If we truly sit and think. Practically and technically all we really seriously have is the NOW. The past is just memories. The future is possibilities. But right now. Is the one where we get to actually do something. 

Yesterday’s the past, tomorrow’s the future and today is a gift. That’s why it’s called the present ~ Bil Keane

The day you feel like you know everything is the day you stop growing.

Stoics remind us to always be a student of life and all of its different subjects because there’s always something you don’t know !

If it’s not as per your plan, it’s as per the Universe’s plan. And the universe’s plan? Well it’s far bigger & better than your plan!

Some days when things make absolutely no sense remember that it will all make sense one day coz steve jobs said it right – we can only connect the dots looking backwards!

“Nobody does wrong willingly” ~ Socrates I.e. no one who does wrong actually thinks they’re doing wrong. In their mind they’re right otherwise they wouldn’t have done it.

All this is to say that everyone has their own perspective and justification for things. What helps best to reach a solution is to see the situation from their shoes to then understand their motive behind doing it and help them find another way to reach that goal in the right way.

Each of us is grinding our noses to the ground to earn a good living. Why? The end goal is only one – freedom. A life free from where we always have enough to wade through uncertainty. But the subtle irony is that the more we earn this means of freedom the less free we are – to speak our minds / to wear what we want / to be who we are – lest we shall offend someone. 

P.S. : I didn’t resonate much with today’s message because if we are living in this world then we will be restricted by the rules of the game. Maybe the msg is to see how detached to the game can we be such that we can be happy with / without it

Someone at work once told me, live your life as if someone is always watching and this has stuck with me. We do shameful things many times when we’re alone because we think it doesn’t count because no one is around. But can we have a guide in our mind that can act as our conscience poking us each time we’re about to do wrong?

P.s. Cato the Younger, a Roman politician best known for his self-discipline and for his heroic defense of the Republic against Julius Caesar, appears constantly throughout Stoic literature-which is interesting because he didn’t write anything down. He taught no classes. He gave no interviews. His bold and brave example is what made him such a commonly cited and quoted philosopher.

A very simple message: Your friends either go through the inner transformation with you or drift out of your life.

Some relationships dissolve, others deepen. Never force a connection no matter how young & wild. No matter how old & wide. If you lost them they were never meant to stay and most likely you’ve risen above their level or vice versa.

Similar to the message of freedom. We always protect our bodies from the cold, from dirt & dust. From rain. From fire and heat. But do we take the same caution in protecting our mind ?

Our 5 senses are like the horses of a chariot. They all have a mind of their own and want to take lead and go in their own direction. But. When they do take their own charge, neither any of the horses nor the chariot gets to go anywhere, let alone the destination. So. All the senses need to be used as tools to make our chariot move where we want them to instead of letting them take charge.

Remember. Our emotions , our senses are all informational tools

Today is about the age old ratio we have been taught. 2 ears : 1 mouth.  Stoics are reminding us to keep that proportion in mind and follow it so. Especially in public , listen more and talk less.

Remember, the one who listens has the opportunity to gather more information not just through what is being said but also through the gift & opportunity of observation of what is left unsaid too!

The message is simple today –
There are no free lunches.

Every single thing even if it is free has a cost. Even if the cost is that of storing it – either in our minds or houses or garages.

So before you pick/ add anything to your life make sure to evaluate whether it’s actually useful to your or not and whether it’s actually worth the price you will pay for it.

We maybe technically free from our British oppressors for decades but are we truly free ?

We are emotionally mentally enslaved in more places than we know. We accept mistreatment from an authoritarian because they provide us our livelihood/ we look at sugary foods and can’t help but grab a piece / we constantly vie for a persons affection or attention

True freedom is when we can constantly live with the knowing that we are whole and complete in every single moment and there is nothing that anyone can take from us or give to us that can change who we really are!

Today Stoics are sending us a reminder to connect with the wholeness within in the now and look at how our problems dissipate !

The world is filled with contradictions not just on the outside but also on the inside where we are constantly faced with competing desires (eg. wanting to get fitter but also wanting to have a dessert after dinner everyday).

But truly the outside contradictions disturb us only when our inner conflicts are unresolved. Stoics today are asking us to focus within and work on accepting and integrating all our versions and contradictions to avoid disintegration on the outside

Each of us is capable and worthy of WAY more than we can ever estimate. But the path to getting there begins with creating a true self portrait of where we completely stand. To know what we can and can’t do.
This isn’t about demeaning oneself but about taking an accurate practical look at what we have and what we currently don’t have so that we can get it.

It is said that an animal is said to be self aware when it is able to fully recognise itself in the mirror.
The stoics are asking us to do the same. They’re telling us that true philosophy begins when we can be fully aware of ourselves. Meaning, when we can constantly be aware of why we did/said something we did. Especially in moments when we become irritated / angry / perturbed.

