Date: 13.07.2022

Here's a disgusting, yet quite accurate metaphor about life.

Often, we are facing situations similar to when we've just done our job in the bathroom, but we notice that for whatever reason, there is no toilet paper.

Damn!

In real life, we often face similar situations. You are confronted with a mission-impossible condition but when you reach out to find a useful concept in your brain. You know, a concept of some sort to get you out unharmed and even - why not? - successful. You find none.

In these cases, as well as the toilet paper example. We need to be creative. As Steve Jobs once said, "to think differently!"

But thinking, these days, is something the online world is trying to repress.

After all, the more you think. The less you'll consume.

That's why the design of all apps is frictionless.

But what happened in unison with all the reduced friction is reduced thinking.

In one of my new posts, I look at something you might find helpful: 

The 7 Types of Thinking (And Why You Need Them)

And while I don't want to know what you do when there's a shortage of paper. I do want to know your thoughts about the different ways of thinking. Feel free to share by replying...

• Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport: Our relationship with technology is becoming unbearable. If something doesn’t change soon, we’ll either mentally break or legalize weddings between a man and a device. Luckily, Cal Newport, probably the only famous person without a social media account, shares practical advice on how to reduce your time spent online and finally stop mindlessly scrolling.

Full text for members only.

Interesting books I recently added to my reading list (and hopefully will read at some point):

• Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention- and How to Think Deeply Again by Johann Hari: A book that will allow you to see that constant stimulation is destroying your ability to focus. Thus, slowly corrupting your life.
• Stop Reading the News: A Manifesto for a Happier, Calmer and Wiser Life by Rolf Dobelli: "News is to the mind what sugar is to the body." Plainly, this book is a manifesto about the dangers of the most toxic form of information - news.

Rollo May

Born in Ada, Ohio in 1909. Rollo May was an influential American psychologist who wrote rigorously. Publishing over 15 books on topics mainly associated with existential psychology. His most influential work, Love and Will, won the Ralph Waldo Emerson Award for humane scholarship and became a best-seller.

Big Idea: Stages of Development

Rollo May defined 4 main stages of human development that can help us see where we, and others, are currently:

1. Innocence: The innocent is doing only what he or she must do in order to survive. Mostly observed in children, but adults can also be stuck in this phase.
2. Rebellion: This stage is when a person "evolves", becomes more self-aware. When this happens, he naturally becomes rebellious. However, while he wants freedom, he still does not understand the responsibility that comes with being free.
3. Ordinary: When most of us are stuck. We understand the responsibilities and the demands of life. That great things require hard work and facing the unknown. To avoid feeling insecure, we seek refuge in conformity and in the already established values of society.
4. Creativity: A person who has taken the journey of finding himself. He faces the anxiety coming from the unknown and acts with courage. Not being afraid to be a little different.

From my desk:

• Why Great Things Never Came From Comfort Zones: A recent article of mine that become mildly famous about the importance of going out of your comfort zone.

From around the web:

• My awakening moment about how smartphones fragment our attention span: "I realized that I was looking at my phone during every spare moment of the day. When I pulled up at a stoplight waiting for the light to change, I would instinctively reach for my phone (mounted on my dash) to check my email (personal + work), check ESPN, look up something on Amazon, etc. While pumping gas in the car, I’d whip out my phone while waiting. Stuck in line somewhere? Time for my phone. Waiting in an elevator? The phone. Riding the train? The phone. Going to the bathroom? Make sure to bring the phone! Eating breakfast? The phone. Any spare or idle moment? The phone."
• Lifestyles: "Last year I had dinner with a financial advisor who has a client that gets angry when hearing about portfolio returns or benchmarks. None of that matters to the client; All he cares about is whether he has enough money to keep traveling with his wife. That’s his sole benchmark. 'Everyone else can stress out about outperforming each other,' he says. 'I just like Europe.'"

Daimonic

The concept of the daimonic is usually related to something wicked. Diabolic even. Being motivated by an evil force to commit unholy deeds.

But it can be the opposite.

The unrest that exists deep inside can be used to propel us, motivate us, and lead us to self-discovery.

Used for good, daimonic means acknowledging your anger. Not surpassing it. Surpassing it means not allowing the free flow of ideas from your deeper consciousness.

In that sense, the concept of demonic is about destruction. But not being posses by an evil force. Rather, spotting the evil, the dangers outside and in. And then, unleashing havoc in a more constructive way. Destroying the status quo, destroying old harming patterns in yourself, so you can create new and better ways of living for yourself.

In line with the whole theme of this particular edition. I wanted to mention that better thoughts, at least for me, emerge when I engage with better content.

The quality of my thinking is heavily influenced by the quality of the books I read.

Read interesting and insightful books.

Have interesting and insightful thoughts.

If you are looking for something to light the spark in your head, consider my membership program and get access to my boutique library of book summaries. Plus, other written material to ignite thinking.

Thank you for your time!

Regards,

Ivaylo Durmonski

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