"It's not what we don't know that gets us in trouble. It's what we know for sure that just ain't so." - Mark Twain
Reading on the bus
If there’s one thing I like about the one hour commute to work and university, it has to be the fact that…
…
It’s one hour both ways and I can spend that time reading on my kindle or just listening to music.
Perhaps it is the fact that I’m new or maybe it’s the new years' energy feeding off of me, but I've been reading on the bus.
The whole entire ride.
I mean - I've done it before last year, but with having a goal, a habit, a purpose, I’m working my discipline muscles to create content.
It feels good.
Even if I am wallowing in regret after I changed seats thinking I’d be sheltered from the horrible sun.
Stats
Habit: Reading
Date: 07/02/2018
Currently Reading: 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
Previously Read: N/A
Pages Read Today (Minimum 10): 17
The Book Of The Day
Jordan Peterson’s ‘12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos’!
Are you surprised it’s still the same book?
I’m not.
I'm only 13% of the way through the book. At the rate I'm going it'd take another 24 days - 4 weeks for one book!
But what am I to do with all of the content that I want to talk about? I can't throw it on you (the readers).
Yesterday I had about 30 different quotes with only four to five of them going onto the post. Oh no.
This just won't do.
Rule 1: Stand Up Straight With Your Shoulders Back
Continuing straight off the bat!
I find it interesting how Peterson is able to draw similarities between the history of music and nature.
It reminds me of a question which was addressed by Vsauce which is - ‘Will We Ever Run Out of New Music?’
With evolution will we ever come to a complete stop? Is there a so-called, ‘end-point’ for evolutionary improvements and changes? And if we do get to that stage, what happens?
"Nature varies like a musical score - and that, in part, explains why music produces its deep imitations of meaning."
It is that with each change in environment, the factor which leads to one's success is also changed.
What we've prioritized, whether it be for our future or future partner, has changed rapidly over each decade.
What we may want now is not the same as what someone would want if they were in the 1900's.
Of course, the most basic and fundamental needs are similar, but there are variations which are applicable to our time period.
A small change may not affect the whole image but over time it will.
('From little things big things grow' begins to play.)
The Master Control System
One thing Peterson raises in this chapter, which goes along hand in hand with the topic of nature and our very yummy crustacean friends, is the 'master control system'.
The whole entire point of the stand up straight with your shoulders back rule is based on dominance, the dominance hierarchy, serotonin and the positive feedback loop.
To keep it plain and simple, of course. You're missing out on a lot by not reading the book.
Regardless -
"Low serotonin means less happiness, more pain and anxiety, more illness, and a shorter lifespan - among humans, just as among crustaceans."
The power of thought is something you don't want to trifle with.
Having those anxieties, those thoughts which, no matter how irrational they are, still affect you, is making you worse every single time.
There's a part in you that will freeze up when the trigger is ticked and it's the way that you respond to it which will affect how you feel about it the next time it happens.
Lord knows I know that feeling.
"Our anxiety systems are very practical. They assume that anything you run away from is dangerous. The proof of that is, of course, the fact you ran away."
This section, in regard to serotonin, one's health, and how those who are on the lower rungs of life are affected, reminds me of another book I've read called, "How to Stop Worrying And Start Living" by Dale Carnegie.
I would highly recommend reading it in conjunction with this book.
"Anxiety-induced retreat makes everything retreated from more anxiety-inducing. Anxiety-induced retreat makes the self smaller and the ever-more dangerous world larger."
Another day down!
A bit shorter than my last post! It's a little bit hard pin-pointing which quotes and sections I should choose. I should be writing as I read - but I'm not.
All I'm doing is going back to what I've highlighted in hopes that I'll remember what I was intending to say.
And that's a horrible habit.
But anyway,
Thanks for joining this ride! I hope you’ve enjoyed it thus far.
Tell me what you think of the book at its current stage! What are your thoughts on the quotes given and questions raised?
And don’t forget to follow if you’d like to see more updates and thoughts from me,
C8!
Feel free to check out my last post! Click here!