I’m going through a stage of melancholy and nostalgic. I feel so lonely. I find it hard to journal because I’m just never in the right mindset

Silly little me watching a video on self-improvement while putting off uni work

idk where i learned this but one exercise i do is imagine god (or any all-powerful hypothetical deity) shows up in front of you and says "you can no longer do x for the rest of your existence" (x stands for anything - using social media, reading fantasy books, swimming, eating candy - anything you spend time doing). how do you feel? are you distraught, or relieved? i think for me this is the best way to see if im spending my time valuably, see if my habits or whatever are a product of reacting to my internal pain and seeing if something truly brings me joy or not. every weekend i choose an aspect of my life and journal with this prompt.

Thanks for this. I have been journaling for two years consistently and at times I find myself just ‘wallowing’. On these days I find myself hurrying along to get to the end… my handwriting even suffers lol This approach provides a nice template that allows for some grace and deeper reflection- no matter how you may feel depending on the day. ✌️

I see that excellent fountain pen, Jared! I too use a nice paper journal and a fountain pen. It makes the journaling a super enjoyable activity.

A compellingly crafted video designed to facilitate our way of living. Thank you.

This video is so helpful. I’m obsessed 🤩 with journaling and I think it’s a great practice to help you destress

i discovered this channel a few days ago and I've already watched like 3 hours worth of content I just love the topics and the vibe you give off!!

excellent disclaimer! so refreshing to hear you make the distinction between self improvement and "productivity", as so few out there do that. the latter can be rather toxic and antithetical to self improvement!

“You are essentially getting to know yourself. You are telling the story of yourself to yourself … crucially when you think of it as a story you stop just being a character in the story and you become its author.” 😊

I've been meaning to make journaling a more regular part of my routine. I'm more inclined to use Vim + markdown over pen/paper because I have awful handwriting, and it's easier to search/reference/etc over a bunch of notebooks. I'm also interested in doing this not just for self-reflection but also for clearly articulating research ideas in a way that is a bit more free-form and exploratory than the papers I write (primarily) on quantum information. This is usually helpful in planning and organizing the structure of the talk for exhibiting my research. Thanks for the tips; enjoy your content, as always. I'll try and put some "self-reflection" into my process as well for good measure.

This helps. I have been journaling more but I still feel like I’m not getting what I want out of it. Thank you!

We appreciate how well you articulate your insights. You'll always have our support no matter what.

I wanted to mention one thing regarding being honest with yourself while journaling. Yes, change will only come if you are truthful, but don't worry about having perfect honesty from the start. Journaling can help you learn to be honest with yourself over time. It is a very worthwhile practice even when you have subjects you don't like to look at too closely. A great way to learn self-honesty is to learn to journal in the first place without pressure. It doesn't need to be perfect, just get going. Once you have a few entries, read over them and ask yourself if there's more to the story. Ask about how you felt, what you think should have happened, or tie up any loose ends you think your notes left unanswered. Push yourself to be honest here. Doing this again and again, you'll likely unearth some hidden truths you hadn't brought up before, and the more you're aware of the faster the process will go in the future.

Loved the last line

Find it interesting you base your sense of improvement and value in Aristotle's prudence, justice, courage and temperance. Seems like an interesting and maybe more steadying set of values than just having goals. I have always wanted some basic structure or some simple, not necessarily easy, but simple values or virtues to underpin and ground why I'm doing what I'm doing. I find when I have goals that often the reason for doing them is too fluid and if I don't examine them they can easily be fuelled by different, maybe unhelpful values. For example I want to get in better shape. One reason is that I'm getting a bit older and I have a responsibility to take care of myself so I'm around for those I love. Another is that exercise tends to make me feel more alive and switched on and that's something I value for itself, another is that I do feel happier in my body when it feels stronger and lighter. However easily, without me really realising it, this can easily slip into wanting a body that is more attractive to others, or to live up to the unrealistic body image i've seen on instagram and it comes from a place of feeling inferior. I guess that's a long way of saying I feel the need to ground goals in values so that the drives that they rely upon are ones I want to grow and not ones I'd rather were dead/dying. The idea of those 4 virtues you mention are interesting though I think I'd need to read a lot more Aristotle for them to mean very much to me. In every day life (with my superficial understanding) living with prudence or justice means nothing to me really, or at least in most situations. Anyway, I'd love, if you're interested, your thoughts on applying virtues and values to life in a way that honours them truly while finding the line between it feeling high-falutin, abstract, unactionable and overly superficial and sort of vague. Especially how ancient ideas of virtue can be applied in today's world. Regardless, love your content, one of few that actually has something interesting to say I find and doesn't feel like I'm subtly or unsubtly being sold something, very valuable in and of itself. Thank you

I have no words to appreciate you, explaining topic through philosophical point of view embrace me more to really focus on my self improvement Thanks Sir🙏

Loved the guide. Thanks.

Sir u are the best philosopher of this time. Grateful for ur advices

That’s awesome. Because theses three questions to give a direction for the future. Congratulations by the theme

Thank you for this very timely video, always a treat!

I did check dayone. I think I will explore it a bit more.

Thank you. I will definitely start journaling like this.

Hey, that last line...👌🏽 Can you please also add a boiler plate for journaling? Thanks.🙏🏽

It's entirely possible I might've missed it in a different video, but have you ever looked into Expressive Writing? It leans more toward the therapeutic side of things, developed to resolve trauma and other mental hardship. I learned about through a Huberman Lab episode, but it's been around for a few years.

Write about the day 1. Where do I come from? Wins-What do you like about yourself? 2. Where am I now? Failures-Which virtue do I want to attain? 3. Where do I want to go? Am I happy with the way that I am now?

that was so inspiring .. thank you for your words of wisdom . muchg love

I really enjoy your videos😊

Thanks for this informative video!

Inspiring...TY

Really inspiring, Jared ¡¡¡Thank you!!! 😊

Nice pen

Any recommendations for books on Stoic Philosophy? I currently have Epictetus The Enchiridion and Marcus Aurelius Meditations as my first two to begin with. Should I still invest in Discourses Fragments Handbook despite having The Enchiridion? Anyone is welcomed to chime in and share your thoughts. While I took a Philosophy course in College I've never read about Stoic in particular. I think for now I will stick with Stoic Philosophy then maybe later on move on to others. Reading is helping to lift my spirits a bit by the way so thanks again.

❤

🥰

I don't think it's healthy to look for failures every day. You must be really hard on yourself to find this so often.

Take KZfaq off your phone. I don't understand why people like Cal Newport or this channel tells you to take social media off your phone when they make a big part of their income from that very thing.

You are making the same video over and over.