前有彼得·考夫曼的《穷查理宝典》，收录了查理·芒格的个人传记、投资哲学，以及过去20年来芒格主要的公开演讲和媒体访谈；现在埃里克·乔根森（Eric Jorgenson）整理了纳瓦尔·拉维坎特（Naval Ravikant）十年来的一万七千多条推文、采访和演讲，以及播客访谈和博客论文出版了《纳瓦尔宝典Almanack of Naval Ravikant》， 聚焦如何实现财福双全的生活。本周，中文版的终于出版上市了，撒花庆祝一下！

我在这两年在文章中多次介绍过Naval这位大神，现在终于有一本书可以系统地了解他的生活哲学，十分感谢Eric花费三年时间整理并集结成册。此书还得到知名博主Tim Ferriss有史以来第一次同意写序言，以及其他我喜欢的博主的推荐（比如Shane Parrish和Tucker Max）。总结一下历年来我翻译过的Naval的推文和播客内容。
​

Naval最有名的推特风暴算是推特史上转载最多的推文之一了。核心内容就是你无法靠出卖自己的时间致富，你需要拥有资产（公司、股票或实体），或者能在你睡觉的时候帮你赚钱的技术（代码或媒体）。

1. 寻求财富，而不是金钱和地位。拥有财富意味着在你睡觉时也有资产为你赚钱。金钱代表着我们如何转移时间和财富。地位代表着你的社会阶级。
2. 认清有道德地创造财富是可能的。如果你私下鄙弃财富，财富也会躲避你。
3. 远离寻求地位的人，他们依靠攻击创造财富的人来获取自己的地位。
4. 你不会因为出租自己的时间而变得有钱，你必须拥有资本：比如说一家公司，来帮助你获取财务自由。
5. 你会因为提供给社会一个它想要却不知道如何得到的东西而致富，且是大规模的致富。
6. 选择长线共事的人和可持续发展的产业作为你的游戏对象。
7. 互联网极大程度地扩大了职业的选择性，大多数的人还没有意识到这一点。
8. 玩迭代游戏。所有生活中的回报，无论是财富、关系、还是知识，都是从复利中获得的。
9. 选择拥有高智商、高精力的商业伙伴，最重要的品质是诚实正直。
10. 不要与愤世嫉俗者和悲观主义者合作。他们的信仰只是实现自我。
11. 学习如何销售，学习如何创造，如果你可以同时做到这两样，那没有人可以阻挡你。
12. 用专业知识（特殊技能）、责任感和影响力武装自己。
13. 专业知识（特殊技能）意味着人们无法通过训练得到。如果这个社会可以把你训练成这样，那也可以训练别人来取代你。
14. 专业知识（特殊技能）是靠你的好奇心和热情去追寻得到的，而不是靠追寻热点。
15. 建立专业知识（特殊技能）对于你来说就像玩一样，但在他人看来却十分困难。
16. 当人们教授专业知识（特殊技能），通常是通过学徒制度，而不是通过学校。
17. 专业知识（特殊技能）通常需要高技巧和高创造性，无法被自动化或是外包。
18. 接受问责，并以自己的名义承担业务风险。社会将嘉奖于你责任感、资本和影响力。
19. 主动担责的人拥有独一无二的、知名度高且高风险的品牌：例如奥普拉、特朗普、侃爷和埃隆·马斯克。
20. 给我一根足够长的杠杆和一个支点，我就能撬动地球。—— 阿基米德
21. 创造财富需要杠杆。商业杠杆来自资本、人力和没有边际复制成本的产品（例如代码和媒体）。
22. 资本意味着金钱。为了筹集资金，运用专业知识（特殊技能）和你的影响力，并表现出良好的判断力。
23. 拥有劳动力意味着有人给你打工，这是最古老也是竞争最激烈的杠杆形式。劳动力杠杆会让上一代的人为你骄傲，但不要浪费生命来追逐它。
24. 资本和劳动力是受限制的杠杆。每个人都在追逐资本，但是你需要有人给你资本；每个人都想去领导别人，但是你需要有人跟随你。
25. 编程和媒体是不受限的杠杆。它们是新晋富豪的武器。你可以创造出在你睡觉时都能为你赚钱的软件和媒体内容。
26. 大量的机器人都是免费的，使用它们吧。
27. 如果你不会编程，那就写书和博客吧，或者做视频和播客。
28. 杠杆是你判断力的力量倍增器。
29. 判断力基于经验，但通过学习最基础的技能可以加速养成。
30. 没有称之为“商业”的这项技能。远离商业杂志和商业课程。
31. 研究微观经济学、博弈论、心理学、谈判理论、伦理学、数学和计算机科学。
32. 阅读比听更快。做比看快。
33. 你想要保持整洁的日历就应该避免那些无意义的咖啡会议。
34. 设定自己的小时费率。如果解决问题的成本低于你的小时费率，忽略这个问题；如果外包这个问题的成本低于你的小时费用，则将其外包。
35. 尽可能地努力工作，尽管和谁一起工作以及工作的项目比努力工作更重要。
36. 把自己培养为世界上做某事最好的人。不断地重新定义自己所做的事情，直到成为最好的。
37. 世上没有一夜暴富的神话。那只是别人通过你而致富。
38. 通过杠杆作用并利用自己的专业知识（特殊技能），最终你将得到你该得到的东西。
39. 当你终于获得财富的时候，你会发现它并不是你一开始就寻求的东西。这是另一个话题了。​

• 如果现在假新闻横行，想象下我们的历史吧。
• 人类正逐渐地从与苦难作斗争转变为与快乐作斗争。
• 如果你不想有老板的话，你最好有能在荒野生存的能力。
• 困难的决定→简单的生活；简单的决定→困难的生活。
• 不想要什么东西和拥有这个东西一样好。
• 想要避免侮辱带来的伤害，停止夸大表扬的力量。
• 冥想没有任何价值，这才是你冥想的原因。
• 未经审视的自我会伪装成你讨厌的东西在世界流窜（当你讨厌一个人或者一件事的时候，大多数情况下都是在这个人和事件中看到了自己的影子）。
• 独善其身。
• 到最后，你不得不接受世事皆为奇迹，或是世上本没有奇迹。
• 已知创造出了宁静，未知创造出了情绪。

