Emily Yaskowitz

“Every desire abates, and every vice grows after it is satisfied.” -Henri Amiel

I’m only on page 60 and I’ve already written “wow!” or “omg” in the margins 72 times

I heard Chuck Klosterman’s new book is fantastic

“Every desire abates, and every vice grows after it is satisfied.” -Henri Amiel

Books that will make you think

Amazing memoirs

Great things are happening in slow, inconspicuous ways. The trajectory of your life is made up of subtle, nearly imperceptible actions. It may not feel like it at the time, but the small moments you spend each day writing in your journal, working on yourself, are adding up in unfathomable ways.

Sometimes we can loosen the grip of a sadness or a fear simply by naming it, by tracing its outline and examining its contours. “What we call depression,” Alain de Botton said, “is in fact sadness and anger that have for too long not been paid the attention they deserve.”

Epictetus said our predicament is that time and again, we lose sight of what’s important. The truth never changes. Wisdom is always the same. Our brains are just exceptionally good at forgetting. Journaling helps to keep the important stuff front and center.

By dumping out our thoughts and feelings, by laying them before us, we’re able to sift through, untangle, and examine them. And discard the ones that no longer serve us.

Lusting for money, worshiping material things, seeking power, thinking you’re the center of the universe…what’s insidious about these things “is not that they’re evil or sinful,” said David Foster Wallace, “it is that they are unconscious.” Journaling rewires our brains consciously.

If we don’t monitor our thoughts, we become vulnerable to their influence and control. We can end up living in the worst way: unconsciously.

Journaling creates a patient, quiet, purpose-free space for your subconscious thoughts to roam freely. Only then, in familiar solitude with you, do they feel comfortable to speak up. (And when they do, they’re assertive.)

There’s only one rule when it comes to your journal: fill it. Journals should be messy. If the inside of your journal is clean and neat and completely coherent, you’re probably doing it wrong.

You can’t be your best on autopilot. None of us are perfect. And because we’re not perfect, we can always improve. And because we can always improve, we have an obligation to make a constant effort to improve. Journaling helps us make this effort by taking us off autopilot for a bit.

I don’t journal to “be productive”. I journal to calm and prepare myself for the day (ironically making me more productive throughout).

Reflection is the highest form of living. Epictetus said we differ from animals & plants in 2 ways: we can reason & reflect—2 things animals and plants don’t need because they were made to obey, not command. Animals can look only outward & dream. Humans can look inward &, as Carl Jung said, awaken.

Paying attention to my life = happiness

Whenever I think I’m wasting time by journaling, I read this list of reasons why I do it:

Quake books

Loving this

“It’s a good man that harms you: don’t believe it. It’s a bad man: don’t be surprised.” -Seneca

The best job in the world can’t give it to you. Neither can success or fame or financial security—besides which, there ain’t no such thing.” – Anne Lamott

“What you’re looking for is already inside you. You’ve heard this before, but the whole thing inside you really is that which causes you to seek it. You can’t buy it, lease it, rent it, date it, or apply for it.

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Take a Closer Look Look at your fish

Read this months newsletter (with book recommendations)

With creative work, the doubt can grow louder—the fear that we have nothing new to say, that everything’s been done before.

But as Elizabeth Gilbert says, who cares? Literally, who cares? There’s nothing new. What is new is your perspective and passion and the stories you tell.

And that should be more than enough for anyone to say that they lived a rich and splendid life.”

That kind of devotion changes everything. Work of any kind can be discouraging when we’re thinking about the results.

“You might spend your whole life following your curiosity and have absolutely nothing to show for it at the end—except one thing. You will have the satisfaction of knowing that you passed your entire existence in devotion to the noble human virtue of inquisitiveness.

She understood that the reward couldn’t be external—it had to come “from the private awareness I held that I had chosen a devotional path and I was being true to it.” It had to come from the heart. It had to be fun.