6 inspiring Aphorisms

In one of the newsletters I have been receiving for years (the truly amazing "Down the rabbit hole" from HighExistence author Mike Slavin), I stumbled upon 50 aphorisms from Alain de Botton.

De Botton is a modern-day curator, translator, and torch carrier of ancient and neglected ideas, and is bringing the aphorism back to life. He has also created "The School of Life", devoted to developing emotional intelligence through the guidance of philosophy.

Here are the first 6 which I liked most together with my comments:

✅ “There is no such thing as work-life balance. Everything worth fighting for unbalances your life.”

➡ True when looking from a static perspective, but Life is not static, it’s in constant flow. Apart, the law of rhythm applies. Yes, I focus on one thing to develop it and defocus on others (unbalance). Later, I defocus (balance and rest). Then I focus on the others (re-balance at a higher level).
There IS such a thing as work-life balance when understood as a dynamic equilibrium (same as homeostasis or hormesis as a physiological dynamic equilibrium)

✅ “Don’t despair: despair suggests you are in total control and know what is coming. You don’t – surrender to events with hope.”

➡ Most "external" things in Life are out of your control, some can be influenced (but you have to learn how, it needs skills and experience). The only thing you control are your reactions to these things but also only when you have identified and disabled all your autopilots, scripts and wounds or your awareness is high enough not to be triggered or hijacked by them. So yes you surrender - But then you act!

✅ “Judged against eternity, how little of what agitates us makes any difference.”

➡ Although not exactly the same it reminds me of the Mark Twain quotation "I've had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened." 😅

✅ “How we feel about ‘the nature of existence’ is largely determined by what we have to do in the next few hours.”

➡ Also true for year-end-reflections. Never do it close to moments of emotional highs or lows. Despite best intentions it will notably color or even distort the evaluation of the entire year (happened to me).

✅ “Work begins when the fear of doing nothing at all finally trumps the terror of doing it badly.”

➡ Probably the 2 main reasons for procrastination (Perfectionism, Fear of Failure) next to Task Aversion, Immediate Gratification, Decision Paralysis, Lack of Motivation or Interest, Cognitive Dissonance, Stress and Anxiety, and Reward Sensitivity.
All of them are emotional regulation issues, and therefore difficult to address just with intelligence.

✅ “Though it may feel otherwise, enjoying life is no more dangerous than apprehending it with continuous anxiety and gloom.”

➡ Very important to realize. It requires a constant awareness and proactive counteraction to the anachronistic negativity bias that is still deeply ingrained in the human brain to protect our survival. Drop it & enjoy Life!