1. 健康的体魄，平静的心灵，满满的幸福感，这些东西都是买不来的，而是靠自己争取来的。
2. 最不切实际的幻想就是，世界上存在一种能让你永远幸福快乐的东西。
3. 我们在尘世的时光不过弹指一挥间，我们做的一切事物都无法长久留存。你会消亡，你所做的一切都会了无痕迹，你的思想将不复存在，你的后代也会死亡，整个地球都会灭亡，太阳也会，所有的一切都会。
4. 我不做计划，我倾向于活在当下，解放自我，享受当下。
5. 欲望就是你和自己签订的一份不快乐的合约，合约截止日期就是你满足欲望的时刻。
6. 生活中所有重要的事物都受益于复利：金钱、关系和习惯。
7. 人类就是「习惯机器」，学会如何打破旧有的坏习惯，培养好习惯是人类最应该学习的技能。
8. 从根本上考虑问题，学会利用「第一原则」来解释问题，忘掉陈旧的社会准则，控制自己的情绪。
9. 现实是中性的，一切取决于我们如何定义自己的现实。天堂和地狱都在自己的一念之间。
10. 想要避免侮辱带来的伤害，停止夸大表扬的力量。
11. 生命是一场单机游戏，你需要找到自己的玩法，了解自己的欲望和想要实现的目标，建立自己的人生信仰和看待事物的方法。
12. 互联网上没人在乎屏幕后面的是猫是狗，人们在乎的是你输出的内容。
13. 好点子+执行力是白手起家创业者们的成功的秘诀，那些总是抱怨自己没有资本和人脉的「假创业者」都在找借口。
14. 世上没有统一的人生意义，如果有的话，那我们全会成为实现这个意义的奴隶。既然人生意义没有标准答案，那就为自己创造一个意义，书写自己的人生故事。
15. 你不能拥有全部的东西，但你会得到你最想要的东西。看清自己的欲望，以及摸清欲望的来源。知生命之意者，便可承受生命之重。
16. 朝九晚五是现代的奴役生活，而工资就是让人们上瘾的毒药。
17. 人最会欺骗的就是自己。时刻审视自己的生命，找寻自己的「真相」。
18. 如果斯大林、希特勒或者马丁路德金生活在现代，那Clubhouse是他们最好的号召工具。因此，也要警醒那些在平台上有大量拥簇的说话者。
19. 大多数的物理假说一开始看上去都是疯言疯语，比如说量子力学和多重宇宙，但是后来逐步地得到科学证实，这样的例子以后会有更多。
20. 当今社会不缺信息和道理，缺的是知行合一。不把理论融合在实践当中，那不算属于你的知识和智慧。
21. 好的社会环境接受人们犯错并提供及时反馈。
22. 科学就是用我们的已知去解释未知，世间没有永恒的真相，只有暂时未被证伪的真相。
23. 推荐阅读物理学家David Deutsch的书《The Beginning of Infinity》。
24. 坐下来想想五年前的生活，想想现在的你会给当时的你哪些建议？然后再想想十年前的生活，想想现在的你会给当时的自己哪些建议？你是你自己最好的治疗师，你会发现无论生活再怎么改变，你的一些行为模式都会重复，一些未解决的问题总会涌现，是时候从源头出发去解决本质问题了。
25. 生命不是零和游戏，宇宙为我们提供了无限的资源，我们需要做的是不断创新并学会使用这些资源。
26. 训练自己成为试错-纠错的机器，这是通往「真相」唯一的道路。
27. 面对问题你总有选择：接受、改变或者忽略。

​

1. 人们会对拥有多重不相关标签的人感兴趣，比如说Joe Rogan既是脱口秀演员，又是UFC评论员，还是主播；Naval是天使投资人，推特哲学家，也是主播。现今这个世界，不需要专才，需要的是多重身份的创造者。
2. 如果你想拥有高峰的表现力，你必须拥有一颗平静的内心。
3. 工业革命时期的8小时工作制度不适用于现今的脑力劳动者。脑力劳动者应该像运动员那样，训练--冲刺--休息--评估，再重复这个循环。
4. 社会总会创造新的工作，被机器和人工智能取代了的工作基本都是不需要创造力的工作。我们虽然无法预测未来会有多少新工作被创造出来，但可以肯定的是，那些重复性强不需要创造力的工作必然会被自动化取代。
5. 找个舒适的地方，坐下来，闭上眼，什么也不干，让大脑自由遨游，不去干涉，冥想就是这么简单。
6. 不管你多有钱，地位多高，如果有人告诉你在某时某地必须来某处工作，你就不是一个自由的人，你还不够富有。
7. 找到一个在别人眼里是苦力，但你自己却乐在其中的工作来做。
8. 你最真实的简历就是一份罗列你人生所受之苦的清单。
9. 我们知道的大多数事情都是靠记忆和背诵，而不是靠理解。
10. 读书是为了满足自己的求知欲和好奇心，而不是为了读完它。
11. 幸福是一种选择，如果你自认为是聪明人，那怎么没想明白怎么获取幸福呢？
12. 现在世界上最有权势的人是给Facebook, Twitter和Google写算法的人，他们控制着人们如何接受信息和接受何种信息，他们创造了如今的社会文化。
13. 我们每天都被无数的信息轰炸，人类已经被算法和代码所控制，唯一的解决办法就是下线。
14. 人类最大的问题就是无法自己在屋里安安静静地独处三十分钟。
15. 关于生命的意义并没有一个标准的答案，人们在追求这个答案的过程中会不断地了解自己，你也可以把这个贯穿一生的行动当做自己生命的意义。
16. 摆脱竞争的最好方法就是做最真实的自己。
17. 低调又富有＞ 有名但贫穷。
18. 有两种瘾很难戒掉：海洛因和每个月的工资。

