striking thoughts

I recently listened to a 4 hour podcast whilst driving in Scotland about the life of Bruce Lee. He’s another one of those figures who has shaped a large part of my thinking.

Lee wrote Striking thoughts : a series of reflections on various topics.

This is inspired by Striking Thoughts. Condensed aphorisms as a guide. These are for myself as reference. Please disagree and examine yourself.

Words are fixed. Life is fluid. Examine your own experience because truth is a pathless land.

Work

Escape competition through authenticity
Wu Wei : How can you get the maximum results by putting in the least effort?
Work smart (not necessarily hard)
Action over words
Operate within your circle of competence
Follow your genuine intellectual curiosity
Learn outside of your field. Having distinct subsections of knowledge is a man made construction. There is a unity of knowledge.It all inter-relates and mixes.
Create a local net positive

Wealth and Fame

You want to be creatively living an anonymous life whilst contributing to society
Micro change > Macro change
Assets > Expenses
Compound interest is 8th wonder of the world
Keep a budget.
Don’t fall into lifestyle inflation / upgrading. Living below your means holds a freedom those who don’t can’t fathom
Time is non renewable.
Trade money for time and experiences.
You need very little to survive
Don’t play status games
Watch your desires- Hedonic treadmill

Communication

Simplicity > Complexity
If you can’t explain it to a 5 year old, you don’t really understand
Understanding > Memorisation
If you have nothing to say. Be silent
Be curious. Ask questions.
Don’t force learning. Learn when you are into it.
When people give you unwarranted advice, it is a reflection of their desires
Praise specifically, criticise generally
Don’t give advice unless it’s asked for. No-one likes being preached to. It gives the idea that you understand better’ (which you don’t)
Ask other people for advice
Treat people on a peer to peer basis rather than hierarchical
There is something to learn from everyone

Learning

Read books. 21st century is the best to live in in terms of access to information
Read old books for old problems (how to be content etc)
Watch YouTube for modern day (how to code)
Every problem you have faced, much smarter people have written down
Any person can learn from experience. Better to learn from the experience of others too
Be into it. Don’t force. Curiosity is the driver
Doing > Reading > Watching
Reason from first principles. Chef rather than Cook in domains that are important to you
Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast
Treat life like a series of 5 year experiments. Life is long. Continue to learn

Nutrition and Exercise

Nutrition and exercise have huge impact physically and mentally. Overwhelming evidence. Few rules:
Limit/Avoid processed food
Eat food, mostly plants, not too much
Eat some meat, fish, not too much
Avoid seed oils
Lift weights / Calisthenics
Strength without mobility is nothing

Modern Day Struggle

Abundance of information. Information overload
You have a limited bandwidth
Don’t consume news. It has become entertainment. Not evolved to be constantly switched on worrying about the troubles in distant parts of the globe
As with junk food, you have junk information. Don’t read junk
Use social media actively rather than passively (i.e. create)

Habits

We are habitual creatures
Every intention, thought, action is born out of habit
Unconscious habitual processes can cause harm
Examples of habits : exercise, nutrition, outlook on life, peace, reading, creativity, your emotional disposition
Do it every day.
Motivation is overrated. Habit is underrated
Compound interest is the 8th wonder of the world
Have something that keeps you fit, something that makes you money and something that keeps you creative
Better to act your way into a new way of thinking, rather than to think your way into a new way of acting
Discipline is overrated : You don’t rise to the level of your expectation, you fall to the level of your training
Long term consistency over short term intensity

Decision Making

Choose the option that would make a better story
If you can’t decide, the answer is no (for the big decisions - marriage, work, location)
Choose the option that will lead to long term peace of mind. Short term may be uncomfortable

Honesty

Be honest. Then you have nothing to remember.
Even white lies. Lying is more prevalent than one thinks. Deeply harmful.
Temper honesty with kindness
Kind > Smart

Self Knowledge

Observe your thoughts and processes.
Meditation is a way to transcend thought
Reflection and introspection (e.g through journalling) is a way to create adaptive thoughts/stories.
Use both meditation and reflection.

Time

Psychological time is an illusion
Just thoughts about the past or the future being projected into the present
Literally the only moment that exists it the present.
All else is just projected into the present
It is possible to be present and also plan for the future.
Being present is about being aware of the mind in each moment.
Accept. Life is a river of sensory information, largely up to your interpretation.

Identity

Identifying with any sect/tradition/teacher is the start of unawareness
We go round creating identities and cling to them e.g. I am a doctor/lawyer/, I am ugly/smart/stupid/funny/ I’m Hindu/Christian/Jew etc ‘I am an unchanging entity’
Without realising it is all illusory. A story we tell ourselves.
Then when the ‘image’ is not congruent with reality. You are hurt. The image is not reality
The self is just an internal model.
The illusory nature of the self can be seen through- non dual awareness.

Science

Science and ‘Meditation/Introspection’ are the two sides of the same coin
Science is an exploration of the physical world through observation
Meditation/Spirituality is an exploration of the internal world through observation
Both non -dogmatic
Both require no ‘a priori belief structures’
Both require a sceptical but curious mind
Spirituality is sadly misunderstood, confused with religion or ‘mysticism’.
What is spirituality? : observe your mind

Jealously, Comparison and the Rat Race

We all admire people who ‘march to their own drum’
What this means is ‘internal validation > external validation
Comparison is the thief of joy
Jealously disappears when one is playing against an internal scorecard
Jealously : would you swap 100% your life with the other person? No
It is no measure of sanity to be well adjusted to a sick society (paraphrasing)
It all goes to zero in the end.
Desire is suffering. Striving for the sake of accumulation is madness
Enjoy the process rather than striving for the outcome

Relationships

Quality > quantity
Core values have to match up. Then all the small idiosyncrasies and differences don’t matter
You react to an image of the other person that you have created, rather than reacting to the person themselves
Empty your expectations and images.
Love and attachment are different.
Attachment is reacting to an image of the other person. It is expecting them to conform to this image, as a non changing entity
Love is unconditional. Reacting to reality
Don’t give advice, unless it’s asked for. No-one likes being told what to do
When you tell others what to do, its more a reflection of your own desires
When you don’t hold any images, all judgement ceases
Treasure the time you have- it’s on loan

Grief

Grief comes in waves. Rather than resist, be curious and look. What is it that causes pain? Potential futures. Reminiscing about the past.
Time and attention are all you have. Allocate them well
Be grateful for the time you have. Everything is on loan.

Regret

Top regrets of the old “I wish I didn’t work so much” “I wish I didn’t conform to others expectations” “I wish I spent more time cultivating relationships”
Regret is a thought, it is entirely your perception. You can reframe events so that you create meaning or suffer less.