Can we ask internally – why did I just do that and be very compassionate, loving and gentle to what ever is the answer ?

Bob Proctor always said that desire is a beautiful thing and that we should never settle and stay at the feeling of satisfaction.
I mention this line from him at the cost of being deeply and grossly misinterpreted! But still – I fully trust that my TSK fam will give it their best shot to understand before judging!🤗

The very purpose of our existence is for the universe to constantly explore itself through expansion and that is possible only because of desire. Because – Desire leads to invention, discovery and creation.

With that in mind Returning to today’s msg from the Stoics –
The desire to “have it all” is great and very much possible. But what is also great is to be able to prioritise, to be able to continually calibrate and shift between those priorities seamlessly. And constantly be able to ask – what’s most important right now?

Just like a child who pushes their hand down a glass jar to grab lots of goodies cannot get the hand out full without losing something but they can get all the goodies out if they took one at a time, we must also keep reminding self that it is ALL POSSIBLE if we take one step at a time and prioritise well !

We all go thru days when the inspiration just isn’t there and everything feels bland and boring. The real truth behind is actually this – it’s not that the inspiration isn’t there, it’s actually us that’s not there.

It means we’re out of alignment, disconnected from the source of all energy. The art is always there, it’s the artists that keeps going in and out.

So the next time you feel like the day couldn’t get any worse, remind yourself that it isn’t the day, but your feelings that are getting worse and all you need to do to change the course of the day is change how you feel and plug back in to the source.

How? By taking a pause, breathing, getting conscious and present in the now, realising that you are the soul, untouched and unaffected by anything.

When we hate something we keep it active in our vibration the same way ghat loving something does. Both hate and like carry energies. It is indifference or neutrality that carries balance and in ways no energy.

So if you want to get rid of something don’t hate it. Be neutral to it. Have no opinion about it. Solid example is people creating wars to find peace. It’s never going to happen. What you resist persists.

If you ever look at the colloquial meaning of Stoicism it comes down to being able to be emotionless or always carry a poker face. These do not mean numbing out or not expressing. But remaining neutral within.

The Gita has a beautiful word for this that I absolutely love – Equanimity or Sthitopragna which means staying the same in every situation. Never too happy, never too sad.

There’s something that a friend once said to me “Every person is responsible for maintaining their own reputation”.
Today I am reminded of this through today’s message where the Stoics say that the angriest person spewing slangs and curses on us is responsible for their own actions and words, it might be tempting to want to correct them, to fight back, to tell them that they’re wrong. But all that ever does is drain us.

When a person is overly emotional, the part of the human brain that understands reason and logic is completely shut down. And hence there is never ever any way to get through to an overwhelmed/angry / sad person through explanation and logic.

Lao Tzu says respond intelligently to even unintelligent treatment and so a better way in those situations is to stay silent when the other is behaving unconsciously.

But. Just because we are intelligent doesn’t mean that we don’t have emotions didn’t feel angry and hurt in response. It does mean that we can discern where and when to allow them an outlet.

The book shares Abraham Lincoln’s trick of writing angry letters to people who did him wrong but never sending them. Similar to this is something I like to do – I like to take a piece of paper write down all things I wanted to say to them (in that state of anger) and then tearing and throwing it away. This helps me to safely release my feelings without ever making a scene.

The message is that of transience. We came to this planet alone with nothing but our spirit and that’s how we will be leaving too. We will be burnt to the same ash and blown away in the same wind and buried in the same ground as the people that have come before and those who will come after us and also the same as the ones that we hate so much.

This message might not always make immediate practical sense in our not-so-fine moments but it does have credit to remind us that everything is temporary and all we have is the now.

Even in angry and sad moments if we can say “this too shall pass” then it somehow does diffuse the intensity

All things and situations are fundamentally neutral. It is our perceptions and the stories we create about those situations that are positive or negative. The same slangs said by a passerby on a street mean nothing but if said by our partner elicits anger and hurt within – why? The situation was the same but how we relate to the situation was diff and hence our reaction to it was also diff.

The moral here is that the only harm that can be done is by our mind and own interpretation of the things that are in front of us.

Can we choose to see things as they and not as we are ?

The situations and circumstances we face in life have absolutely no care about how we’re feeling in the moment, whether we’re in the mood for them or whether we think we have the bandwidth or the capacity to face them. They will come irrespective. And often things go south all together, all at once when they do! Stoics are telling us that when the our circumstances don’t care about us, why should we get mad because of the situation and care about it?

In short the reminder is to keep our locus of control inside !