​

1. Naval赚钱是为了实现时间自由，这样他就可以把精力聚焦在对他更重要的事情上。金钱能解决所有钱的问题，却解决不了你的所有问题。
2. Naval的偶像都是科学家，他尤其偏爱理查德·费曼，因为他是一个博学多才又好玩有趣的人。推荐阅读费曼的《别逗了，费曼先生！》《你干吗在乎别人怎么想》。
3. Naval每天早上起床后的第一件事就是60分钟的冥想，这是对他来讲最重要的事情。Naval讲的冥想并不是形式上坐在那里一动不动，而是给自己创造一个机会，通过和自己独处来审视自己的想法和情绪。审视自己的其他方法还包括见心理咨询师、读哲学书、以及长时间漫步等等。
4. Naval推荐的哲学家有叔本华、奥修、Kapil Gupta和Anthony de Mello。阅读这些哲学书的目的不是为了读懂，而是让自己在阅读的过程中得到启发，从而回归到自我层面进行审视。
5. Naval认为加密货币是人类历史上最伟大的发明之一。疫情以来Naval观察到大量的人群开始转向加密货币来保护自己的资产。
6. Naval总结所有的自我帮助类型的书籍都有一个相同的主题：玩一个长远的游戏。如果每个人都能用长远的眼光看问题，生活会简单很多。
7. 复利的力量是伟大的，体现在财富积累、人际关系和身体健康上面。
8. Naval认为生活就是一场游戏：找到好工作的游戏，找到好伴侣的游戏，这些都是多玩家的游戏；但生活的本质其实是单机游戏。多玩家游戏充满了竞争，一旦你赢得游戏，这个游戏其实已经结束了，但是你的单机游戏却是贯穿你一生的游戏，怎么玩好这个游戏值得思考。
9. 「适当地审视自己的生活会让你完全改变现有的生活方式。会让你离开现有的关系，会让你反思人与人之间的边界，会让你辞掉工作，会让你改变饮食习惯，会让你更改阅读书籍的种类，会让你多花时间和自己相处。如果你并没有做出任何改变，那说明你在审视自我时不够到位」。
   请时刻谨记：未经审视的生活不值得活。

​

1. Naval认为现在是艺术创作的黄金时代，任何人都可以依靠互联网的力量进行创作和传播。与此同时，人们也面临着筛选内容的困扰。
2. 创造内容的核心在于不受时代的局限，想要内容长久流传，首先要选择常青的话题。Naval认为社交媒体上的热门话题是最浪费时间的读物，学习社会科学也没有任何价值（自然科学从现实中获得反馈，而社会科学则从社会中获得反馈，是变相的政治学）。
3. 比特币是大势所趋的货币实验，以太坊则是势不可挡的应用实验。Naval认为拥有区块链技术支持的社会将比其他社会领先几十年。
4. 如果你不主动选择自己的信仰，别人将为你做出选择（父母、社会和周围环境）。
5. Naval认为当前的美国社会正在压制言论自由、行动自由和创新自由。这些是美国建国的根基，如若继续下去，美国的发展将会受到限制。
6. 当前互联网的发展正在一步步地削弱组织和机构的力量，而赋权于个人。在媒体界，优质记者们使用Substack这样的工具自立门户，他们通过直接与读者建立关系，撰写文章建立付费社区以此谋生。大型新闻媒体公司正面临着人才流失的危机，读者也会转而支持那些能够固定产出优质内容的创造者（此时应该插播一则广告，欢迎加入我的CY CIRCLE :))
7. 我们即将迎来区块链技术搭建的社交媒体平台。区块链有内置的支付功能，读者可以支持喜欢的创作者；创作者可以与读者建立直接关系；区块链是开源的技术，任何人都可以参与混编和决议。
8. 追求真理是开启幸福生活的开端。在生活中，任何不忠于本我的决策和生活方式，都将导致痛苦。

