Hello friends, welcome back to Life Reimagined, a free weekly elixir designed to make you feel good and live better. A special welcome to the 85 subscribers who joined in the last week. |
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📦 I. Upgrades Only |
Steph and I are moving soon, and that process has made us aware of how much stuff we've accumulated over the last 3 years. We came to our current apartment with two 40-liter backpacks and now have A LOT more than that. |
On the podcast this week, we discussed the unexpected weight of stuff, how it accumulates, what brings and dampens joy, and how to be better consumers moving forward. |
You can listen to the episode here. |
One of the ideas that emerged from the pod is a new rule for 2023: Upgrades only. |
Basically, we will try to limit ourselves to only upgrading items that we already have, instead of adding new items to the mix. |
The idea is that this rule will create a useful constraint on our purchasing decisions, similar to how we had a rule of "buy something, donate something" while living out of backpacks. We'll see how it goes 🤞. |
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🧘♂️ II. A Tip For Reducing Anxiety |
I'm very interested in free, always-available techniques to alleviate everyday stressors and anxiety. Perhaps the best tool available to all of us is learning how to use our breath to regulate our nervous systems. |
One helpful breathing technique I've used over the last 6 months is the 4, 7, 8 method. It's a simple protocol that takes less than 2 minutes and helps me calm down when I'm in a heightened emotional state. |
You can learn how to do it with this 2-minute video from Dr. Weil. |
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✍️ III. Free Tool for Better Writing |
Whenever I'm writing an important email or an essay and want to simplify my writing, I use Hemingway Editor, which is a free desktop app that helps you tighten up and improve your writing. It's a great tool for learning how to write more clearly. |
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📚 IV. Book for Learning Philosophy |
Dozens of people have recommended Laozi's Tao Te Ching, the foundational text of Taoism. I've bought 3 different translations over the years, and honestly, I've never really gotten much from the book. I'm sure it's great, but it just didn't land for me. |
That's why I was excited to discover the Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff. Using the character of Winnie-the-Pooh and a fun story, Hoff does a brilliant job of introducing the basic tenets of Taoism in a way that I was able to digest and appreciate. |
So if you're like me and curious about Taoism but have never vibed with the Tao Te Chng, try giving Hoff's book a go. |
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📽️ V. Film I Enjoyed |
I had an out-there teacher in high school who loved to stop her lectures mid-sentence and go to Youtube to watch Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. |
I forgot about Marcel for a decade but recently watched and really enjoyed the relatively new Marcel the Shell with Shoes On documentary. |
If you want a feel-good and silly film to decompress, it's a good one. |
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🧠 VI. Something I'm Thinking About |
"In times of pain, when the future is too terrifying to contemplate and the past too painful to remember, I have learned to pay attention to right now. The precise moment I was in was always the only safe place for me."
| | | Julia Cameron in The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity |
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That's all for now. See you next Sunday. |
— Cal |
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🌎 Three other things you might enjoy |
1. Doing Time Right: Everyone wants to get more done in less time. This course will show you exactly how to do that with the eliminate, automate, delegate, and iterate framework. |
2. Foundations Looking for good books to read? Check out Foundations, a growing digital notebook with notes & lessons from 100+ timeless books. |
3. Listen to the Podcast: Feel like school didn't prepare you for adulthood? The Sh*t You Don't Learn in School podcast exists to help make up for this societal failure. |
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