“Better they not blame my life. I begin to speak only when I’m certain what I’ll say isn’t better left unsaid.?”
~ PLUTARCH, CATO THE YOUNGER, 4

It’s easy to look busy. You maybe doing 100s of things and looking like the most important, in-demand person in the world but not yield any results because none of those actions were planned/ thought through in line with a goal in mind.

We’re all always under pressure to not look “useless” and hence we end up just doing whatever seems ok in the moment. But stoics are reminding us to not give in to that pressure. Take that extra time, sit in silence and plan well before acting.

“..where our heart is set, there our impediment lies…” ~ Epictetus

What we desire makes us vulnerable. Not because that thing is bad, but because it unknowingly places the locus of control outside of us on something else. Which means that I will be happy when I have that. This doesn’t mean that we stop wanting things/experiences. But only reminds us to want them fully, but need them lightly.

Remember, you DO NOT NEED anything, you are already whole and complete. So you can want anything the world, but you do not need it!✨

Desires are great. They are necessary. Without them the world we live in wouldn’t exist. We wouldn’t even exist without desire!
The Stoics only message here is to just pause before giving in to every one of them.

Some desires are meant for growth and others are meant as a test to check whether we fall or stay still.

Just like at a banquet we wait for the hors d’oeuvres to come to us rather than chasing the server around the hall no matter how hungry/hangry we are, in life too restraint is important! The more “desperation” we feel/display for something the farther it runs away from us (be it our children, spouse, a client, dream job/position). The key is to practise restraint and let go.

Each time you feel like you NEED it. Stop. And tell yourself – this is a banquet, I will not snatch/ chase. I will wait for it to come to me so that I can gracefully pick up my well deserved share!✨

We can never know what’s going to happen next, all we can do is prepare for the storm.

Just like weather forecasts are not exactly accurate but give us signs enough to allow us to prepare for the worst, life too gives us signs when a challenge is headed our way and in those moments it is our prerogative to be prepared (by staying connected to the higher one, praying, mentally affirming that we can do this, keeping ourselves grounded & calm and away from negativity).

A very profound message of cutting the correlation between our goalposts and the joy we feel. Yes ofcourse when we achieve something we’ve been dreaming of forever we feel extreme joy but the Stoics are reminding us to also ensure that we can be happy even on the days when we don’t get what we want.
That way we never need to wait for “that promotion” “that body” “that pay check” “that income” to feel good.

And the true secret is that all the things that we seriously desire are on the frequency of joy and we must first be on that frequency of joy too before those things can come to us in a blessed way that will last forever.

Always carry the attitude of: What is there is enough, what is not there was never required.
Along with: Grateful for what is there but Eager for more!

Stoics are reminding us to always pick our battles.
Somethings may seem irritating or irksome but in the grand scheme of things that hardly matter and so it makes more sense to do it rather than haggle about why you shouldn’t/don’t need to do it.

Very very classic example is: when our parents ask us to do something like going to the temple/ praying a certain way/ following a certain ritual/ eat a certain fruit. Sometimes it makes more sense to conserve energies and acquiesce rather than haggle with them about why it’s a stupid idea! 😅

We suffer more in our imagination than in reality.
Our imagination is the incredible capacity to add vivid details to whatever we want – whether real or not. Sitting on the third row our mind can bring us to the point of a panic attack by making us worried about what 2 friends in the first row might be discussing about us.

Stoics are reminding us that most of what we worry about never comes to pass. But. From the fake comes real consequences because Worry is a prayer for what we don’t want.

So before you get on that worry train make sure to check whether the track is only 1 possibility out of a million (most times it is) or not. If the answer is a >50% yes then make sure not to get on!

Our mind contains ALL the knowledge, information, ideas we will ever need to live the life of our dreams and yet we all have had days when we’ve come back home only to ask ourselves “what the hell was I thinking?”/ “why did I do that?”

This happens because along with our mind there are several other influences that work alongside – like our emotions, the thoughts & emotions of those around us, the energies of our surroundings.

The stoics hence are asking us to always “take a pause and think through what we’re about to say/do” so that we can be sure that what we’re doing is the mind’s direction and not that of others.

You wait the whole week for your cheat day to eat unlimited ice cream, pizza and that deeply crispy fries! You eat everything possible and then all of a sudden out of nowhere this big sense of guilt hits you like a gunshot! And right then and there you don’t feel like even looking at any of that food, all you want is to go back to your regimented eating with foods properly portioned out!

This is one of the classic examples of pleasure turning into punishment!
Desire isn’t bad, in fact is the starting point of all things we see around us. But, what we must consider is the end result of that temptation!

Once we start practising going to the dead end of a desire the moment it arises, we can learn to easily discern between which ones to pay attention to and which ones to sideline

This is a big one!
The Stoics are asking us big questions to evaluate what really drains us and what fills us up.
They are asking us to be ruthless in cutting off things that drain us and not be afraid of making BIG changes.