1. 《无穷的开始》阐述了著名哲学家卡尔·波普尔关于什么是科学的理论，同时涵盖了其他哲学思想、认识论、量子力学、多元宇宙理论、和数学等学科知识。Naval说在过去的十年里，多伊奇和塔勒布的书影响了他看待世界的方式。大多数的思维模型都没什么新奇的，但是这两位作者的真知灼见却为他打开了思路，让他对「真实世界」有了更深刻的认识。
2. Naval的人生信仰之一是「Nullius in verba」，这是英国皇家学会的会训，用拉丁文撰写，意思是「不轻信任何人的话语」，鼓励人们挑战权威，独立思考真理。
3. 学会一些基本理论可以帮助你更好地理解世界：- 量子理论- 计算机原理- 自然选择和进化学说- 认识论，即个体的知识观。
4. Naval认为读书不应该追求数量，而是选择100本书然后反复阅读。目前他正在研读多伊奇的两本著作《无穷的开始》《真实世界的脉络》 ，并买了其所有版本的书籍（平装、精装和有声书）。
5. 多伊奇精通数学、物理和哲学三门学科，并对世界的发展持乐观态度。他认为人类有能力理解现实，一切不违背物理定律的事情都有可能发生，问题也都可以解决。人类是很好的解释者，我们不断地用更好的解释迭代旧有理论，然后去理解世界。宇宙是我们可以利用的学习资源。
6. 人类通过知识改变了世界。人类可以将自然界平平无奇的东西加以利用来创造文明。物理定律可以帮助我们解释在宇宙中看到的一切，但却无法解释曼哈顿的出现。如何解释文明的诞生？我们必须要超出只解释自然现象的限制，把人类的行动和选择也纳入解释范围。如果我们真的想理解宇宙，需要考虑人类的存在。
7. 霍金认为人类只不过是一个中等大小星球上的化学渣滓。但多伊奇不同意他的说法，他认为以我们现在的知识储备来看，人类是宇宙中唯一能够通过运用知识来改造现实的生物。知识的发展毫无边境，我们无法预测未来知识的发展前景。就知识的性质而言，知识创造出的都是未知的东西，如果你能预测，那你已经有办法将其发明出来。
8. 信息本身没有价值，除非有接收端对其处理并加以利用。人类便可做到这一点。
9. 好的科学解释是可检验、可证伪的。但一个理论可以被证伪，并不意味着它背后会有一个好的解释。比如说有人告诉你吃1公斤的草可以治疗感冒，这一条便可检验也可证伪，但背后却没有什么很好的解释。好的解释代表着不会被轻易推翻和改变，还需精确。古希腊人通过各式各样的神话故事对季节变换进行解释，但科学的解释是地球绕太阳公转的结果。前者可以替换神明的名称，后者则是不可被改变的事实。
10. 人类可以利用知识不断更新迭代旧有的认知，我们处于无穷的开始阶段，宇宙没有终极的真相。11. 粒子物理学的核心是基本粒子。曾经我们认为原子是基本粒子，直到后来又发现了原子核和电子；现在我们说夸克是基本粒子，但通过继续探究我们还会发现更小的粒子。数学被认为是创造真理的学科，但也存在未解之谜，也会存在错误。
11. 所有的知识都建立在我们现阶段的认知之上，我们怎么可以肯定公理就是对的？对所有的假设提出质疑才会促使真正的进步。爱因斯坦质疑二维空间几何学的定律从而发明了广义相对论。
12. 基础物理学中存在着一个矛盾问题：我们现实世界的基本性质到底是什么？量子理论表明，事物都是离散的。存在最小不可分割的粒子，其他一切均从它而来；广义相对论的观点则截然相反，包括时间和空间在内的事物都是连续且可无限分割的。目前物理学家正试图将量子理论和广义相对论统一起来，以解决这一矛盾。（Eric Weinstein据说已经找到了「万物理论」，但以我的智商没看明白他说的什么.. 感兴趣可以自己研究一下https://geometricunity.org/）
13. 芝诺悖论在现实生活中很容易被证伪。我们不是生活在一个纯数学的抽象世界里，而是活在一个受物理定律束缚的世界里。
14. 数学家们认为他们可以跳出物理学定律的束缚，其实不然，就连他们的大脑也受限于物理定律。我们创造的电脑也受限于物理学定律。也许跳出当前物理学定律可以帮助我们证明一些其他定理，但是却毫无意义。
15. 不确定性、随机性和概率都是主观的。当你掷骰子的时候，对于你来说结果是不确定的，但是对于宇宙来说并非如此。根据量子理论，可能发生的事情都会发生。关于双缝实验目前最好的解释是存在多元宇宙。
16. 我们谈论不可观测的东西总会引起异议，但是没有人见过活着的恐龙，关于恐龙的一切都是根据化石推导得来，是背后的故事让人们相信恐龙的存在。没有人真的看到了太阳的核心，但我们却可以推导出恒星核聚变的情况。大多数科学实验的结果都是通过仪器探测和推导得来的结果，并非我们亲眼所见。
17. 科学史见证着人类知识系统的迭代和对现实的理解：地心说---日心说---太阳系只是数十亿恒星中的一颗---银河系是数千亿个星系中的一个---多元宇宙学说。
18. 人类痴迷于用归纳法来解释周遭的世界，用过去的经验去预测未来。某种现象反复发生，不代表在未来还会继续出现。如果一个生物学家在欧洲只观察到白天鹅，他可能会预测所有的天鹅都是白色的，但他错了，西澳大利亚有一群和欧洲白天鹅同属的黑天鹅。黑天鹅证明了归纳法的漏洞。另一个例子是观测日出，如果你每天看到太阳升起，是否会预测明天太阳照常升起？如果你搬到南极洲，你将有几个月看不到日出。还有一个例子是每天都被喂食的火鸡，也许它会觉得主人将永远这么做下去，直到感恩节来临。
19. 科学不是对过去发生事件进行汇总，并假定它们会在未来再次发生。科学重在得出合理的解释。
20. 科学的真谛在于不断试错，提出大胆的假说，然后通过实验去测试。好的科学解释是可检验的、可证实的、并难以改变。爱因斯坦说他并不比大多数人聪明，是好奇心和想象力一路引导着他，他需要运用这两点来解释他所观察到的东西。
21. 科学的目的是解释我们的世界，即使无法肯定的预测未来会发生什么。科学永远没有尽头，我们应该始终对新的想法和解释持开放态度。**在我们无限的无知中，人人平等。**即使那些自称是某一领域专家的人，也对超出其领域的事情一无所知。你永远不知道下一个伟大的想法会从哪里诞生，学生甚至可以挑战专家的权威。
22. 我们依靠归纳法预测未来会创造出人工通用智能（AGI），并推断随着人工智能的发展，它们很快可以自行思考。类似的推断还有人类正在破坏地球，而不断增长的人口将导致人类的灭亡。但是人类的发展不是线性的，用线性的方式预测未来并没有意义。我们被迫成为悲观主义者，因为毁灭的风险实在是太大了。从进化角度来看，悲观主义者的基因更容易被传下来，比如说你听到身旁有动静，乐观的认为不过是风吹草动，如果你是对的，并没有什么损失，但如果你错了（老虎出没），你就完了。
23. 知识分子往往会因为持有悲观观点而得到奖励。解释正在发生的问题以及它们的危害性似乎才是学术上的严肃表现。但是促进人类社会进步的企业家则因为乐观地认为有解决措施而得到奖励。到目前为止，大多数对于灾难的悲观预测都是错误的。悲观主义者不承认我们可以通过科技和创新解决问题。
24. 成为理性的乐观主义者才是人类的出路。我们之所以面临重重问题，是因为知识面还不够广阔。只有通过启发创造力，才能提出更好的解释或想出更好的方法来改善人类的生活。

​

- Naval认为加密货币是人类历史上最伟大的发明之一。疫情以来Naval观察到大量的人群开始转向加密货币来保护自己的资产。

- Naval总结所有的自我帮助类型的书籍都有一个相同的主题就是：玩一个长远的游戏。如果每个人都能用长远的眼光看问题，生活会简单很多。复利的力量是伟大的，体现在财富积累、人际关系和身体健康上面。

- Naval认为生活就是一场游戏：找到好工作的游戏，找到好伴侣的游戏，这些都是多玩家的游戏；但生活的本质其实是单机游戏。多玩家游戏充满了竞争，一旦你赢得游戏，这个游戏其实已经结束了，但是你的单机游戏却是贯穿你一生的游戏，怎么玩好这个游戏值得思考。

- Naval的偶像都是科学家，他尤其偏爱理查德·费曼，因为他是一个博学多才又好玩有趣的人。推荐阅读费曼的《别逗了，费曼先生！》《你在意其他人想什么》。

- Naval每天早上起床后的第一件事就是60分钟的冥想，他说这是对他来讲最重要的事情。Naval讲的冥想并不是形式上坐在那里一动不动，而是给自己创造一个机会，通过和自己独处来审视自己的想法和情绪。审视自己的其他方法还包括见心理咨询师、读哲学书、以及长时间漫步等。

- 健康的体魄，平静的心灵，满满的幸福感，这些东西都是买不来的，而是靠自己争取来的。

- 最不切实际的幻想就是，世界上存在一种能让你永远幸福快乐的东西。

- 我们在尘世的时光不过弹指一挥间，所以我们根本不值一提，我们做的一切事物都无法长久留存，所以你会消亡，你所做的一切都会了无痕迹，你的思想也不复存在，你的孩子也会消亡，整个地球都会灭亡，太阳也会，所有的一切都会。

