A Singular Self

“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities; in the expert’s mind there are few.”  [1] In the book "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind" Shunryu Suzuki talks about the practice of Zen and how it relates to one's true self and the natural way to live. He said that in order to practice true zazen one should not practice with the aim of gaining something special. "It is our human nature to be active and the nature of every existence. As long as we are alive, we are always doing something. But as long as you think, “I am doing this,” or “I have to do this,” or “I must attain something special,” you are actually not doing anything.” [2] This is quite similar to the more modern approach of Zen-Buddhism called mindfulness and connects also very well to stoicism . Which got me thinking, that indeed thinking IS thinking and doing IS doing. So do we in everyday reality actually confuse these processes? Is it so, that we often don't move in the desired directi...

"Dale Carnegie used to say that anyone could become a great public speaker if they were angry enough. And when it comes to helping people and living your legend, starting with your biggest frustrations can open up a lot of ideas as to the difference you want to make. Think of what consistently makes you mad about the world and what you wish was different." Dear You! I told my better half today that I needed to write about something that makes me angry about the world and frustrates me. She asked in response why I would create another blog about something that's bad in the world. It got me thinking. For a long time already I have tried to follow a Low-Information Diet introduced to me through the works of Tim Ferriss. I shut down my Facebook account, quit the television contract with my service provider, uninstalled almost all social applications from my phone and turned of all notifications, installed SelfRestraint  on my computer and replaced the scary news ...