#59: intelligence, energy, integrity
👋 Welcome to the 59th issue of Out of Curiosity, a weekly newsletter promoting ideas to help get 1% better everyday.
My name is Reza, and every week, I go through nearly 100 pieces of content (from books and podcasts to newsletters and tweets), and bring you the best in this newsletter.
In this issue:
📝 Writing, briefly
🤝 Pick partners with intelligence, energy and integrity
💭 36 ways to live differently
⚡️ Why spiritual growth does not lead to enlightenment
🔗 etc. etc.
📝 Writing, briefly
I think it's far more important to write well than most people realize.
Writing doesn't just communicate ideas; it generates them. If you're bad at writing and don't like to do it, you'll miss out on most of the ideas writing would have generated.
🤝 Pick partners with intelligence, energy and integrity
In terms of picking people to work with, pick ones that have high intelligence, high energy, and high integrity, I find that’s the three-part checklist that you cannot compromise on.
And then high integrity is the most important because otherwise if you’ve got the other two, what you have is you have a smart and hard working crook, who’s eventually going to cheat you.
The way you do that is through signals. And signals is what they do, not what they say. It’s all the non-verbal stuff that they do when they think nobody is looking.
💭 36 ways to live differently
Get better at taking notes. Find a system that works for you (there’s no one-size-fits-all solution) and use it every day. If you don’t write things down, you’ll forget the majority of what you learn.
Know the difference between what you can control and what you can’t. (Hint: most things you can’t.) If you’re able to stop worrying about things you can’t control, this practice can remove a great deal of worries!
Understand the principle of loss aversion: We tend to fear losses more than we desire gains. Keep it in mind when considering different options and risks. Sometimes the most dangerous thing you can do is play it safe.
When struggling with a decision, consider each outcome and see how it physically feels.
Some people are naturally uplifting and fun to be around. Spend more time with them, and less with people who are negative and discouraging.
⚡️ Why spiritual growth does not lead to enlightenment
By contrast, on the Tantrik path, we seek to allow the energy of pure Awareness (chit-shakti) to permeate all the levels of embodiment and aspects of daily life. This is called integration.
So integration is the real spiritual growth, but it has nothing to do with trying to recondition oneself to conform more closely to an ideal found in books on spirituality or in the mouth of a teacher (which is what most people call spiritual growth). Rather, it means doing whatever is necessary to open up the body-mind system in such a way as to allow the energy of awakeness to flow unimpeded and permeate every aspect of your life.
🔗 etc. etc.
🔍 World’s first conversational search engine
📚 What an amazingly-organized list of 350+ books to read
🤖 More AI! Vacay’s free AI-travel assistant is a chat bot that answers travel-related questions and even generates full itineraries based on your budget and interests.
🧘♂️ There are many breathing methods and the physical effects of each vary. This infographic from Sloww Sunday shows different breathing practices to master your nervous system.
✨ One last thing…
👋 Until next week,