- 我不做计划，我倾向于活在当下，解放自我，享受当下的快乐。

- 欲望就是你和自己签订的一份不快乐的合约，合约截止日期就是你满足欲望的时刻。

- 生活中所有重要的事物都受益于复利：金钱，关系和习惯。

- 人类是「习惯机器」，学会如何打破旧有的坏习惯，培养好习惯是人类最应该学习的技能。

- 从根本上考虑问题，学会利用「第一原则」来解释问题，忘掉陈旧的社会准则，控制自己的情绪。

- 现实是中性的，一切取决于我们如何定义自己的现实。天堂和地狱都在自己的一念之间。

- 想要避免侮辱带来的伤害，停止夸大表扬的力量。

- 生命是一场单机游戏，你需要找到自己的玩法，了解自己的欲望和想要实现的目标，建立自己的人生信仰和看待事物的方法。

- 互联网上没人在乎屏幕后面的是猫是狗，人们在乎的是你输出的内容。

- 好点子+执行力是Naval和其他白手起家的创业者们成功的秘诀，那些总是抱怨自己没有资本和人脉的「假创业者」都在找借口。

- 世上没有统一的人生意义，如果有的话，那我们全会成为实现这个意义的奴隶。既然人生意义没有标准答案，那就为自己创造一个意义，书写自己的人生故事。

- 你不能拥有全部的东西，但你会得到你最想要的东西。看清自己的欲望，以及摸清欲望的来源。知生命之意者，便可承受生命之重。

- 朝九晚五是现代的奴役生活，而工资就是让人们上瘾的毒药。

- 人最会欺骗的就是自己。时刻审视自己的生命，找寻自己的「真相」。

- 大多数的物理假说一开始看上去都是疯言疯语，比如说量子力学和多重宇宙，但是后来逐步地得到科学证实，这样的例子以后会有更多。

- 当今社会不缺信息和道理，缺的是知行合一。不把理论融合在实践当中，那不算属于你的知识和智慧。

- 好的社会环境接受人们犯错并提供及时反馈。

- 科学就是用我们的已知去解释未知，世间没有永恒的真相，只有暂未被证伪的真相。

- 坐下来想想五年前的生活，想想现在的你会给当时的你哪些建议？然后再想想十年前的生活，想想现在的你会给当时的自己哪些建议？你是你自己最好的治疗师，你会发现无论生活再怎么改变，你的一些行为模式都会重复，一些未解决的问题总会涌现，是时候从源头出发去解决本质问题了。

- 生命不是零和游戏，宇宙为我们提供了无限的资源，我们需要做的是不断创新学会使用这些资源。

- 训练自己成为试错-纠错的机器，这是通往「真相」唯一的道路。

- Naval认为现在是艺术创作的黄金时代，任何人都可以依靠互联网的力量进行创作和传播。与此同时，人们也面临着筛选内容的困扰。

- 创造内容的核心在于不受时代的局限，想要内容长久流传，首先要选择常青的话题。Naval认为社交媒体上的热门话题是最浪费时间的读物，学习社会科学也没有任何价值（自然科学从现实中获得反馈，而社会科学则从社会中获得反馈，是变相的政治学）。

- 比特币是大势所趋的货币实验，以太坊则是势不可挡的应用实验。Naval认为拥有区块链技术支持的社会将比其他社会领先几十年。

- 如果你不主动选择自己的信仰，别人将为你做出选择（父母、社会和周围环境）。

- 当前互联网的发展正在一步步地削弱组织和机构的力量，而赋权于个人。在媒体界，优质记者们使用Substack这样的工具自立门户，他们通过直接与读者建立关系，撰写文章建立付费社区以此谋生。大型新闻媒体公司正面临着人才流失的危机，读者也会转而支持那些能够固定产出优质内容的创造者。

- 我们即将迎来区块链技术搭建的社交媒体平台。区块链有内置的支付功能，读者可以支持喜欢的创作者；创作者也可以与读者建立直接关系；区块链是开源的技术，任何人都可以参与混编和决议。

- 追求真理是开启幸福生活的开端。在生活中，任何不忠于本我的决策和生活方式，都将导致痛苦。
​​

知名财经记者威廉·格林（William Green）在过去25年的职业生涯中采访了数百位世界顶级的投资人，并将他的独家专访和所学所得集结成书《Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World's Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life》，向我们展示了这些大师级别人士的投资智慧和人生感悟。本周，威廉在他的播客中表示，「如果我不得不从过去四分之一个世纪我所采访的所有杰出的投资者中只选择一个榜样，那就是阿诺德·范登堡（Arnold Van Den Berg）」。

阿诺德·范登堡是世纪管理金融顾问公司（Century Management）的首席执行官和联合首席投资官。他出生于荷兰阿姆斯特丹，和安妮·弗兰克（《安妮日记》的作者） 住在同一条街。当纳粹德国入侵荷兰并开始追捕犹太人时，阿诺德的父母分别被抓到集中营，而他则躲在孤儿院里长大成人。阿诺德勉强读完高中后，在没有任何大学教育或正式培训的情况下自学投资，并克服重重逆境，取得了卓越的投资成就。这期播客并没有聚焦在阿诺德的投资理念上，反而深入地讨论了他如何通过控制自己的思想来改变人生，实现了超越物质所获的充盈生活，以及我们可以从他身上学到什么。


简单总结一下这期令我受益匪浅的播客：

1. 阿诺德之所以可以逃脱被送往集中营的命运，归功于一位17岁女孩的帮助。这位女孩听从她的牧师爸爸的指示，冒着被纳粹发现的生命危险将阿诺德送上逃离的火车。在往后的日子里，阿诺德总是对父女俩的做法百思不解，到底是什么样的力量可以让他人对陌生人伸出援手，甚至牺牲自己的生命？25年后，阿诺德在咨询了一位心理医生后找到了答案。医生说，「如果你的原则比你的生命更重要，你就会牺牲生命。如果你的生命比你的原则更重要，你就会牺牲原则」。正是这对父女虔诚的信仰，让他们坚信无论在何种情况下都要帮助别人。


2. 阿诺德得知信仰的力量后，也因此深深地参与到宗教研究中，他与拉比交谈，与牧师交谈，研究圣经的预言，研究佛学等。但他却发现各种宗教和信仰之间充满着种种的矛盾，到底谁对谁错？有一天阿诺德的脑海中突然闪过一些东西，他突然意识到纠结对错其实是在错误的轨道上，世间万物复杂至极，并没有简单的非黑即白的评判标准。如果把聚焦点放在追寻真理上面，才能更好地认清现实。追寻真理也成了阿诺德后来的人生守则和投资哲学，帮助他取得一系列的成功。


