May 2012
7 posts
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“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are...”
– Marianne Williamson
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WatchEmerson: The Idea in America
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“If you want to awaken all of humanity, then awaken all of yourself… Truly...”
– Lao Tzu
April 2012
2 posts
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February 2012
6 posts
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The Secret is Compassion
“Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we are saved by love.” - Reinhold Niebuhr
When I think of people who I truly admire and have a profound level of respect for, people who may or may not have achieved a lot in terms of status or money in life, they are people who posses a quality which I have set to practice more consciously in my own life.
Happy...
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A Poem to Live By
Life is about those you meet and the things you create,
Not the things you possess, but the moments that are great.
Make no distinction between work and play,
Passionately pursue excellence and live this way.
Let unconventional and impossible be your dreams,
Regardless, pursue them with all your means.
Always have fun and always learn more,
Change the world by what you stand for.
-...
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“Be bold and mighty forces will come to your aid.”
– Basil King
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“Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.”
– Rumi
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“The first key to writing is to write, not to think.”
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January 2012
26 posts
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WatchAthiesm 2.0: Religion for Athiests
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Tell Me What You Do and I'll Tell You Who You Are
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” - Aristotle.
You can get better. In fact, you will get better, by repetition, by doing, by practice, by persistence.
One of my colleagues has become an expert at an enterprise level application we support in our current roles. I recall only 12 months ago, he was nowhere close to where he is now in his...
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“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.”
– Jim Rohn
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“Respond to every call that excites your spirit.”
– Rumi
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10 Questions for Success
1. Have I made certain that those I love feel loved?
2. Have I done something today that improved the world?
3. Have I conditioned my body to be more strong flexible and resilient?
4. Have I reviewed and honed my plans for the future?
5. Have I acted in private with the same integrity I exhibit in public?
6. Have I avoided unkind words and deeds?
7. Have I accomplished something worthwhile?
...
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“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”
– Ernest Hemingway
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“Not in the Books That I Find, But by Searching My Mind”
– The Examined Life.
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Better Than I Last Was
“I learned patience, perseverance, and dedication. Now I really know myself, and I know my voice. It’s a voice of pain and victory.” - Anthony Hamilton
Meditation is meant to allow one to find a Zen-like state of mind in search of wisdom and life free of suffering . In order to direct thoughts, control emotions and actions. In order to affect outcomes.
I meditate. I also CrossFit. I...
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Figure It Out For Yourself
Figure it out for yourself, my lad, You’ve all that the greatest of men have had; Two arms, two hands, two legs, two eyes, And a brain to use if you would be wise, With this equipment they all began— So start from the top and say, I CAN.
Look them over, the wise and the great, They take their food from a common plate, And similar knives and forks they use, With similar laces they tie...
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Be Passionately Curious
“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.” - Albert Einstein
Einstein’s genius was in large due to his arrogance and unwillingness to settle along with his childish curiosity. This is a common trait among the most brilliant people, ones who later in life are called geniuses. People like Einstein are able to do their best work only in doing work which they enjoy and...
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“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think...”
– Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood (via languagemagic)
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“And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing...”
– Sylvia Plath (via thegirlandherbooks)
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“Why Do You Get Up in the Morning?”
– The Examined Life
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Why Do You Get Up in the Morning?
“Your purpose in life is to find your purpose and give your whole heart and soul to it.” - Buddha
In trying to answer this question in my own life I’ve begun to live what I call an examined life, a life in which I am fully engaged. Having grown up in a conservative Persian family I was taught many conventional views when it comes to things such as work and life. I worked hard in...
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The Problem with Goals
“Achievement is not always success, while reputed failure often is. It is honest endeavor, persistent effort to do the best possible under any and all circumstances.” - Orison Swett Marden
When setting goals we should not obsess over the goal. When we become obsessed with a goal we are seldom content as we always want more. We should have aspirations and desires to improve and...
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December 2011
36 posts
“Your purpose in life is to find your purpose and give your whole heart and soul to it”
“Meditation brings wisdom; lack of mediation leaves ignorance. Know well what leads you forward and what holds you back, and choose the path that leads to wisdom.”
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How to Win Friends
“You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.” - Dale Carnegie
I wonder how many friends we can accumulate in our lifetime if instead of trying to make others interested in us, we become interested in others. This was after all Dale Carnegie’s advice to winning friends and...
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Cultivate Enthusiasm
“The great accomplishments of man have resulted from the transmission of ideas and enthusiasm.” - Thomas J. Watson
The word enthusiasm stems from the Greek word, enthios, or the God within. Enthusiasm is derived from two things: learning and accomplishment. The two go hand in hand. Reflecting on the first 30 days, I was most enthusiastic about a post when I had come to have a greater...
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“School confuses us, so do bosses and families. Go ahead, fail. Try to avoid...”
– Failure vs. Mistake, Seth Godin.
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What Do You Talk About?
“Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events [and things]. Small minds discuss people.” - Eleanor Roosevelt
It is important to be conscious of what we say. We shouldn’t discuss people. It is an absolute waste of time. It accomplishes nothing. It only feeds one’s own sense of pride and arrogance. And quite frankly, there are much more significant things to discuss than...
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Resolve to Begin Today
“If you asked me for my New Year Resolution, it would be to find out who I am.” - Cyril Cusack
I started this blog thirty days ago because I realized I should not wait to begin doing what I knew I should’ve done long ago.
We don’t need to wait till January 1st of next year to begin doing what we should’ve already started doing. I wonder who invented the idea of a New...
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A Good Conscience
“A good conscience is a continual Christmas.” - Benjamin Franklin
Nothing is as valuable as peace of mind. A good conscience in knowing you have done the best you could have done. Regardless of what you do, what matters most is that you do your best. That’s all. To expect anything more is to remain still and anything less would be unacceptable.