Why am I hanging out with friends that only bitch about others ?
Why am I at a job that makes me absolutely unhappy?

This actually really is a very very very important issue in my opinion. It defines the quality of our life and our entire future. And it should begin in small ways –

⁠-muting groups that have only negative news/ thoughts/ fights

-distancing ourselves from friends that bring anything but joy

⁠-working on hobbies along with the job that we hate

Many a billionaire have become modern life tyrants and many a trillionaire have turned out to be blessings from the divine.
It doesn’t really go to prove that money & power have an absolute correlation to corruption & tyranny. It all boils down to who we choose to be as individuals. Despite being the richest of the world for decades Warren Buffet still is said to be driving the same car and living in the same house and donating wealth. So the most important thing with money , wealth & fame isn’t really in those things inherently but how we choose to treat those things and other ppl once we have those things .

Stoics ask us who do we choose to be ?
Hero ? Or Nero?

P.S. Nero was a grave tyrant and was the pupil of Seneca the great philosopher

Anger like fire is a great servant but a bad master. While it does spring one into action and give the much need kick start to a person stuck in a rut might need, it is just that. A kick start. It cannot be the source of all the fuel needed to make us reach our goals.

Because that kind of anger is always short lived. It can get you through the door but cannot make you stay. Hence what has been started using anger as the fuel needs to find another plug point to sustain its completion.

For me, there’s so many things I’ve initiated when someone belittled me and challenged me and told me I couldn’t do it, but after each of those initiations I made sure to sit down and ask myself “why” am I actually doing it. And that is what has helped me take the full benefit of my anger

In a world full of influencers, thought leaders where everyone has an opinion on everything, Stoics encourage us to have the confidence to have no opinion!

Sometimes it’s alright to be the NOTA crowd where we can say “I don’t know”/ “I don’t care” / “I have no opinion”/ “I am indifferent”. This helps us to stay free of the clutter and unnecessary noise

The emotions we feel create chemicals inside our bodies. Each time we feel a certain set of emotions – that particular cocktail of chemicals is released and with time our bodies get addicted to these chemicals like a drug. Hence many times we may go thru situations where there’s nothing really wrong but we’re still not able to feel fine because our body is asking for that chemical cocktail. When we go thru any situation of pain/ discomfort/ anxiety, the Stoics ask us to stop and ask “Is this making me feel better?”

Most times the answer will be “no” because the reactions we give are most times simply our body craving the “drama drug” 😅

Everything we see/ experience around is a manifestation of what we feel at any given moment. Every moment is malleable upto the last millisecond and things can be turned around that quickly

So when we fear, we are constantly sending out signals asking to be shown things to be fearful of, turning it into a self imposed threat Fear isn’t useless but it does need to be regulated and reasoned with.

Tip: It helps to treat our fear/ anxiety as separate people and give them names and talk to them like we would to a worried friend.

Being busy for the sake of being busy is simply a distraction.
It’s a distraction from things that are wanting to come out but being overlooked because each time it tries, the mind requests for some stimulation (food/sleep/entertainment) and we acquiesce.

Being busy is good only when it is for the right reasons, otherwise it is best to sit tight and do nothing.

We have 5 senses (touch, taste, smell, sight, hearing) and each of these create impulses constantly. The high human always has a filter (vision of life, their goal, values) through which their impulses pass and acting on impulses is a complete choice.

Then there are others whose days are ruled by their impulses and their life is a complete roller coaster.

Stoics ask us to always be the high human and make that filter stronger with each passing moment. There’s also a 6th sense – our intuition/ether power – that I like the best and consider that it rules over all other senses. If one can strengthen this sense, their life becomes a gift to the world! This sense can be easily instantly activated through Prayer, and Surrender.

Mind you these are 2 EXTREMELY practical tools and not spiritual gyan.

(Ask me how to pray and surrender – more than happy to share techniques!)

No matter what awaits us, there’s no better preparation than a calm mind. ~ Shreans Daga

Stoics refer to something called Prohairesis. It translates to “Faculty of Choice”. In every moment you get to choose how you feel and to become so invincible that nothing outside of yourself can change how you feel.

This is best illustrated in how celebrities handle nosy reporters/ interviewers. They hold such fantastic capacity (through immense PR training) to handle the most personal/difficult questions with grace and moving on!

I find Taylor Swift to be one of the wittiest people alive and her interviews are absolutely on point. She has been horribly harassed for her dating history and every interview has been a probe mission into that but the grace with which she has handled it all each time!🙌🏼

Watch it here!

