Dear wonderers,
This edition of the newsletter is inspired by James Clear’s 3-2-1. So it’s all about short questions, statements, aphorisms that provoked my view of the world in the last couple of weeks.
1.
You are free to do whatever you want. You need only face the consequences.
Found in The Imperfectionist, this quote by American psychotherapist Sheldon Kopp is the quintessential concept of freedom. The “real” one, not the one we think we know or understand.
2.
Nassim Taleb’s The Bed of Procrustes is another thought-provoking one. Highly contrarian, but with some nuggets of wisdom to find. To paraphrase him: The things that you say to protect your reputation are the ones that hurt it the most.
(and my full book review if you’re curious. But in Romanian.)
3.
The same intensity that drives your creativity also can drive your fear…
Something heard in this Dare to Lead episode where Brene Brown talks to her sister about feedback, entrepreneurship & ultimately being human.
4.
The world shrinks or grows as a function of your curiosity.
I love this one — nothing else to add. Just read the full article behind that quote :)
5.
In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.
Shunryū Suzuki’s book on Zen is always a fountain of different lenses to “test” the world. I needed to include a Japanese reference (🤷🏻♀️).
What is one idea that sparked your inquisitive mind lately?
one more thing :) Taleb has this concept of skin-in-the-game that good decisions come from having to face the consequences of your actions, but other intellectuals disagree https://twitter.com/ptetlock/status/953741253409165312
about 1. ; i don't think this is the freedom we should aspire to. it overlooks morality, the fact that we do or don't do things because we have an idea of what good and bad is, not to the extent of our capacity to deal with negative consequences; I would say we are not free, we are subject to our own inner critic (as Hitch explains it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwaWJLvxKPI ) but this is a limitation worth having