3. 阿诺德的父母是集中营的幸存者，他的母亲也许是受到了精神刺激，总是不停地向他们兄弟四人灌输着，「结婚是可以的，但千万不要有孩子」。四个男孩中没有一个人有自己的亲生孩子。但是阿诺德却不满足于现状，总想有一个亲生的孩子，于是花费了五六年的时间备孕尝试一切方法，但总没有结果。在万般无奈之际，阿诺德尝试了催眠疗法，也是在那时意识到他母亲的话语已经深深地印刻在他的潜意识中，导致身体也会配合这个「千万不要有孩子」的想法。经过心理治疗后，阿诺德终于摆脱了这个枷锁，有了自己的女儿。我们往往意识不到在年轻时接受的教育和他人的话语是如何影响我们的思想，甚至成为我们实现目标的绊脚石。你可能听说过很多这样的案例，那些不能生孩子的人一旦收养了孩子，不久就会怀上自己的孩子，很明显这是心理上的恐惧担忧和一种匮乏感阻碍了自己拥有想要的一切，看看心灵是多么的强大吧，甚至可以阻止你有一个孩子。


4. 阿诺德和妻子有一次在去看望父母的路上遇到一间花草店，他想着买点东西给父母，于是他开始闻闻这闻闻那，挑选心仪的植物。就在他闻到一棵植物的时候，泪水突然从他眼中喷涌而下，阿诺德完全不知道发生了什么情况，这时他的背部也开始疼了起来。阿诺德挣扎地走上车，来到父母家，他知道一定是心理上出了什么问题，才会出现这种泪流满面且身体疼痛的状况。他借用了父母的卧室开始回想，这时候他意识到那株植物的味道就是他小时候在孤儿院经常吃的东西的味道。当时孤儿院在战乱下并没有能力为孩子们提供伙食，所以大家经常会去野外采摘植物来吃，而这植物就是阿诺德经常会吃的东西。意识到这点后，阿诺德做了一个放松的冥想训练，10分钟后他不再哭泣，背部的疼痛也得到了缓解。我们在儿时的诸多遭遇都会在潜意识中给我们留下深刻的印记，且大多会透过身体症状向我们揭露一些被主动或者被动掩盖的事实，这时候需要我们有能力去面对愉快或者悲痛的事实，将自我从回忆中解放出来。


5. 阿诺德的爸爸在被抓去集中营后，因为身体强壮可以干活儿，所以并没有立即被处以死刑，而是被拉去做苦工。他爸爸的工作环境极其恶劣，经常在没有饭吃的情况下，在零度以下的天气中扛着重物行军24小时不停歇，当时的大雪没过了膝盖，很多人都因为严寒和营养不良死在了行军的道路上。阿诺德的爸爸告诉阿诺德，当时他从不会想自己有多饿有多冷，而是把全部注意力集中在双腿上，因为他知道只要一直走下去就会有活着的希望。当一个人如此专注时，反而产生了巨大的能量。如果他当时想到自己要在这种情况下走24小时，那根本没有活命的可能性，自己的理性头脑肯定会否定这疯狂的举动。但是一旦将注意力聚焦在腿上，只想着眼前走动的事情，心无旁骛，自然而然就坚持了下来。


6. 阿诺德从小被迫与父母分离，在少不更事的时候他一直觉得是父母主动抛弃了他，从而导致了他拥有极低的自尊心，觉得自己一无是处。同时，在成长过程中因为营养不良，也影响了他的身体和大脑发育，不仅比同龄人矮小很多，在学校的学习成绩也不尽人意。于是他选择了爬绳这个项目强身健体，全队五个人，前四个人攀爬25英尺绳子的成绩都在6秒左右，而阿诺德则是8.6秒，他的队友都羞于与他为伍。但是阿诺德却没有放弃，他从教练口中得知其他学校有个人因为采用不同的技巧，能将时间控制在4.6秒内，于是阿诺德便跑去观察，每天半夜对着镜子模仿练习，这样过了大半年，阿诺德竟然靠着这项新技巧拿到了冠军。阿诺德的逆袭秘方也许和刻苦练习有关，但是更重要的是他首先在心理上视觉化了自己拿冠军的场景。阿诺德后来回忆道，当他第一次看到那个人靠着新技巧爬出4.6秒的成绩时，他毫无理由地充满着兴奋激动之情，并且被深深地吸引住了，同时脑海中浮现出自己夺冠的场景。尽管当时没人相信阿诺德这个吊车尾的可以取得冠军，但是他却有着这样的信念。我们生活中唯一最重要的事情就是你的信念。你的信念支配着你的感觉，你的感觉创造了你的态度，你的态度构造了你的现实。阿诺德的心理医生后来告诉他，他培养信念的方法被广泛地用于运动心理学之中，伟大的运动员首先会想象自己夺冠或者破纪录的场景，然后全神贯注于实现目标的行动上，并且义无反顾的相信这个愿景，这就是他们成功的秘诀。


7. 阿诺德的投资知识完全来自自学，他从本·格雷厄姆（Benjamin Graham）以及他的妈妈那里学到的购买便宜货和批量购买的知识。他意识到挑选股票的关键是有纪律性地购买便宜货，尤其是在1979年美股大跌之时的抄底行为，让阿诺德一举致富。而现在的他，正看好大家都瞧不起的石油和矿产能源股票，而不去触碰大热的科技股。


8. 阿诺德承认自己花了比别人多得多的时间来建立世纪管理金融顾问公司。无论遇到何种困难，阿诺德始终怀抱着公司一定会成功的信念，而他的潜意识也一直在引导着他找到合适的人，进入合适的环境。与爱因斯坦齐名的天体物理学家阿瑟·爱丁顿爵士（Sir Arthur Eddington）曾经说过，「我相信头脑有能力影响原子组，甚至可以用原子行为的几率进行调节。世界的进程也不是由物理法则决定的，而可能被人类的意志所改变」。这就意味着你的想法可以影响周围的人和环境，乃至整个世界和宇宙。现在很多量子物理学家正在验证我们的潜意识能够做到的事情，这不是秘密。一旦你理解了这一点，便可以在潜意识的指导下采取行动，你会被引向正确的环境，从而创造成功。每个人都是自己命运的设计师，我们生活中的每一个经历或状况，贫穷或富有，成功或失败，健康或疾病，都是由头脑中的目标设定和所采取的行动所影响的结果。我们需要使用与生俱来的创造性的力量做出心理暗示或规划一张蓝图，在潜意识上刻上我们想要实现的梦想，从而在头脑中打造出实现目标的条件。


9. 阿诺德在阅读《巴伦周刊 Barron's》时被一张图片所吸引，照片中的投资人穿着三件套的西装，自信满满地站在办公桌前，阿诺德当即就在脑海中勾画出一幅一模一样的图像，而主角则是自己。没想到过了不久，一份杂志便邀请阿诺德撰写文章，当他们看完阿诺德写的文章后，觉得他个人的故事也很有意思，便提出了给阿诺德做专访的请求，还请来专业的摄影师为阿诺德拍照，就这样，阿诺德成了封面人物，而他的封面照片和他当时幻想的一模一样，甚至连脸上的阴影都丝毫不差。