No matter what awaits us, there’s no better preparation than a calm mind. ~ Shreans Daga

Stoics refer to something called Prohairesis. It translates to “Faculty of Choice”. In every moment you get to choose how you feel and to become so invincible that nothing outside of yourself can change how you feel.

This is best illustrated in how celebrities handle nosy reporters/ interviewers. They hold such fantastic capacity (through immense PR training) to handle the most personal/difficult questions with grace and moving on!

I find Taylor Swift to be one of the wittiest people alive and her interviews are absolutely on point. She has been horribly harassed for her dating history and every interview has been a probe mission into that but the grace with which she has handled it all each time!🙌🏼

Watch it here!

If we’re anxious we’re living in the future and wanting something which is outside our control.
While anxiety plays its role in keeping us on our toes and not missing deadlines, Stoics tell us that we need to keep it under its permissible limit by always asking “Is this anxiety doing me any good?”

We think we’re independent people living our own lives, earning our own money. But we aren’t truly independent and free if we see a plate of cookies in front of us and cannot help but take a bite or when someone insults us we cannot help give a rebuttal and prove them wrong.

True independence is when we can be free from the control of our impulses and have the freedom to choose whether we want to act on them or not.

Anger is the shortest and fastest route to ruining all plans and leaking every single ounce of energy we have.

Mind you, this doesn’t mean that – anger is “bad”, “should be suppressed”. Anger if used correctly is a great fuel and is a signalling mechanism telling us when our boundaries have been crossed. What we do next with that signal is actually a reflection of how well we know how to tackle our anger. Do we just give in and burst out letting it all rip / do we process it, feel it fully and ask what it’s trying to tell us and then take action?

The mistake ppl make with anger is of giving in to it and burning out and then anger can become our most trusty friend!

Studying philosophical/ spiritual concepts is like dusting out an apartment or like our daily shower.
As we live life we get caught up in its complexities and everyday a little bit of stress keeps accumulating like dust.

This is all completely expected. The only thing we forget to do is to clean that dust. That wipe cloth for stress is daily practises of meditation and regular studying of these concepts. Some really fantastic books that I’ve found to be food for the soul:

You can Heal your life by Louise Hay

Your souls plan by Robert Schwartz

⁠Good Vibes, Good life by Vex King

Stoics rightly say that we do not need to absorb any of the CONSTANT information overload coming at us from every single direction. All we need to know are facts NOT information/heresay/predictions that directly impacts us/loved ones and that is all. We do not need to know what policy is currently running in Zimbabwe unless it directly helps us. We must limit the way information reaches us. Some ways to control:

-keeping notifications off post 9pm

-grouping news notifications to show up together at one at a particular time in the day

-looking away from screens that are not yours/switched on by you

For all the other things we can’t control: Essential to learn is the skill of knowing what to absorb and what to ignore!

This is one of my personal favourites and something I regularly chat about with many of my friends on the topic of why I don’t like to watch the nightly news telecast! My personal favourite belief I’ve embedded in me and it SERIOUSLY works for me: Everything I need to know always makes its way to me. Because of this, I never turn on the news channel and somehow I am updated on all the important stuff always!

Take every task at hand as your very last and give it your 100%.
If you’re with a friend, put your phone down and really deeply listen.
If you’re at work, forget everything else.

There’s immense freedom that comes from giving your all to what’s in front as it allows us to catch a break from our overthinking monkey mind.

A guru/ a guide/ mentor in life is a must if you plan to get higher than you’ve been before.
One can have different guides / mentors for different aspects of life – one could for health matters / one could be for money matters and another could for how to navigate office dynamics and so on.

While we all know the benefits of having a mentor some things to keep in mind while recognising someone as a mentor:

-make sure that they have your best interests at heart (this will be evident through the first few instances you interact with them and by checking whether what they offer has no gain in it for them) – this is really important because sometimes you have to share things which are extremely personal / confidential

-your guide should always empower you with facts, motivation and information always teaching you how to take the final call and never ever telling you what to do

-no matter happens you must always keep a thin line between trusting them blindly and following what they say no questions asked. The final say should always be yours and there is no better guide than your own intuition!

Discernment between desires. Desiring is a human’s basic nature. There will be desires as long as we’re alive. The question is whether we are capable and wise enough to decide which desires to pursue and which ones to let decay.

Clarity of ⁠Intention. Are you donating ₹10Lac to a charity to have your name lauded as a philanthropist in next month’s magazine issue or are you donating because you actually care for the cause ? Two acts absolutely identical but the intention makes all the difference what will happen as a result of the act.

Judgement. Judgement is prioritisation, clarity of thoughts & values and discernment. This I believe is the cornerstone of the first 2 points because without this there is no direction.

