(KP-1) My First Weekly Newsletter!

Let's make an attempt to know ourselves better

Life Lesson

I will name this section as ‘Life Lesson’ in which I will share with you life-altering discourses in Philosophy, Spirituality, Psychology & Mental Health, etc.

Today I wish to share with you few excerpts from Tao Te Ching, also known as ‘The Book of The Way’, an ancient Chinese text that is one of the most translated works in history and is said to be dictated by Lao Tzu to a border guard who stopped him from crossing over to India.

It has around 80 concise verses and each one is so laden with wisdom that it can be considered as a book in its own right. Let’s start with a few of the verses that I am meditating upon:

• To the mind that is still,
  The whole universe surrenders

• Nature does not hurry,
  Yet everything is accomplished

• The usefulness of a pot comes from its emptiness

  So, we will have to empty ourselves of thoughts and let our minds become still to gain heavenly wisdom. Easier said than done :)

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Productivity/Self-Help

In this section, I will share some tips or apps that are productivity/self-help related.

A few days ago, I came across this wonderful app called ‘Waking up’ developed by Sam Harris, who, besides holding a degree in philosophy and a Ph.D. in neuroscience, has practiced meditation for over 30 years and has studied with many Tibetan, Indian, Burmese, and Western meditation teachers, both in the United States and abroad.

Below is what the Waking Up app is about in Sam’s own words:

Waking Up is a guide to understanding the mind, for the purpose of living a more balanced and fulfilling life.

There are hundreds of meditation apps on the market, and several do a fine job of teaching the basic principles of mindfulness. But most present the practice as though it were an ancient version of an executive stress ball—whereas it’s more like the Hubble Space Telescope.

The purpose of meditation isn’t merely to reduce stress or to make you feel better in the moment—it’s to make fundamental discoveries in the laboratory of your own mind.

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Feel-Good Positive Story

In this section, I will share with you one feel-good, positive, and uplifting story of the week that I come across.

This week’s positive story is from Uttarakhand, India where Divisional Forest Officer Vaibhav Singh has set an inspiring example of conservation of water by restoring Himalayan forests and harvesting over 10 million liters of rainwater.

You can read the whole story here

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Podcasts/Books/Videos Suggestion

As the heading implies, this week I am going to share with you a podcast that I have been listening to almost daily for the last couple of months. It’s called The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday, bestselling author of The Obstacle is the Way. He distills key principles of Stoicism into digestible nuggets of wisdom that we can apply in our daily lives.

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Quote to Ponder Upon

In this section, I will be sharing with you a quote or a poem that will be worth pondering upon.

The Quote of the week is from Rumi, a 13th-century poet, and Sufi mystic:

Let a teacher wave away the flies and put a plaster on the wound.
Don’t turn your head. Keep looking at the bandaged place.
That’s where the light enters you.
And don’t believe for a moment that you’re healing yourself.

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Well, that’s all from my first email newsletter. Hope you liked it :)

See you next week!