Joshua Aiz

“There once was a mouse who lived in a tavern. One night the mouse found a leaky barrel of beer, and he drank all he could hold. When the mouse had finished, he sat up, twirled his whiskers, and looked around arrogantly. “Now then,” he said, “where’s that damned cat?”
― Ernest Shackleton, Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage

“we are gripped with obsessions and are oblivious to everything going on around us as thoughts continually repeat themselves.”
― David A. Cooper, A Heart of Stillness: A Complete Guide to Learning the Art of Meditation

“Zoom in and obsess. Zoom out and observe. We get to choose.”
― Rick Rubin, The Creative Act: A Way of Being

“Reality is never and nowhere more accessible than in the immediate moment of one’s own life. It’s only there that it can be won or lost. All it guarantees us is what is superficial, the facade. But one must break through this. Then everything becomes clear.

[…]

There is no route map of the way to truth. The only thing that counts is to make the venture of total dedication. A prescription would already imply a withdrawal, mistrust, and therewith the beginning of a false path. One must accept everything patiently and fearlessly. Man is condemned to life, not to death… There’s only one thing certain. That is one’s own inadequacy. One must start from that.”
― Franz Kafka