Every successful person that we admire moves with utmost clarity on what they value, want and what matters to them all areas of life – money, relationships, health.

The ones who’re doing great usually have 3 top priorities (one from each bucket above) and their life is majorly about those 3 priorities interchanging places depending on the need of the hour. All else is fluff for them!

Do each of us have our top 3 crystal clear?

Words went uttered aloud are like spells. They actually carry power in them to manifest. A mantra is a set of sacred carefully strung word put together to invoke specific energies.

Mantras are utterly useful when we are faced something uncertain which is beyond our logical mind’s comprehension or when our king is lacking clarity.

Some wonderful mantras which are top of my list!

Om Mani Padme Hum:
For when you’re feeling disconnected, hard-hearted or overwhelmed by difficult emotions. It invokes the energy of compassion, kindness and an open heart.

Om Namah Shivaya:
For when you’re going through a period of change, confusion or inner transformation. It invokes the energy of surrender, purification and transformation.

Om:
For when your mind is noisy and you feel scattered or disconnected. Simply chanting Om can help you become still, grounded and connected to the larger field of consciousness.

You don’t necessarily need to know exactly what to ask for. Sometimes just choosing the mantra whose energy you need and repeating it with awareness is enough to shift something within. ✨

This one is about 2 things I feel –

First about utmost clarity in priorities so that everything else that is not important can safely be overlooked and not worried about when something happens to them

Second about knowing that the more you desire the more you are entangled but I think it’s more about desiring things intensely but with a sense of detachment so that we can work towards them with playfulness & freedom and be at complete peace even if it doesn’t work out.

The true prize is actually what lies within rather than anything which is supremely expensive and outside!

While being jack of all and master of none maybe helpful at a networking event to start conversations with all kinds of people, what actually reflects sincerity and authenticity in a person is the depth of someone’s knowledge in a field even if it is just one!

This also reflects humility and grace when the person is faced with other subjects and can confidently say “I don’t know much more on this”.

Read little (maybe just a page a day) but make sure it sinks.

Again a slightly differing views from me personally –

I believe that something sinks only when put into practise and something can be put into practise only when we remember what was learnt in the heat of our weakest moments. For that recall to happen one must constantly read and expose ourselves to many many texts of the same concept – books on the subject showing different angles of the same thing by different times and authors Sometimes repetition is more important than getting it right and in the process we end up getting it right! That way recalling concepts becomes second nature once you’ve read it enough number of times!

Well expressed through this quote:
“I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer.”
~ Jim Carrey

Stoics are asking us to review the day that went by every night before sleeping because the planning of the future happens on the basis of what went by in the past and it’s important to review it to know what went must tweak in our plans.

They ask to keep a journal and answer questions like “what did change today?” “What bad habit did I curb today?” “What can be improved?” And so on every night before sleeping.

This is what we’ve been trying to achieve through TSK Journalling Edition and I’m so happy the Stoics are reinforcing it too!

My version of this is Morning Pages – 3 pages of stream-of-consciousness longhand every single day first thing when I wake up.

I invite each of you to give this a try in your way. Maybe you could do afternoon thought dump/ or do it at night like the Stoics!

What do you everyday within the first 2hrs of waking?
Scrolling/ checking emails/ brushing/ having warm water/ showering / working out
Whatever it is, those set of activities if you notice are always in the same order every day and that right there is your morning ritual.

The question then isn’t “Whether you have a morning ritual or not?”

It is “What are the things that are part of your morning ritual?”

Reflection
Sometimes it only takes a little bit of a push (like this msg) to take 1min to rewind and review what you have turned into a ritual without even realising.

Can you edit your rituals – if your unconscious ritual is to check your phone immediately on waking then why not keep your phone away from your night stand so that you can check it only when out of bed ?

Tiny shifts like this can create a huge difference in the quality of our lives!

We live every minute burdened by the things that have happened yesterday, last week or last year but what we forget is that the past exists only in our mind and we have the choice to press RESET every single second & millisecond. Someone said something hurtful? Take a breath, pause, create distance, press reset and come back to the moment with grace once again!

A fight over lunch should never translate to cancelled dinner plans.

We each have the freedom of failure and the liberty to start over as many times as we want!

Things keep happening around us and the only thing that gives us peace and clarity is the knowledge that we own our choices. We may not own how ppl will react to things we do/ what they will say/ see, but what we do have the liberty to choose.

To choose-

-whether we react or not

-whether we allow something to affect us

⁠-how we see the situation

-what we make of what has been said

Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. We all have heard this line but rarely do we apply it. (I mean we apply it when others complain about us and not when we complaint about others😝).

