I have just started an Instagram account. You can find anything I think worth your attention. This is kind of a place for me to note down important things. Always quality content. English %70, Turkish %30 we might say :) I’d be more than happy if you give me a follow.
⚠️Most of you did not send me a request for Stoic Guide. Please use this link to do so. It is a free 145-page guide filled with nuggets of Stoicism. If there is problem for you reaching the pdf, please reply this mail so that I can sort it out.
If you have read it and would like to discuss some ideas with me, reply to this email. What is more fun to discuss on life's most important matters?
🙏 Someone just bought me 3 coffees after my last post. I do not know who s/he is but I am flattered with the kind words. Note was saying “my fav newsletter of the hundreds I receive”. Thank you, the world is a better place thanks to the people as kind as you. We need to show more appreciation towards people whose works we admire and give genuine feedback when there is parts we do not find good. This is the way to progress.
I will always try to keep this newsletter free. My only motivation is this kind of reviews and support. I do not care about the money, it directly goes to the donations we make as a family. My broader goal is to create a side-stream of money to help people.
Remember the motto, knowledge is useless unless it is shared. Money is nothing unless you help others in need. What will you do with more money anyway? Take it to the other world?
I also would like to use this occasion to thank my brother Doğacan Aydın, and my lovely wife Büşra for buying me coffees in the near past. Every person needs this kind of supportive humans. I know you will support me whatever bullshit endeavor I get myself involved in. Cheers.
💡 1 Question
Have you ever thought about what was the last thing you do by not expecting anything in return ? I think even motherhood, love, religions are things that we all do/long after to get something in return. To be loved, to feel belonged, safe, to fulfill our egoistic needs or you name it. Do you have any objections? Hit the comments.
🧠 Good to Know in 5 bullet-points:
Epicureanism:
Epicurus is believed to have lived between approximately 460–370 BC and it’s certainly a relief to know that our pursuit of happiness as modern slaves has at least 2,500 years of roots.
The first requirement for Epicurus to reach happiness is ataraxia, that is, to be peaceful and fearless, or the absolute peace of the soul, and the second is aponia, that is, freedom from pain. Epicurus’ hedonism or enjoyment comes from the absence of pain and the absence of distress in the soul.
“Ultimately, what Epicureanism taught was a fulfilled life free from pain, hunger, distress, worry, and God.”
Of all the means which wisdom acquires to ensure happiness throughout the whole of life, by far the most important is friendship.”
Epicurus’ Tetrapharmakos or 4— part remedy:
Don’t fear God. It is pointless to fear God, because God does not exist. If there is, it is too great to care about what humans do. (Ἄφοβον ὁ θεός)
Don’t worry about death. There is no death while we exist, we do not exist when there is death. (ἀνύποπτον ὁ θάνατος)
What is good is easy to get. (καὶ τἀγαθὸν μὲν εὔκτητον)
What is terrible is easy to endure. (τὸ δὲ δεινὸν εὐεκκαρτέρητον)
For further inquiry, hit here or here. Or if you are a video person, I also got you covered:
📝 4 Articles:
7 types of rest got popular after the article. Here is an author who tries the all types and gives some insights.
No advice is good for everyone. Try to find what works for you by trial-and-error.
7 types of rest:
Physical
Mental
Emotional
Social
Sensory
Creative
Spiritual
I firmly believe that happiness is not a destination it is a hunt. This article agrees with me.
Maybe it’s not the achieving stuff that makes us happy, but rather the act of chasing after achievements.
Ouch : “Like—say your startup goes public and you become a billionaire. What now? What will you buy, where will you live, what will you eat for lunch?”
This is not an article but you may read it as a bullet-point productivity hacks, open-sourced from all over the internet.
You know I am fond of lists and rules for life. This article has some good ones:
Your language defines your reality: question what you think is the only truth. “The limits of my language are the limits of my world.”
All roads lead to happiness. “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.”
Choose the present. Seize the present. Be present. “To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” — Oscar Wilde
“This is the real secret of life — to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play,” Watts observed.
🐦7 Tweets/Threads:
Fabulous list of documentaries, even if you are not a designer:
My favs:
Art & Copy
The Toys that Made Us (I have suggested this before in this newsletter, it is a must-watch.)
Strong negotiation tricks to add to your arsenal:
Here are some triggers for you to learn in order to get to know people more easily and manipulate them in needed occasions:
You need more tools to help you create better presentations:
Self-care is the utmost important thing for yourself. Try to create certain slots in your day just for your own care. ıf you cannot find 10 minutes you must create 1 hour. Number 1 priority has to be you.
