“You don’t know how it feels to be me.” –Tom Petty1 You have no idea what it is like to be someone else. Their consciousness – the way they experience life –will be inaccessible to you.2 If this seems wrong, consider for a moment the astounding fact that you cannot even be sure that other people are conscious at all. The only proof you have that anyone is conscious is… Read More »Other People’s Minds Are a Mystery
We spend so much of our lives other than where we are right now. We mentally teleport to the past, thinking of what we could have done differently, ruminating about our failures. We teleport to the future, imagining what we’ll say, what we’ll do, and how we’ll feel, even though such imaginings are usually inaccurate or pointless. All of this comes at the expense of being present. It prevents us… Read More »You are here; it is now.
“If you don’t take care of your body, where will you live?” ―Kobi Yamada1 Your body is your home wherever you go. You literally can’t live without it. And since you’re stuck with it for the duration, you’d be wise to figure out how to feel at home in your body. This is difficult for many people. We don’t like how we look. We’re too fat or too thin, too… Read More »How to Feel at Home in Your Body
Imagine a fir tree, covered in green needles. Should a strong wind come, the tree will bend to and fro in the gusts, but it won’t break. The tree survives the wind because it is flexible. A second tree, of the same size, has dried out and become rigid and brittle. Facing the same wind, it will break. Its branches will snap off. It may even be toppled. You must… Read More »Flexibility is Strength