There is beauty in every small detail like the ripening of a fruit, the flow of a river, the rains, the cracking of the dough while baking to form a bread. We need to look through a poet’s / an artist’s lens to see the beauty.🌟

The world is a beautiful place to be in✨. We have been bestowed upon with an opportunity to experience this lovely world so let’s try to live this life with grace and harmony.😊

Reflections:
Life is short. So let’s just enjoy the time we have instead of complaining about things or people. Let’s try to look for the good instead of cribbing about the bad.😊

Perfectly summed up through this quote:
Knowing is better than wondering, waking is better than sleeping and even the worst and greatest mistake beats the hell out of never even trying!!

Stoics are asking us to just take the FIRST STEP. They want us to know that once we do, the rest will follow because we are never ever alone and guided by masters, teachers, angels (visible and invisible) always around us and ready to catch us right before we fall!

So, Have faith, and JUMP!

Reflection:
Ask yourself right now: “What will I feel if I were on my deathbed RIGHT NOW?”

Sometimes we just do things without thinking, without realising, what we are doing. We do it subconsciously out of our habit. It may not be the right thing to do but we justify ourselves by saying that we have always been doing the same thing. We should pause and reflect on whether we doing the right thing. We can look for ways to improve.

Reflection:
Today, let us try to be conscious of our habits.
If possible, let’s make a list of our daily habits and acknowledge which ones are good and which ones are unnecessary. We can’t just stop the unnecessary ones but we can at least be conscious of it and maybe gradually reduce it overtime.

Food for thought
Our ancient rituals were formed with some logic which has been lost overtime because we have been following the same without thinking and asking about it. So it is important that we should know why we are doing things.

Today, we live in a world of constant comparison and the fear of missing out (FOMO). We are constantly looking for what others are doing and trying to do the same. Be it the celebrity we follow, be it someone we admire, be it something we saw ppwith a friend, or be it a general trend. The world is wandering in every direction. So if we keep following the world and keep changing our direction based on a new trend, we will keep wandering and will never find peace. To live a peaceful life, we should indentify our own path and stick to it. Small adjustments are natural but we should avoid changing the direction.

Reflection:
If we check our screentime for the past few days, we might be surprised to see how much time we spent on looking at other people’s lives (Insta, facebook etc). We can reduce the time we spend in comparing ourselves and instead focus on becoming a better version of ourselves.

There is one thing more expensive than time that every single being in your surrounding wants from you: Your Attention

Reflection:
If we consider “our attention” like a resource like money then, today is only about evaluating whether you’re the master of where your attention is getting spent:

-Do you fall into a rabbit hole after looking at one post?

-Do you listen to and watch the whole ad even if you know the product is not for you?

-Do you engage in (even if silently as a fly on the wall) conversations you know are not useful/ harmful / poisonous?

Either we choose where to “pay attention” or someone else does it for us by “taking it” from us against our will.

Richest are those who have absolute control over where they put their attention because energy flows where attention goes and energy is the currency of the universe.

Xx. Na.

Control is an illusion. The long list of To-Dos, our children, our 5yr plan, the long term goals. It’s all an illusion. All these things are a construct of the mind. In fact rarely does any of it work out the way we think, does it?

For all the workout we do to stay fit, tomorrow we may end up with a broken leg. For all the 5/10 year plans we made, tomorrow we may run into a business opportunity and everything will change! For all the tough schooling we do for our kids, they might just turn out to be born super stars! It helps to remember then that the only thing that is in our control is our perception. Our mind.
And come to think of it, this makes it all very very simple doesn’t it?

The only choice we have is whether to allow the next thought space in our mind. The thoughts we allow a home, guides our feelings and hence our actions.

Reflection:
Notice where you’re getting worked up in your day, ask yourself – is this stressing me because it’s not going to my plan? If yes, can I just accept the situation as it is.

We should keep reminding ourselves about the things that are within our control and the ones that are not. We should be mindful of the things that are within our control. For the things that are beyond our control, we should surrender them to the Almighty and have complete faith in him. Remember that God wants the best for us.

Reflection:
Have you ever tried leaving everything to God and realised how peaceful it feels?

Food for thought:
Complete surrender is the best way to attain peace.

We can choose to be peaceful in our day to day life without being affected by the external environment by making the correct choices and judgements. We have learnt about the controllable earlier. So if we focus on making the correct choices on the things that are within our control and accept the things that are beyond our control with the correct perception, we can have a peaceful life

Reflection:
At the end of the day today, think of a situation that affected you today. Then break the events into controllable and non-controllable. Just focus on the things that you could have done better and ignore the rest.

Food for thought:
We as humans think everything is in our control but it isn’t.

Today’s topic is on our judgements. The events, the situations doesn’t actually effect us but our judgement about it does. We cannot expect peace by avoiding the situation/ problem, instead by judging them correctly. By making reasonable judgements.