Be like banana, strong. Show your presence and uniqueness even if you are bombarded with strange events:
One of the most blissful sounds I have heard:
📺 3 Videos:
Intermittent fasting is really popular these days. It might not be everyone but it was the fastest way to lose the weight for me. This video explains succinctly why it works and how you can implement the tactics.
“All intermittent fasting methods are essentially based on the same idea: When you reduce your caloric intake, your body will use its stored fat for energy. But what makes intermittent fasting different from simply cutting calories is the possibility that it’s easier for people to restrict calories for limited stretches of time rather than for the days, weeks and months demanded by conventional diets.”
“After 18 weeks, the mice who could eat at all hours showed signs of insulin resistance and also had liver damage. But the mice who ate in an 8-hour window did not have these conditions. They also weighed 28 percent less than the mice with 24-hour access to food — even though both groups of mice ate the same number of calories a day.”
Try to find what works for you the best. My schedule was eating from 11am until 7 pm. The most popular one is "12-6” window of eating. Whatever works for you, it would be much better than eating all day.
Kurzgesagt did what it does best again. Trying to simplify complicated issues we all face as human beings. Their videos are always a means to make me humble and feel the unimportance of my kind.
“Every generation assumes they are important enough to witness the apocalypse.”
“We went from worshipping the moon to walking on it”
It is hard to understand what Wittgenstein says, start from here. I am still trying :)
✍️ Stoic Lesson of the Week:
Starting from this post I will be sharing one lesson from my book Stoic Guide, in order of importance I seem reasonable. The main aim is to motivate you to read the whole thing or at least be aware of the some of the most important ones.
“Any person capable of angering you becomes your master; he can anger you only when you permit yourself to be disturbed by him.”
— Epictetus
Lesson1: Being angry or not is your choice. Whenever you get angry with someone or something you are giving your control to them. Do not let them be your master.
Stoics of all kinds strongly claim that we control our emotions and responses. This is a strong realization. There are a lot of circumstances that will step on your toes. You will feel the stress and anxiety. You think that letting go of emotions as anger is the solution. However, the most important thing to your happiness, Epictetus thinks, is your tranquility. You have to protect it at all costs. One of the strongest ways to ensure your tranquility is to realize that you have the power over events that disturb you. You simply can choose not to have an opinion, not to have a physical or emotional reaction. You just let go. This quote also reminds me Churcill’s quote : “You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks.” There are thousands of obstacles on your way to the stars. See them, learn from them, never let them disturb you, and let go. “If your body was turned over to just anyone, you would doubtless take exception.
Why aren’t you ashamed that you have made your mind vulnerable to anyone who happens to criticize you, so that it automatically becomes confused and upset?” asks Epictetus, very righteously. Never forget, an angry man is always a stupid man.
📊 1 Interesting Graph/Stat:
Visual Capitalist is my go-to source to understand the world better through statistics and visualization.
Where will be the next 1000 babies born? The results are not surprising. I was expecting India, Pakistan, China, Nigeria. Us got me surprised for a second but is not that abnormal thinking the population size and all the immigrants they received lately. Europe is like a dream place, I believe they never will be out of empty spaces while the other continents are living on top of each other.
🦩 Goosebumps
📽️ What to Watch
This week suggestion is the lovely film “The Bookshop”. It tells the story of a strong woman who tries to make her dream come true by founding a bookshop and defy every odds against her.
I love rainy weather, old buildings and clothes and bookshop. No need to have a strong story telling for me to like the film, to be honest.
Also, Emily Mortimer is the leading actress, who else wo you need? I sometimes watch this kind of films just because I adore the quality of art provided by the actors/actress in it.
Loneliness is not permitted in bookshops:
Remember, no one ever feels lonely in a bookshop.
Totally agree:
In the case of biographies, it's better, I find, if they're about good people, whereas novels are much more interesting if they are about nasty people.
Courage is the most admirable virtue you might have as a human being:
Let me tell you what it is I admire about human beings. What I value most is the one virtue they share with gods and animals, and which I will therefore no longer refer to as a virtue. I mean... courage.
Do not spend so much time thinking about right or wrong. And also, it is great for your mind to always find something that you cannot understand.
I do not attach as much importance as you do, I dare say, to the notions of right and wrong. I have read Lolita, as you asked me to. It is a good book, and therefore I think you should try and sell it to the people of Hardborough. They won't understand it, but that's all for the best. Understanding makes the mind lazy.
📜 3 Quotes:
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle.
— Ian Maclaren
“It depends” is almost always the right answer in any big question.
— Linus Torvalds
📱 1 Useful App/Website/Tool
I am into learning programming these days and I was looking for resources. Even if the lists are not exhaustive, learn-anything is really good easy to search for some quality sources.
When I typed Swift it provided me with numerous resources:
You can always buy me coffee to help me write content more awake and focused:)
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