I always thought a good life meant being out and busy all the time, and my happiest days lately have been the quiet ones with a walk and some writing. This made me realise those days might be the point, so I’m going to protect more of them
Fun is the opposite of happiness. Fun fulfills a need. Full happiness is based on the absence of needs (which is impossible for a human being, of course). So, the less needs you have, the happier you will be.
In some ways I agree with your comments about social media. However I have developed a large circle of online friends I communicate with daily. We are primarily older and like minded. Social media perfectly encapsulates “you’ll find what you’re looking for.
Funny thing I wrote in the past is wanting to have a boring life. All I wanted and still want to this day is having time to get in the zone, focus on bookbinding, candle making, sewing, crafting, writing, making bread and pasta from scratch, and at the end of the day, just sit still or curled up in a book. I no longer want a fast-paced life, a life consumed by social media, for the same reasons you've shared here and to stop brain rot. Thanks for all the references too. I'll look deeper into those!
You will remember the evening you nearly talked yourself out of, the walk round the block or the plain supper cooked slowly with the radio on, long after the hour spent thumbing a feed for a hit has gone blank. The scroll never pays out.
Being free from other people’s issues, at least before I can reconcile my own, allows me to perform at a greater level. If I envision myself as being subject to another’s complexities, particularly if I cannot see its end, boredom and drudgery then becomes exponential.
Fitting that you quote Musonius. He's the Stoic who took this furthest: in his lecture on training, he argues that practice is of two kinds, one for the soul alone and one for soul and body together, because the body is the instrument we act through. Your morning run before writing is exactly that. The "boring" day isn't empty; it's trained.
It was only upon reaching older age and a higher level of wealth that I appreciated that the things I derive most pleasure from were available to me all along as a younger man with less resources - be that a cup of coffee, a hike, or a good book.
Embrace the boringness - it is the key to living a good life!
So you are telling me Richard Feynman solved quantum mechanics on cocktail napkins at a strip club, Toni Morrison wrote masterpieces before her kids woke up, and here I am negotiating with myself just to unload the dishwasher without looking at my phone?
and of course, I don’t mean the noise out in the street—
I tried to take a breath.
I tried to think with the exact same seriousness
I feel when reading Ibn Zaydun and his *Risala al-Hazliyya* (The Comic Epistle),
or when making sure the coffee is brewed to absolute perfection.
I tried to summon the same intense focus I have in the studio
while observing a tree.
In other words, I looked past the numbing of the middle classes and the rampant cultural globalization,
and thought a bit more about the smell of bread.
**The Beauty of the Mundane**
An intellectual and artistic movement focused on uncovering aesthetic value in simple, neglected details.
Despite the Eastern roots of the idea, it crystallized, evolved, and grew in the West alongside the literary realism movement.
It focused on slowing down the pace of life, paying attention to the present moment, and believing that greatness does not necessarily require extraordinary, dramatic events.
Among the pioneering figures of this movement in literature was the great Russian writer Anton Chekhov.
In the world of cinema, we can never forget the brilliant director Richard Linklater and his magnificent *Before* trilogy.
I always thought a good life meant being out and busy all the time, and my happiest days lately have been the quiet ones with a walk and some writing. This made me realise those days might be the point, so I’m going to protect more of them
The older I get, the more I agree. But you know, letting loose is fun too.
Fun is the opposite of happiness. Fun fulfills a need. Full happiness is based on the absence of needs (which is impossible for a human being, of course). So, the less needs you have, the happier you will be.
Being comfortable with being bored is an underrated skill
In some ways I agree with your comments about social media. However I have developed a large circle of online friends I communicate with daily. We are primarily older and like minded. Social media perfectly encapsulates “you’ll find what you’re looking for.
Funny thing I wrote in the past is wanting to have a boring life. All I wanted and still want to this day is having time to get in the zone, focus on bookbinding, candle making, sewing, crafting, writing, making bread and pasta from scratch, and at the end of the day, just sit still or curled up in a book. I no longer want a fast-paced life, a life consumed by social media, for the same reasons you've shared here and to stop brain rot. Thanks for all the references too. I'll look deeper into those!
You will remember the evening you nearly talked yourself out of, the walk round the block or the plain supper cooked slowly with the radio on, long after the hour spent thumbing a feed for a hit has gone blank. The scroll never pays out.
Being free from other people’s issues, at least before I can reconcile my own, allows me to perform at a greater level. If I envision myself as being subject to another’s complexities, particularly if I cannot see its end, boredom and drudgery then becomes exponential.
Fitting that you quote Musonius. He's the Stoic who took this furthest: in his lecture on training, he argues that practice is of two kinds, one for the soul alone and one for soul and body together, because the body is the instrument we act through. Your morning run before writing is exactly that. The "boring" day isn't empty; it's trained.
I’m glad I read this. I’ve been enlightened by it in how I’ve been feeling recently.
I'm a annual subscriber.. how do I get your books that are included? Thanks
Hello, you’ll find them in the perks section via this link- https://www.thestoicmanual.com/perks.
Got it.. thanks
Beautiful thank you for sharing
It was only upon reaching older age and a higher level of wealth that I appreciated that the things I derive most pleasure from were available to me all along as a younger man with less resources - be that a cup of coffee, a hike, or a good book.
Embrace the boringness - it is the key to living a good life!
So well written.
So you are telling me Richard Feynman solved quantum mechanics on cocktail napkins at a strip club, Toni Morrison wrote masterpieces before her kids woke up, and here I am negotiating with myself just to unload the dishwasher without looking at my phone?
The Beauty of the Mundane..
Amidst that endless hustle and bustle,
the noise,
and the noise,
and the noise—
and of course, I don’t mean the noise out in the street—
I tried to take a breath.
I tried to think with the exact same seriousness
I feel when reading Ibn Zaydun and his *Risala al-Hazliyya* (The Comic Epistle),
or when making sure the coffee is brewed to absolute perfection.
I tried to summon the same intense focus I have in the studio
while observing a tree.
In other words, I looked past the numbing of the middle classes and the rampant cultural globalization,
and thought a bit more about the smell of bread.
**The Beauty of the Mundane**
An intellectual and artistic movement focused on uncovering aesthetic value in simple, neglected details.
Despite the Eastern roots of the idea, it crystallized, evolved, and grew in the West alongside the literary realism movement.
It focused on slowing down the pace of life, paying attention to the present moment, and believing that greatness does not necessarily require extraordinary, dramatic events.
Among the pioneering figures of this movement in literature was the great Russian writer Anton Chekhov.
In the world of cinema, we can never forget the brilliant director Richard Linklater and his magnificent *Before* trilogy.
Ultimately, we don’t need to escape life.
Perhaps all we need is a single moment
to hear what silent things have to say.
by HADI_SYZEF
Quiet compounding looks boring from the outside. That is usually the point.