Ancient Wisdom for a Modern World
Over the past two weeks, I’ve been in Portland, Oregon and took a break from the project for a little while. I didn’t intend to, but I was working remotely at weird hours and didn’t have anything logistically set up for my Hinduism month (my shrine, time to study, etc.). Instead of doing a half
A few weeks ago I went with my family to visit my grandmother in Okinawa. She is 89, and has been recently hospitalized after having a stroke. I haven’t seen her since 2003 when I last visited, so it was quite the trip. I never learned Japanese growing up so there has always been a
I’m still reading Henri Nouwen’s account of his time at the monastery and he keeps sharing a bunch of insights that somehow seem super relevant to my life. Nearing the latter half of his stay at the monastery, he is trying to figure out what his life should look like after he leaves. How much time
My first Shabbat kicked off Friday evening. I went to a friend’s home for Shabbat dinner and was able to observe how his family practices the Jewish tradition. The next morning I spent two and a half hours (unintentionally) at a Shabbat service. I say unintentionally because I guess most people don’t show up for
After my ice bath yesterday, I felt a great sense of satisfaction at reaching the halfway point of my Stoicism month. It’s rare that I stick to any pursuit for any period of time, so I was proud of myself. I learned to feel great pleasure when my body stops shivering post-ice bath. The muscles
The concept of detachment has been a recurring them throughout this project. The Stoics were, of course, huge advocates of the concept, and every religious tradition I’ve explored since teaches some form of it. So you would think that after 6 months or so of studying detachment in various traditions that nothing in the world
Our brains like to make stories that make our experiences coherent. For example, if you graduate college and get a job at a reputable company, your brain might lump you into the “young professional” bucket and the extent to which you are psychologically content will be determined by how closely your experiences align with that script.
I sometimes struggle with Impostor Syndrome. Though this is typically the domain of the successful (a group to which I don’t claim to be a part of), I do, occasionally, suffer from its symptoms. For example, over the past few months, approximately 250 people have subscribed to this blog, and a handful of these readers
I’m currently back in my hometown for the holidays (this was written over the Christmas break period) and I admit I’ve fallen off the wagon a bit in terms of my Epicurean goals. I’ve cheated a little bit on my diet, I haven’t exercised for 3 or 4 days, and I watched TV with my
I started skateboarding in eighth grade. There was no purpose to it. It just looked like fun. So I bought a skateboard (or rather, got my parents to buy me a skateboard). I taught myself to ride it without wiping out. I then learned to Ollie, which is the first “trick” you learn and is