Author Archives: unknn

This essay was originally featured in my free Sunday newsletter. Diogenes the Cynic also reputedly said that a good man considers every day to be a festival and Epictetus subsequently taught his Stoic students to contemplate life in this way. The Stoics used this metaphor to convey a sense of gratitude for the opportunity of life, […]

This essay was originally featured in my free Sunday newsletter. “Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.” -Epicurus Think about all the things in your life right now: your car, job, career, education, and every purchase […]

This essay was originally featured in my free Sunday newsletter. “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” -Confucius There is this concept known as Neophiliac, which is a personality type in which a person has a strong affinity for novelty. I think that we all are, at least in our Western culture, a […]

This essay was originally featured in my free Sunday newsletter. “Practical exercise is even more important for the student of philosophy than for the student of medicine or any similar art, just as philosophy claims to be a greater and more difficult discipline than any other study. The reason for this is that men who enter the […]

This essay was originally featured in my free Suday newsletter. “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” ―Oscar Wilde There was once a research survey done of nursing home residents around the country. A question on that survey was, “What is your greatest regret?” One answer that kept coming up went something like this: I wish I […]

This essay was originally featured in my free Sunday newsletter. “There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.” -Aristotle Comfort is warm and cozy, and sure, we all want to be comfortable in our lives as often as we can. But is it possible to be too comfortable? Is a […]

“In response to those who say to stop dreaming and face reality, I say keep dreaming and make reality.”  ― Kristian Kan I often tell people, “I’m living in my own reality and everyone else is a guest.” Egotistical or honest? Maybe both? Meh… who cares? In my reality, I don’t, nor should anyone care about such […]

“Attention or concentration is probably; the most important essential in the development of mind culture. The possibilities of attention when properly directed are so startling that they would hardly appear credible to the uninitiated. The cultivation of attention is the distinguishing characteristic of every successful man or woman, and is the very highest personal accomplishment […]

“Remember that thought is the fire that creates the steam that turns the wheel of fortune, upon which your experiences depend.” –Haanel, Charles F. – The Master Key System There’s a thing we all do every day. Some do it better than others, more controlled and directed. Others do it randomly and haphazardly. This thing […]

“There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.” ― Joseph Brodsky “Many people, myself among them, feel better at the mere sight of a book.” ― Jane Smiley, Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel “Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the […]