It’s easy to identify the monoculture of Germany in the 1930s or America in 1776. It’s clear what people at those times, in those places, accepted to be good and true even when in reality, that was certainly not always the case. They don’t immediately deny criticism, or have such a strong emotional reaction to it that they become unapproachable or unchangeable. Interestingly enough, those two feelings are more similar than you’d think (at least, their origin is the same). It’s the same thing as the fear of the unknown: As children, we don’t know which way is left, let alone why we’re alive or whether or not a particular activity we’ve never done before is going to be scary or harmful. When we’re adults engaging with routine-ness, we can comfort ourselves with the simple idea of I know how to do this, I’ve done itbefore. You assume that when it comes to following your gut instincts, happiness is good and fear and pain are bad.

When you consider doing something that you truly love and are invested in, you are going to feel an influx of fear and pain, mostly because it will involve being vulnerable. Bad feelings should not always be interpreted as deterrents. They are also indicators that you are doing something frightening and worthwhile. Not wanting to do something would make you feel indifferent about it. Fear = interest. There’s a reason Homo sapiens still exist today and the others didn’t continue to evolve: a prefrontal cortex, which we can infer from skeletal structures. Essentially, we had the ability to think more complexly, thus were able to organize, cultivate, teach, practice, habituate and pass down a world suited for our survival. Because of our capacity to imagine, we were able to build Earth as it is today out of virtually nothing. Your brain can only perceive what it’s known, so when you choose what you want for the future, you’re actually just recreating a solution or an ideal of the past. When things don’t work out the way you want them to, you think you’ve failed only because you didn’t re-create something you perceived as desirable. In reality, you likely created something better, but foreign, and your brain misinterpreted it as bad because of that. (Moral of the story: Living in the moment isn’t a lofty ideal reserved for the Zen and enlightened; it’s the only way to live a life that isn’t infiltrated with illusions. It’s the only thing your brain can actuallycomprehend.) This may be my last book of the year and it is probably the most fitting. I wish I had marked more important facts and gotten more time to reflect on this book, but it just wasn't in the cards. Flow (in case you don’t know—you probably do) is essentially what happens when we become so completely engaged with what we’re doing, all ideas or worries dissolve, and we’re just completely present in the task. The more you train your body to respond to different cues: 7 a.m. is when you wake up, 2 p.m. is when you start writing, and so on, you naturally fall into flow with a lot more ease, just out ofhabit.Wiest writes that: “Each generation has a kind of ‘monoculture’, a type of ruling pattern or belief system that people unconsciously accept as the ‘truth’… The objectivity required to see the effects of today’s monoculture is very difficult to develop. Once you have so deeply accepted an idea as “true”, it no longer registers as “cultural” or “subjective”… The foundations of any given monoculture tend to surround what we should be living by… Do you think creating your best life is a matter of deciding what you want and then going after it, but in reality, you are psychologically incapable of predicting what will make you happy… You extrapolate from the present moment because you believe that success is somewhere in you . “arrive”, so he is constantly trying to take a snapshot of his life and see if he can still be happy… he convinces himself that any given moment is representative of his life as a whole. Because we are programmed to believe that success is somewhere we arrive, when goals are achieved and things are completed… Achieving goals is not success. How much you expand in the process is…. You think that “problems” are obstacles to achieving what you want, when in reality they are paths… Simply encountering a “problem” forces you to take action to solve it.”

Brianna 's writing style is very engaging and easy to read. The way it is written is very encouraging and supportive, which makes it easy to feel like you have a friend who is there to help you through tough times. Honestly the way all of the essays force you into introspection is astonishing. All of the essays are very impactful and inspiring.These are the same people who have communicated to us some of the longest-standing conventional wisdom: that to believe is to become, that the mind is to be mastered, that the obstacle is the way ². Often, our most intense discomfort is what precedes and necessitates thinking in a way we have never conceived of before. That new awareness creates possibilities that would never exist had we not been forced to learn something new. Why did our ancestors develop agriculture, society, medicine, and the like? To survive. The elements of our world were once just solutions to fears.

You needlessly create problems and crises in your life because you’re afraid of actually living it. They recognize true trust and intimacy as something you build, and something you want to be discerning with whom you share. But they’re not guarded or closed as they are simply mindful and aware of who they allow into their lives and hearts. They are kind to all, but truly open tofew. Your brain can only perceive what it’s known, so when you choose what you want for the future, you’re actually just recreating a solution or an ideal of the past. When things don’t work out the way you want them to, you think you’ve failed only because you didn’t re-create something you perceived as desirable. In reality, you likely created something better, but foreign, and your brain misinterpreted it as “bad” because of that. (Moral of the story: Living in the moment isn’t a lofty ideal reserved for the Zen and enlightened; it’s the only way to live a life that isn’t infiltrated with illusions. It’s the only thing your brain can actually comprehend." 2. The PSYCHOLOGY of DAILY ROUTINE I am thinking of Mahatma Gandhi, Kamaraj, and my grandpa. They accomplished a lot, touched many lives and did not even have a large wardrobe! They were certainly individuals of grace. I wonder what was going through their minds during moments of suffering and happiness. I do not have these things. Every piece of advice given to think a certain way about what you already have, I do not have. Now what?Either way, it’s inevitable that you expand. That you’re left knowing that much more about love and what it can do, and the pain that only a hole in your heart and space in your bed and emptiness in the next chair over can bring. Whether or not that hole will ever again include the person who made it that way…I don’t know. Whether or not anybody else can match the outline of someone who was so deeply impressed in you…I don’t know that, either. I hated routines throughout my life. But I had to live with routines till the age of 31. Then I started my first startup. We kept it small and worked when we were productive and rested or did other things when we were not. We ended up working a lot more than we thought but that was ok. It was either driven by interest or need. This essay has a different view. I know people who thrive on routine. Maybe I should give it a try, again. Parts of life can be structured and turned into habits through routines. It is good to have certain parts be free wheeling. That is how you come across interesting people, ideas, experiences.

When we don’t settle into routine, we teach ourselves that fear is an indicator that we’re doing the wrong thing, rather than just being very invested in theoutcome. The objectivity required to see the effects of present monoculture is very difficult to develop. Once you have so deeply accepted an idea as truth it doesn’t register as cultural or subjective anymore. An untamed mind is a minefield. With no regulation, focus, base or self-control, anything can persuade you into thinking you want something that you don’t actually. I want to go out for drinks tonight, not prepare for that presentation tomorrow seems valid in the short-term, but in the long-term is disastrous. Going out for drinks one night probably isn’t worth bombing a super important meeting. Learning to craft routine is the equivalent of learning to let your conscious choices about what your day will be about guide you, letting all the other, temporary crap fall to thewayside. In a sense, the notion that thoughts create reality is more than just a nice idea; it’s also a fact of evolution. It was because of language and thought that we could create a world within our minds, and ultimately, it is because of language and thought that we have evolved into the society we have today—for better and for worse.Also, it’s better to spend money on books written by specialists or someone with experience. The author was 24 when she published this book. She also has no training in psychology or anything close to it. The things you love about others are the things you love about yourself." - I wonder about this. Sometimes the things you love about others are the things you admire. They do not try to elicit a strong emotional response from anyone they are holding a conversation with.