Alright, 71 thoughts to improve your thoughts. I don't turn it off. They're very short thoughts. This is going to take a long time to go through.
I have over the years and literally going back to 1980s when I was at University of Michigan and then at Notre Dame. I'd see things I thought were insightful or it might help me remember things, all sorts of stuff, historical facts, advice for living, whatever it is. I'd write them down to 3x5 cards. Well, then when the note apps came I transferred them over to the note apps and then I've added to them over the years.
And I don't know how many I have. I mean, it's hundreds, I mean probably a thousand. I don't know. But I've condensed them down to 71 here that I think pertain to your mental life.
You know, every day living in here, 71 piece of advice or things to think about keeping the forefront of your mind as you go through an ordinary day. And I think that helped me. No, those who know me might be like, man, I can't imagine what you'd be like if I didn't have those. This is as good as you've gotten here in your mind.
I mean, it's something really biting and being spirited about someone. A woman says, how can you claim to be a devout Catholic and say such things? He goes, well, he goes, if we're for the sacraments, I'd barely be human. I'd be such a monster.
So. All right. So anyway, number one, the wise know they start each morning as beginners. That's Robin Daniels and his excellent book, The Virgin Eye.
Number two, in the intellectual order, the virtue of humility is nothing more nor less than the power of attention. Simone Vay. And that's one of my favorite sayings of all time. Just think about it.
In the intellectual order, the virtue of humility is nothing more nor less than the power of attention. Because when you're trying to concentrate and let yourself get distracted, that's because you're telling yourself that there's something not better for me. Well, if you don't care about yourself, which is humility, then you're not going to be distracted in the intellectual order. Anyway, number three, my experience is what I agree to attend to.
William James. Number four, to enjoy the kind of experience you want, rather than endearing the kind you feel stuck with, you have to take charge of your attention. That's when a Fred Gallagher from her excellent book wraps. Five, choice of attention, to pay attention to this and ignore that, is to the inner life what choice of action is to the outer.
In both cases, a man is responsible for his choice and must accept the consequences, whatever they may be. W.H. Auden. Six, your life is the sum of what you focus on as Winifred Gallagher again.
Seven, the greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another. William James. Eight, attention is the withdrawal from some things in order to deal effectively with others. William James.
Nine, the best response is distractions. Two restrictions is no response. I'll say that again. The best response to distractions is no response.
Robin Daniels. Ten, energy flows where attention goes. Amisha Ja. Was actually on the Joe Rogan show a little while ago.
And by the way, most of these, I forgot to mention, our thoughts have accumulated over the past 10 to 15 years. I'm trying to incorporate a lot of current neurological studies more than anything. Eleven. If you stay focused on the right things, your life will stop being a mere reaction to circumstances, but rather a work of art.
Gallagher again. Twelve, every saint's life is a work of art. Thirteen, being focused is the next best thing to being happy. Gallagher, resign yourself to mere concentration, and you might get some happiness too.
And by the way, when things are not attributed to someone, that's probably something I haven't turned lies or I've lost over the decade who they come from. It may be my independent, unique thought, but I didn't likely have probably just turned lies and regurgitated it. Anyway, fifteen. Intense concentration, hijacks your attention, apparatus, preventing you from noticing the many smaller and less pleasant things that unavoidably and persistently populate our lives.
Cal Newport. Sixteen. To fill the hour. That is happiness.
Ralph Waldo Emerson. Seventeen. Most people assume that relaxation makes them happy. We want to work less and spend more time in the hammock, but they probably have it wrong.
Cal Newport. Eighteen. The art unfulfilled life is to be energetic without tension. Dynamic without agitation.
Serene. But not aloof. Robin Daniels. Probably my second favorite saying under the seventy-one.
Nineteen. The day should be a series of spreads. One hour bursts of laser-like focus, followed by short breaks. Followed by short breaks.
It's Kevin Majors from Harvard. Twenty. The garden. Be careful about what you plant and what you allow to grow.
Be ruthless with weeds. Twenty-one. You can train your brain toward virtue, compassion, gentleness, kindness. Twenty-two.
Constant Thanksgiving makes you more alert and attentive. Twenty-three. Praise. Widen's.
Intervision. Robin Daniels. Twenty-four. The first step toward getting on with your work after a setback or quarrel is to direct perhaps the yank your attention away from fear or anger toward courage and forgiveness.
Gallagher. Twenty-five. What happens to you is less important to your well-being than how you respond to it. Twenty-six.
The common admonition to add calm and kind, regardless of how you feel, is very good advice. You are likely to be rewarded by actually feeling calm and kind. That's Daniel Kahneman. That's K-A-H-N-E-M-A-N.
I'm not sure I'm pronouncing it right. He's a Nobel Prize winner, economist, psychologist, whatever. Anyway. Twenty-seven.
Blur the distinction between work and play. Such blurring is the hallmark of the focus life in Gallagher. Twenty-eight. In leisure, choose activities that demand focus and skill.
