Note to God

All too often, we think that God works only through our better parts, yet most of his plans are realized in and despite our frailty. Thus Saint Paul could say: “To keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, but he said to me: ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness’” (2 Cor 12:7-9).

In ancient Greece, the concept of arete was used to capture the idea of living up to one’s full potential and purpose. Arete was, in some sense, the earliest known incarnation of the modern self-improvement movement, encouraging the people to strive for continuous growth and excellence across a range of life areas, including relationships, intellectual pursuits, moral conduct, and more. The concept connects closely to eudaemonia, a state of flourishing happiness and fulfillment that is achieved only through seeking growth, meaning, purpose, and authenticity. The ancient Greek philosophers believed that through the pursuit of arete, the intentional life of growth and purpose, one can achieve a state of eudaemonic happiness.

Curiosity serves you in your early years as you learn about the world; a rapid ascent up the learning curve is what allows you to survive to reproductive age in the wild. But once you’ve figured out how your world works, that same curiosity is more likely to kill you in your later years if it pushes you to explore beyond the safety of your core routines.  A life without learning is a life devoid of the desire to search, explore, and learn and lacks the texture created by this desire. A life without curiosity is an empty life, a life of stasis, a life without wonder. Paraphrasing a friend on the topic, inside every eighty-year-old is a ten-year-old wondering, What the f*ck just happened? But the seeds of that sentiment are sown many years earlier. They are sown in your twenties and thirties when you stop pursuing any interests or hobbies outside your job. They are sown in your forties and fifties when you stop trying to understand the world and start saying, “That’s just the way it ...

 THE BIG QUESTION: WHO will be sitting in the front row at your funeral?  THE THREE PILLARS OF SOCIAL WEALTH: DEPTH: Connection to a small circle of people with deep, meaningful bonds BREADTH: Connection to a larger circle of people for support and belonging beyond the self, either through individual relationships or through community, religious, spiritual, or cultural infrastructure EARNED STATUS: The lasting respect, admiration, and trust of your peers that you receive on the basis of earned, not acquired, status symbols

Earned status is the great equalizer. It is the real respect, admiration, and trust received through hard-won treasures:  Free time  Loving relationships  Purposeful work, expertise, and wisdom Healthy mind and body  Hard-won financial success The richest people in the world cannot acquire these things in a day. If you don’t make a clear effort to create the space and prioritize effectively, each of these markers will prove elusive. The world’s richest people cannot build a loving relationship any faster than you. They cannot forge a healthy mind and body any faster than you

By seneca

The Imitation: We are all weak.. but be sure that none is weaker than yourself. You are the weakest. Had not been grace given to you, you will have fallen much more. And if this grace had been given to someone else, he will be so much more  holy

We can make ourselves holy in every situation in which God places us, and therefore we can do so in family life, looking after the home and the children, in our workshop or at our work-table. The Carthusian sanctifies himself in contemplation and St. Joseph became holy at his bench. The Carmelite in fasting and the mother in bringing well-being and joy to her home. Wherever God has placed you, in your home, your office, in your social circle, you have a fixed task to perform—it is not your neighbour’s, it is yours—and according to God’s intention, it ought to sanctify you if, there where you are, you live your Christianity to the full. Where God has put you, you are irreplaceable, you are given an apostolate that no one else but you can discharge. Do not look for another field of action, it is there that you will sanctify yourself by making your brethren holy.