10. 研究过潜意识的人们都知道，潜意识的语言和意识的语言完全不同，我们需要通过图像、气味和感觉与潜意识交流沟通。很多广告正是通过重复的视觉刺激，将信息植入到我们的潜意识中，尽管我们觉得这类广告愚蠢又无趣，但是潜意识却将它们记住，在潜移默化中影响我们的购买行为。很多在减肥的人，稍微吃一点不健康的东西就陷入深深地自责，觉得减肥不成功就是因为自己没有坚持控制饮食，其实是我们的自责影响了这个过程，潜意识得到的信号是我们理应得到惩罚。我们需要做的是改变负面的想法，带着快乐的心情去享受食物。为什么有些人看着每天在胡吃海喝，却依然保持着美好的身材，因为他们给潜意识的信号是这些食物可以为我带来快乐，为我带来美好的身材，而不是担心，哎呀我又要胖了。我们可以重新对自己的潜意识进行编程，尤其是重新定义童年中所接受的负面话语。


11. 每当有一个消极的想法时，阿诺德从来不会让它生根。他首先用一个积极的想法来取代它，告诉自己，「我是快乐的、健康的、富有的、有智慧的」。每当做一件事情时，首先设立一个目标，然后在脑海中想象目标实现后的画面，这个目标一定要及其具体，这样你才可以全神贯注于此。想象你有一个放大镜，把它对着太阳就能将纸燃烧，人的思想也同样如此。设定目标，将其可视化，专注于此，付诸行动，相信实现的可能。


12. 当你饿了渴了的时候，你的本能会告诉你需要吃饭喝水了。潜意识也是如此，一旦你的潜意识知道了你的目标，便会本能的做出行动，你无须逼着自己去工作，反而会因为做出相关的行动而感到兴奋，因为你会意识到，这不是无用的工作，而是实现目标的必经之路。一位伟大的舞蹈老师曾经说过，「我不收那些想要跳舞的人，我只收那些不得不跳舞的人」。当你意识到自己别无选择只能跳舞的时候，你就会全力以赴，拥有惊人的能量和驱动力。


13. 外界的东西并不重要，因为它都是你意识状态的反映。重要的是你的内心是什么，因为所有的一切都会相应地被反射在外。


14. 安德鲁·卡内基（Andrew Carnegie）曾说过，「我不为这个世界上的穷小子感到难过，而对富家子弟感到遗憾，因为他们被剥夺了一种成就事业的动力」。痛苦创造了洞察力。阿诺德想告诉所有正在受苦的听众，想想是什么导致了你的痛苦，然后想想你能做什么，在你的脑海中勾画出可以减轻痛苦的画面，并开始努力实现它。当你朝着目标努力时，就会创造出内在的快乐。亚伯拉罕·林肯（Abraham Lincoln）有一句话，「当我做好事时，我感觉很好；当我做坏事时，我感觉很糟糕。这就是我的信仰」。相信自己的感觉，以正确的方式生活，你就会感觉更好。而当你感觉更好时，你会体验到快乐而不是痛苦。


推荐阅读

• 《内在的精灵The Genie Within》哈利·卡本特（Harry Carpenter）
• 《思考与致富 Think and Grow Rich》拿破仑.希尔（Napoleon Hill）
• 《从贫穷到权力The Path to Prosperity》詹姆斯-艾伦（James Allen）

过去几周见过我的朋友们都表示「你气色好太多了」「整个人都在发光」「感觉又年轻了不少」，除了在英格兰的乡村待了一个月静养和参加了十天的内观冥想以外，大量的写作时间也让我有机会把脑海中有意识或者无意识困扰我的事情显现在纸面上，从而可以更清晰地感知我的想法，解放自己的焦虑和不安，对自我有更深刻的认知。

除非从繁忙的生活中抽出时间反思自我，不然你永远不知道什么才能让自己达到真正满足的状态。仅仅实现了当下的冲动和渴望，只会为人类带来一时的快乐，并不能为人们带来长远的幸福生活。独处和记日记便是一种投资回报比很高的反思生活的方法。除此之外，心理学家乔丹·彼得森(Jordan Peterson)发明创造的「书写人生Self-Authoring」项目也是一个很不错的通过写作了解自我的工具。

过去几个月我便花费了大量的时间在该网站上书写我的过去、现在和未来（目前已完成1/3）。书写过去可以让你知道自己究竟是谁；书写现在可以帮助你评估优缺点；书写未来则让你思考自己真正想要的是什么。

我们的大脑总是本能地忙碌于确定所处环境的危险程度。当不好的事情发生时，我们的头脑和身体自然而然地视当前环境是危险的，并准备采取紧急行动。这个准备的过程将会消耗我们的脑力和体力。一旦发生了不合我们心意的事情，我们肯定会想如何避免未来发生同样的事情，这时我们的心灵就失去了往日的平静。

当我们通过回忆那些悲伤或者痛苦的不好的事情时，往往会感到害怕、羞愧，内疚、愤怒，或受伤，如果这些引起我们身体反应的记忆已经超过一年半了，那就代表着我们还没有从过去的事情中解放出来，我们的心灵依然背负着过去的重担。

当过去未解决的问题使我们身心产生负面反应时，就好像我们一直生活在危险的环境当中，这时大脑和身体就会时刻处于警惕状态，从而消耗大量的能量。长期往复，压力荷尔蒙将损害我们的神经和免疫系统，对健康造成不良的影响。

那么，这和写作有什么关系呢？写作是一种复杂的思考形式，通过思考我们可以更好地感知问题并作出相应的行动。当我们把困扰自己的事情从脑海中释放到纸面上，挖掘和罗列一条条线索，串联事物的相关性，便可以清晰地识别事情发生的原因。就像做白日梦那样，让脑海中产生的思想和图画带着你遨游，而不去试图控制，尤其是当负面的情绪产生时，不要害怕，不要逃避，只需将它们写在纸上。

这个过程往往会占据大量的时间，但却是可以将自我与尘封的记忆和情绪进行连接的必要过程。在使用Self-Authroing的写作过程中，我们会感到很困难，但却不应该感到分心或者无聊。因为这项工作在情感上特别有挑战性，毕竟是一种迫使我们去面对问题的过程，如果在写作的过程中感到一种特别想马上完成或者心烦意乱的感觉，那么就停下来，休息休息，找其他合适的时间来完成这个任务。

