9.55am and I’m writing this from the HBO office in NYC. I forgot the first half of the post containing the wake time and “first impressions” at home, because I was in a rush after the surfing session this morning.
Speaking of which, it was beautiful out there today, almost no wind, nice size waves but SO MANY SURFERS. I actually don’t think I ever saw so many surfers on the Lido beach. Seem like it’s growing in popularity.
Another reason, probably a more realistic one, is that all the sites that provide surfing forecasts showed 3-star conditions, which is pretty rare in NY. Over the years I’ve noticed a strong correlation between the report and number of surfers on the beach.
I think I should start skipping days with great forecast because of the crowds, or better alternative – get my life to the point where I’ll be able to choose what time and when (and where) I want to serf. Most people out there also had day jobs to attend, that’s why by 8am the lineup was much less crowded. Ha, I like that idea – freedom it is 🙂
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Ok, so what are we going to talk about today on my 7 day “clean” anniversary… Let see. Hmm..
The book! That’s right. Yesterday I finished the book called “As A Man Thinketh” by James Allen. Yeah, a bit weird name I know and it’s a bit hard to read, probably it was written long time ago. Let me ask google actually – Originally published 1903! No way! I just read a book published more than a hundred years ago! Wow. Good job Sergey!
Apparently, the author was a British philosopher and the book covers our favorite topics of the power of thought. Let me go through the couple of the highlights that I did on my Kindle while reading it so I can refresh the best points that I found interesting.
Overall the book is pretty short and you can read it a day or so (a few trips to / from work for me), so I def recommend you guys to pick it up and explore.
Back to the highlights:
“Man is made or unmade by himself”
“Only by searching and mining are gold and diamonds obtained, and man can find every truth connected with his being if he will dig deep into the mine of his soul”
“A MAN’S mind may be linked to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild”
“Every man is where he is by the law of his being”
“Circumstance does not make the man; it reveals him to himself”
“Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound”
“Good thoughts and actions can never produce bad results; bad thoughts and actions can never produce good results”
“Let a man radically alter his thoughts, and he will be astonished at the rapid transformation it will effect in the material conditions of his life”
“Beautiful thoughts of all kinds crystallize into habits of grace and kindliness, which solidify into genial and sunny circumstances”
“THE body is the servant of the mind”
“Change of the diet will not help a man who will not change his thoughts. When a man makes his thoughts pure, he no longer desires impure food”
“Clean thoughts make clean habits”
“A sour face does not come by chance; it’s made by sour thoughts”
“Until thought is linked with the purpose there is no intelligent accomplishment”
“A man should conceive of a legitimate purpose in his heart, and set out to accomplish it. He should make this purpose his supreme duty, and should devote himself to its attainments, not allowing his thoughts to wander away into ephemeral fancies, longings, and imaginings”
“Thoughts of doubt and fear never accomplish anything, and never can. They always lead to failure”
“All that a man achieves and all that he fails to achieve is the direct result of his own thoughts”
“A strong man cannot help a weaker unless that weaker is welling to be helped, and even then the weak man must become strong of himself”
“None but himself can alter his condition”
“A man can only rise, conquer, and achieve by lifting up his thoughts. He can only remain weak and miserable by refusing to lift up his thoughts”
“A man may rise to high success in the world, and even to lofty altitudes in the spiritual realm, and again descend into weakness and wretchedness by allowing arrogant, selfish, and corrupt thoughts to take possession of him”
“He who cherishes a beautiful vision, a lofty ideal in his heart, will one day realize it”
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Those are the highlights I found most interesting, but guys, think again – this was written a 100 years ago! All of the principles still perfectly apply to our lives, even though we think the world changed.
As I read more books on the similar topic it becomes clear that our MIND is the key to everything in our lives and we need to devote much more attention to developing it. Feed it with positive thoughts (and good quality food as well).
When I start analyzing my life it seems to me that I’m lacking major purpose, the goal, the big WHY. That’s why I don’t put enough pressure into really moving forward with my goals.
Hell, I only recently started defining my goals in more specific manner, thinking about what I want and why..
This magic WHY always seem to sit very deeply. Like you can wish for more money, a million dollar, hundreds of millions of dollars. But why? So I can buy flashy cars and houses and things. But why you need all of this? Then you go deeper and deeper, until you uncover the real why and if you do uncover it – hold on to it as it’s the key!
I still struggle with defining my own big WHY, just taking one step a time, but I will definitely uncover and embrace it. Because it’s always there somewhere deep inside…
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The part that I forgot at home, for historic reasons:
Yay. A week passed by – time to celebrate! I went to SscyllaDB setup at Amazon yesterday, so went back to sleep around 11.30pm. Def was not easy to wake up at 5.30, I did it only because of my alarm clock.
Just checked surf report and seem like today is great forecast – 3-5ft and no wind, so I replace my morning routine with a good surfing session, hope you guys don’t mind. Ok, time to run, as I know there will be many surfers out there today, better to get there as early as possible.