Tag: thursday dispatch

• The Thursday Dispatch: 10 Things Worth Sharing This Week

  1. The Book When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi follows Paul’s life as a neurosurgeon before and after he is diagnosed with Terminal lung cancer. The book is split into two parts: Paul’s life as a resident Neurosurgeon and his experiences before his terminal lung cancer diagnosis, and his life after he is diagnosed. Paul shows us how to live and die. This book is a worldwide bestseller and one of my favourite books of late.
  2. The author James Clear, who wrote the bestseller Atomic Habits, also created the Atoms Habit-Building app. I’ve been using this app for over a hundred days and focusing on cultivating three main habits—reading, writing, and working out/walking every day. So far, thanks to the app, I’ve been able to write on 126 days, read on 131 days and work out/ walk on 170 days. Each time you complete a task for the day, you cast a vote to be a better you. I’ve built important habits using this app, hopefully for the long term. I highly recommend using this app.
  3. Daily meditation. Before sleeping, I’ve been sitting on my bed with my feet on the floor, maintaining an erect posture, setting a timer for 10 minutes, closing my eyes, staying as still as possible, focusing on the natural rhythm of my breath. I’ve found that this simple meditation practice makes me less reactive and much calmer. Try this meditation practice and see what you think.
  4. I like this quote from the Novel Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk: “You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everyone else, and we are all part of the same compost pile”. I grew up with a sense of entitlement. I thought I was destined for greatness. I know this sounds corny, but I think many of us feel we’re meant for something great. The fact is, there’s nothing special about us inherently. If we want to achieve something extraordinary, ie be a top writer, athlete, businessman or whatever, we need to put enough reps in and earn our stripes until we are worthy of greatness. The harder we work, the luckier we get. And many normal people ( and we are all normal) have done great things. Why can’t we? We can as long as we are willing to do the work.
  5. The Sufi mystic poet Rumi said, “As you start to walk on the way, the way appears.” Clarity comes from action. Jordan Peterson tells us that we need to aim at something on the path to meaning. Even if we aim badly, at least we know what we don’t want. When we act, we get valuable information that takes us forward. Our goals might change as we act and adapt to our circumstances, but action is the cornerstone. 
  6. What was Albert Einstein’s religion? From the book Einstein: His Life and Universe, “The final intellectual hero of the Olympia Academy was Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677), the Jewish philosopher from Amsterdam. His influence was primarily religious: Einstein embraced his concept of an amorphous God reflected in the awe-inspiring beauty, rationality, and unity of nature’s laws. But like Spinoza, Einstein did not believe in a personal God who rewarded and punished and intervened in our daily lives.” Elon Musk also resonates with Spinoza’s concept of an Amorphous god.
  7. 13 ways to stop overthinking: Write, i.e., journal, and try to solve why you are overthinking. There might be something you can do about it. For example, if you are overthinking about your health, then book an appointment with your doctor instead of thinking about it. Or if you are overthinking about a problem in your life, i.e., managing money and your finances, read the top three best-selling books in money and financial management. Try to untangle your thoughts on the page and get to a solution. 2. Go to therapy. I’ve been seeing a clinical psychologist for several months, and I’ve learned more about myself and my neuroses (and I have a lot of them) than I have in years of self-reflection. Marcus Aurelius said, “ Don’t be ashamed to need help. Like a soldier storming a wall, you have a mission to accomplish. And if you’ve been wounded and you need a comrade to pull you up? So what?“Don’t be afraid to ask for help. 3. Go for a brisk walk. 4. Have a cup of tea. 5. Read. 6. Blog. 7 .Make videos.8.Use that pent-up energy to be creative. 8. Meditate. 9. Spend time with family and friends. 10. When you engage in hobbies, you’ll stop overthinking because you’ll be so enthralled in what you’re doing. 11. Lift weights. 12. Realise that the fact that you know you’re overthinking means that your awareness that observes your overthinking isn’t overthinking. This observation can be powerful and help you detach from overthinking tendencies. Remember you are not your mind. Make sure your mind doesn’t control you. You’re in the driving seat.
  8. To produce creative work, make the process as easy as possible ( this goes for building any habit). For example, I used to do most of my writing on my MacBook, but I find it much easier to write on my phone, so every post I’ve produced has been written on my phone for the past couple of months.
  9. How to get rid of health anxiety. Health anxiety is something I’ve struggled with for years, but what helps me is to be in the best shape possible, where I look and feel my best. If I look and feel my best, I tend not to worry about my health.
  10. “The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read”- Mark Twain. In my past relationship, I stopped being myself. I stopped reading, writing and due to the fact I had chronic wrist pain (which luckily I’ve had surgery to fix) I felt depressed( a large part of it was because I was in a relationship I shouldn’t have been in) and because I wasn’t reading my brain was less sharp, I stopped getting good ideas, and I found life almost without meaning. Now that I’m back reading and writing, I feel better and sharper than I have in a long time. The more we read, the more we know, and the more we know, the more we can do, and the more we can do, the more opportunities we have to succeed. Even reading 30 minutes daily is enough to read 24-36 books yearly! That’s much better than reading zero books.

  19th Jun 2025

  goals, Health, improvement, life, mental-health, newsletter, thursday dispatch, writing

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