Twenty-nine. Free time should be creative. Thirty. If most of the time you're not particularly concerned about whether what you're doing is work or play, or even whether you're happy or not, you know you're living the focus life.
Gallagher. Most opportunities till thirty-one. Most opportunities to build character are modest in scope and easily missed if you're not paying attention. Gallagher.
Thirty-two. Missed no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice. Here, by a smiling look. There, by a kindly word.
Always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love. Trees of the Sioux. Trez. Thirty-three.
We do not very often come across opportunities for exercise and strength. Pity and calamity, or magnificence. However, gentleness, meekness, moderation, modesty, humility are graces which ought to colour everything we do. Francis de Sales.
Thirty-four. Do not imagine that love, to be true, must be extraordinary. Mother Teresa. Thirty-five.
We need fortitude to be faithful in the little things of each day. Francis Fernandez. Thirty-six. The virtue of fortitude leads us to be patient when unpleasant things happen.
We're given bad news. It leads us to be patient and dealing with the obstacles each day brings with it. Fernandez again. Thirty-seven.
Each day presents us with many opportunities for practicing the virtual fortitude. Francis Fernandez, 38, every moment of our life can be the beginning of great things, Mother Teresa. 39, touch the heart every day in the only way most of us can, or excuse me, I touch God's heart every day in the only way most of us can through little things. 40, start by making your homes, places where peace happens in love abound Mother Teresa.
41, a bunch of Mother Teresa by the way, this is like the Mother Teresa part of the highway or Mother Teresa's own. 41, be kind of merciful, let no one come to you without leaving better and happier. Let's say that again, be kind and merciful. Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier Mother Teresa.
42, be the living expression of God's kindness, kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your warm greeting Mother Teresa. 43, God does not look for big things. He looks for how much love we put into the giving Mother Teresa. 44, we can do no great things, only small things with love.
45, joy is infectious. We will never know just how much good a simple smile can do. That's Mother Teresa. 46, we must live beautifully.
Mother Teresa. 47, smile five times a day as someone you really don't want to smile at. Do it for peace, Mother Teresa. 48, if you're humble, nothing will touch you.
Either praise nor disgrace because you know what you are, Mother Teresa. 49, if you're not running through the potential outcomes of a given situation, anxiety flies out the window. 50, failure to live in the present makes you less kind. By thinking about the future, you become more uncertain.
Uncertainty creates fear. Fear makes you oversensitive, grouchy and insular. 51, we must all stop imagining about the future. Keep our attention on what is happening now and not bothered about anything that has gone on before or what may follow.
That's Jean-Pierre D'Acassade. 52, the appetite to wear a person out, John of the Cross. 53, peace is lost to when patience, Francis Fernandez. 54, the recovery of peace is one of the best signs of love for those around us, Fernandez.
55, a loss of charity is the only loss we really need fear in this life, Francis DeSales. 56, do not make yourself unhappy about your imperfections but always have the courage to rise above them. Francis DeSales, 57, there can be no pact with their defects and errors, Fernandez. 58, affability, and the other virtues related to it make every life pleasant.
Fernandez, 59, cultivate innocence. Innocence means not to harm oneself or others, not to plot, scheme or ensnare, to think the best of people unless shown otherwise, to protect this innocent core, be on your guard against any shadow, any form of negative energy including starting with one's own, and yet retain your spirit of open-hearted delight and discovery. Robin Daniels. 60, only a quality of total innocence has a chance, Robin Daniels.
61, jealously, decisively guard the peace of your soul, Robin Daniels. 62, by focusing on a carefully selected peace, giving objects such as a peaceful phrase from a holy book, we screen out, ward off the battalions of thoughts and memories that invade us day and night. 63, thought, dissects and discriminates, thought is the fetid soil of like and quick dislike, thought forever chattels, chatters and analyzes, selects judges and criticizes. Daniels is into the Tao, at least as I see him as writing here, just like the Zen tradition says, basically, rid of our thought, this is Daniels channeling the Buddha basically, or at least some of the Zen patriarchs, not the Buddha so much, but anyway.
64, the more often and the more acutely you observe yourself speaking and behaving with ease, calmness, and modest efficiency, the more you will enjoy living from this relaxed and skillful state, even the conditions that are noisy, tense testing or combative, Robin Daniels. 65, rushing as a form of aggression, Robin Daniels, 66, he who was in a hurry delays the things of God, Vincent de Paul, 67, slowness, increases enjoyment, Robin Daniels. 68, slowing down leads to mental clarity, creativity, wiser decision-making, more relaxed encounters, deeper friendships, safer driving, and better digesting meals, Robin Daniels. 69, the pace of modern life is so fast and fierce, so toxic that most of us will have to render, reorder our lives radically if we wish to find and establish a personal rhythm that fosters peace, Robin Daniels.
70, only by slowing down can we notice and value the gem at the core of the familiar Robin Daniels, so you basically take things for granted when you just rush by him and slow down, things you see every day all of a sudden become interesting. 71, to become a philosopher, start by walking slowly. Messing to lab.