Reflection:
Today, if you find yourself in a difficult situation, pause and reflect, what actually happened and how does it affect you. You may find that the situation is not as bad as you imagined it to be.

Food for thought:
Don’t we often perceive situations as worse than they actually are?

Today’s topic is a deeper version of what we discussed in Day 1 – Control. If we deeply think about it, the only thing we can control is our mind. Opinions, Thoughts, Choices, Actions – everything generates from the mind.

Reflection:
Today, if you judge someone / some situation, remember that it is your mind which is perceiving it to be good or bad and you can control not the situation but that perception.
For eg., you can choose to be frustrated by the traffic or to simply relax and enjoy the music.

Food for thought:
The outer world is just a visual representation of our own thoughts and beliefs.

Addiction is when we’ve lost the ability to abstain.
We all are addicted to something.. be it our instagram / phones, cigarettes / alcohol, tea / coffee, or it can even be gossiping, shopping, gaming complaining. We may think of it as harmless but it is actually taking away from us our creative mind, our freedom. It makes us monotonous.

Reflection:
Think of one addiction which you would like to be free from (say using Instagram). Try to avoid it for just one day today (or reduce as much as possible). If at the end of the day you feel good then try it again tomorrow.

It is actually a test of our courage to give up on our addiction..

Food for thought:
Isn’t it the addiction of today’s comfort that prevents us from achieving great heights tomorrow…

The mind is a fantastic servant but a bad master.
Its only job is to scheme ways and means to achieve what the heart desires and we must only and only use it for that purpose and treat every other thing it creates as noise.

Reflection:
Notice today when you judge, worry, rationalise giving in to a temptation, create assumptions, create conclusions with no proof.

Can we try to put a stop to each of these trains the moment we notice them?

Xx. N. A. ✨

When we don’t know who we are beyond the titles we have, it’s easy to get caught up in trends and fads.

Reflection:
Try this today!

Xx. N. A. ✨

“Always begin with an end in mind”. ~ 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

I.e. we must all, always have a goal towards which we are putting efforts.

Reflection:
Write down 3 things you want for yourself and check if whatever you’re already doing is in the direction of those 3 things you want.

P.S.: Some days it’s really really tough and exhausting to figure out “the goal” and that’s completely okay! Those days it’s fine to just thrash out in all directions with no rhyme/ reason and try everything to see if something fits!
It’s alright to just stay afloat while you still figure out the goal! Nothing we do in life goes to waste ever!:)

Xx. N. A. ✨

My Guru Grand Master Choa always used to encourage to practise Accurate Perception and Correct Expression. Day 4 is on learning to look at facts with detached eyes, descern the controllable from the non-controllables and then act with coolheadedness rather than being led by emotions.

Reflection:

-Act based on the advice you’d give to your child/ most loved one.

-See the situation as it is.

-Do not assign any meaning to it.

Xx. N. A. ✨

Day 3 is very much in line with what I shared the other day from Naval
“If it is not making you happier, or healthier, or calmer, or having better relationships, or wealthier, then what good is it? It’s useless. You can safely discard it.”

Reflection:
Learn to practise the power of NO.
No thank you
No I’m not going to get caught up in that
No I just can’t right now
No it doesn’t feel right to me

Even though it might hurt some people who’re used to your people pleasing-ness but if it’s done with the right intent of protecting you so that you can show up feeling more energetic the next day then don’t hesitate to do it.

Xx. N. A. ✨

Day 2 is quite simple actually – Knowledge is power and knowledge is freedom. It tells to consider our time as resource and use it to learn / study rather than spending it on distractions that serve no purpose rather than temporary gratification.

Reflection:
Can we mould our day in a way that gaining knowledge becomes a de-facto setting? Ie. Can we listen to a good podcast/e-book while on our commute / walk/ workout? Can we create company around us that talks only of new ideas rather than of other people? Can we on the weekdays at-least watch things that help us become better versions of ourselves or open our mind to new possibilities?

Although…

I’ve come to experience that not filling every second of the day with something is also good.
Eg. just sitting and aimlessly people watching at a garden/ appt waiting room / commute / evening walk / gym allows the mind to rest and boredom to creep in … and that helps for our imagination to work … So while I’ve been following this stoic teaching for years – I’m really embracing the boredom these days … and I do get nice thoughts / ideas during these times.

Xx. N. A. ✨

Lasting peace and fulfillment come from focusing on what is within your control—your thoughts, choices, and actions—rather than being consumed by external events or other people’s opinions.

Reflection:
Today, before reacting to anything that happens around you, ask yourself: “Is this within my control?”

If the answer is yes, give it your full attention and your best effort.

If the answer is NO, practice letting it go.

Xx. N. A. ✨