic lifestyle. Again, this is not actual poverty or homelessness, so I'm blessed enough to be speaking from a place of privilege. Very seemingly underrated phrase from the book though.
As I continued reading and contemplating at the lake, I discovered a key concept. Everyone knows and has heard of "It's not what you know, it's who you know." But there's an extension of that. In my mind, "It's not what you know; it's not even who you know. It's how you know and why you know." In exercise for example everyone knows that exercising is good for a myriad reasons. So then why do some people do it and others don't. If I ask myself, 'how do I know exercising is good?' or 'why do I know exercising is good?', I don't even have to give any health facts to support my claim. I know because I've experienced and lived it. Both sides. Months at a time of not exercising and a workout streak like I have now. It's actually transcended a streak. It's even gone past a habit and become a part of my identity. I can read as much as I want, listen to as many 'valuable' podcasts as my ears will sanely allow, but until it becomes a part of who I am, I haven't learned anything.
The reason valuable is in quotes is because everything is valuable. I can listen to an episode of How I Built This and try to replicate how the founder may have approached building their business. I can also listen to an episode of Alex Jones or Tucker Carlson and learn equally as much, if not more. Perhaps about the psychology of why right-wing TV personalities have such strong adherents, or what emotions they play on to convince viewers to coalesce and take a call-to-action, or variance in their speech intonation to captivate their audience, or hear their stance on an issue and form my own informed opinion. All that has objective value. The overlap in both these cases is that in addition to having objective value, it's actually latent and potential value. The value is not fully realized until it becomes a part of your identity. That of course takes time, but I'm being more patient with what I'm learning and giving more energy to how and why I'm learning. Am I deeply pondering on the subject at hand? Am I asking questions that can help me ask even better questions? How am I practicing a concept for this piece of content? With this understanding, I could theoretically put on queue any content that I wanted, knowing I could get something out of it. I'm aiming to be more intentional than that thought, since I have a vision of who I want to become and how I want my identity to be sculpted. That way, it's just so much easier to say yes and no to things that I encounter on a daily basis.
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