Cutting into the present

> “When you cut into the present the future leaks out.” – [William Burroughs](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cut-up_technique), on the “cut-up” technique of randomizing his writing.

10 minutes of gratitude

I think [watching this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXDMoiEkyuQ) would be a pretty good way to start each day; filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg explores gratitude, mindfulness, and the beauty of the world we live in and people we live with:

Could also be seen as the sentimental counterpart to [Louis CK’s celebration of the modern world](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r1CZTLk-Gk).

Learning and survival

> People in organizations don’t change until their fear of survival exceeds their fear of learning – Organizational theorist [Edgar Schein](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Schein), [via](http://fora.tv/2010/10/16/Long_Conversation_with_Stuart_Candy_and_Katherine_Fulton) [Katherine Fulton](http://www.monitorinstitute.com/about_team.html#fulton)

Finding vs having

Are you trying to *find* the answer, or are you trying to *have* the answer? Similar statements; vastly different philosophies.

Real leadership

> Leaders are not what many people think–people with huge crowds following them. Leaders are people who go their own way without caring, or even looking to see whether anyone is following them. – [John Holt](http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/show/177781)

How to buy happiness

[According to Daniel Gilbert and others in the Journal of Consumer Psychology](http://dunn.psych.ubc.ca/files/2011/04/Journal-of-consumer-psychology.pdf):

1. Buy more experiences and fewer material goods
2. Use your money to benefit others rather than yourself
3. Buy many small pleasures rather than fewer large ones
4. Eschew extended warranties and other forms of overpriced insurance
5. Delay consumption
6. Consider how peripheral features of your purchases may affect your day-to-day life
7. Beware of comparison shopping
8. Pay close attention to the happiness of others

The paper goes into more detail and gives good examples…interesting stuff.

Cultural winds

> Let my house not be walled on four sides. Let the windows be open. Let all the cultures blow in. But let no culture blow me off my feet – [Mahatma Gandhi](http://thomasdrissen.wordpress.com/2010/12/10/a-word-of-wisdom/)

Doubt and certainty

> Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd. – [Voltaire](http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Voltaire)

Perspective

> A book read by a thousand different people is a thousand different books.

– [Andrei Tarkovsky](http://quotevadis.com/post/8689211578/a-thousand-different-books), director of Solaris.

Literally Unbelievable

I still remember the exact moment I realized that I didn’t have to believe everything I read in books; that some things that are printed are not actually true (it was embarrassingly late, I’m afraid).

Apparently [some people have yet to make that leap](http://literallyunbelievable.tumblr.com/).