How to fill our days

With silence, contemplation, and even boredom

Hi there,

You ever step away from social media, your smartphone or the internet and immediately be filled with utter dread? What now, you wonder. If you are anything like me your brain has been trained for over a decade to be an information-guzzling machine; unable to pause for a second without a theatrical existential crisis taking place. When we step away from the digital noise, we must face our inner world; and who are we without all the noise?

Five things to share:

1. In how to fill our days, I provide an alternative to our current capitalist mode of existence that constantly nudges us to be productivity machines and mindless consumers. Some suggestions: Get enough sleep, nurture your hobby(ies), and spend time in nature. While you’re at it postpone meetings with time-wasting morons.

2. The end of history has been postponed, but when we grow up, we might not have a job. Also, big data is watching and those who own the data own the future. Most importantly, these global problems affect us all and need global solutions: Unfortunately, we can never underestimate human stupidity. These are some of the lessons from 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari.

3. Why not meditate? An excellent video from What I’ve Learned on how meditation can change our brain's default mode. In this video, Joseph Everett explains the neuroscience behind why meditation helps us control our mind and how it can improve our focus in a subtle but effective way.

4. A quote I want to share this week:

   Write a little every day, without hope, without despair.
   — Isak Dinesen

   It’s all about showing up every day and doing the work: Without hope, without despair.

5. If you want to be a better person, find something to do outside of work.

   Hobbies are a corner of our existence over which we have the impression of control, a sphere in which we feel we can achieve a kind of mastery usually denied to us in our wider personal and professional lives.

That’s all for this week!

Thank you for reading, and please share with anyone you think may benefit.

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Until next time,

Mehret