想像一下，现在我们花费几周或者几个月的时间，处理过去缠绕我们几年几十年的问题，这个投入回报比还是很高效的。不仅如此，在之后的人生中，我们因为摆脱了过去幽灵的缠绕，就会减轻身心压力水平，重拾冷静的头脑，对自己也会有更清晰的认知。书写现在和未来，也会让我们对当前的事态和自我有更深刻的洞见，从而可以在正确的道路上持续前行。

希望更多的小伙伴们加入到Self-Authoring或者其他相关的写作项目上，早日与自己和解，重拾一颗平静的内心。

附赠关于CAMELLIA的一切。

推荐两部与创业有关的剧集

《超蓬勃：优步之战 Super Pumped》
这是一部讲述优步（Uber）创始人特拉维斯·卡兰尼克（Travis Kalanick）的故事。主创布赖恩·科普曼（Brian Koppelman）是我很喜欢的一名创作者，他的《亿万Billions》和播客节目《The Moment》都是我曾经推荐过的佳作。

整部剧的节奏又快又燃，让我联想到同样是话唠＋飞速的电影《社交网络The Social Network 》和电视剧《新闻编辑室The Newsroom》。

主创甚至请来了我超爱的导演昆汀·塔伦提诺做旁白，以及大女神乌玛·瑟曼扮演赫芬顿邮报的创始人阿里安娜·赫芬顿（Arianna Huffington），女神的口音和神态学得惟妙惟肖，实在是本剧的一大加分点。

据说，第二季将聚焦脸书创始人马克·扎克伯格的故事，拭目以待！

《初创玩家WeCrashed》
首先，这是一部爱情故事。人生当中能遇到不顾旁人眼光，一起特立独行并肩作战的伴侣是何等的幸事，纵然在创业的旅途中困难重重，甚至跌到谷底，能有一个人目光深切的看着你，信任你，义无反顾的支持你，这样的生活也值了！

和优步创始人一样，WeWork的创始人亚当·诺伊曼（Adam Neumann）也被董事会炒了鱿鱼，很难想象当创始人被迫离开自己一手打造的公司时的心情，应该就像亲生孩子被夺走那样痛心疾首吧。

莱托少爷和安妮·海瑟薇把诺依曼夫妇的魅力无边又雅痞邪典的气质演绎的淋漓尽致，做大事情的人往往有着常人无法理解的决心和自信心，在灵性发展逐渐成为主流叙事的今天，也许我们都应该时刻提醒自己和身旁的人，We are a supernova.

最后，分享最近阅读的部分图书的精彩段落。

《存在主义咖啡馆》

1. 有时候,受过最好教育的人,却往往最倾向于不拿纳粹当回事儿,认为他们太荒唐可笑,不可能成什么气候。卡尔·雅斯贝尔斯后来回想起来,认为他自己就是犯此错误的人之一,而在柏林的法国学生中间,波伏娃也观察到了类似的不屑情绪。无论如何,大多数不赞同希特勒意识形态的人,很快就学会了不表达自己的观点。如果一支纳粹的游行队伍从街上经过,他们要么溜之大吉,要么一边像其他人那样不得已地敬礼,一边自我安慰说,我不信仰纳粹,所以这个动作不会有任何意义。心理学家布鲁诺·贝特尔海姆(Bruno Bettelheim)后来曾写道,这一时期,几乎没有人会为举起胳膊这种小事而冒生命危险——但人们那种抵抗的能力,正是这样被一点点侵蚀掉的,最终,人们的责任心与正直感也会随之消失。哈夫纳认为,现代性本身要承担部分责任:人们已经成为习惯和大众传媒的奴役,忘记了停下来思考,或者中断各自的日常事务,腾出点足够的时间来质问一下到底发生了什么。 


2. 诗人和艺术家“听任事物存在”,但他们也让事物出来,并显示自身。他们协助事物慢慢进入“无蔽”状态(Unverborgenheit),这是海德格尔对希腊词altheia的翻译,这个词通常被译为“真理”。不过,这是一种更深层次的真理,而不仅仅是表述与现实之间的一致,比如我们说“猫在垫子上”,然后指着一块上面有只猫的垫子。早在我们能这么做之前,猫和垫子都必须要“从遮蔽中出来”。它们必须不再隐藏自身。


3. 让事物不再隐藏自身,是人做的事:这是我们独特的贡献。我们是一片“林中空地”(clearing),是疏朗处(Lichtung),是一块敞开、亮堂的林中空地,存在者在这儿可以像树林里的小鹿一样,腼腆地站出来。或者,你也许应该把这想象成存在者就像一只园丁鸟在灌木丛中清整出来的场地上那样,来到林中空地上跳舞。虽然把林中空地等同于人类意识有些过于简单化,但差不多是这个意思。我们通过意识到它们,来帮助事物出现在亮光之下,而且我们是以诗意的方式意识到了它们,也就是说,我们是带着尊重去关注它们,允许它们展现自己本来的面貌,而不是屈从于我们的意志。

《知觉之门》

1. 当然,感觉到“我”不同于在“那边”的胳膊和腿,也并不同于这整体的、客观的躯干、脖子,甚至头脑,这实在怪异;但是人很快会适应这种感觉。无论如何,身体似乎能完美地照顾好它自己。的确,实际生活中,身体总是自己照顾自己的。清醒的“自我”所能做的一切,不过是构思想法,然后由某些力量来执行,而“自我”对这些力量只有在极少数情况下才能予以控制,并且对其不能完全了解。当“自我”要做更多的事情——比如过度努力,或产生焦虑,或对未来忧心忡忡——那么,就会降低那些力量的效果,甚至会导致身体虚弱,就此病倒。目前在我这种状态下,意识并不等同于“自我”,可以说,意识自行其是,这意味着控制身体的生理性智力同样也自行其是。于是很幸运的是,在清醒时刻总想操纵我们人生的那个神经过敏的干扰势力——“自我”,此刻远离了我。  


2. 基型世界的意象是象征性的。但是,由于身为个体的我们并不创造出这种意象,而是发现它们“就在那儿”,在集体潜意识之中,所以,它们至少显示出既定的现实的一些特性,并且是有色彩的。内心的两极中那些非象征性的“居民”本身就存在着,并且像外在世界的既定事实,是有色彩的。事实上,它们比外在的数据更加具有强烈的色彩。之所以如此,至少可以用以下的事实部分加以说明:我们用以进行思考的字语性观念,通常会遮蔽我们对于外在世界的知觉。我们不断努力要把事物转变成符号,以适合我们自己所发明的那些比较可理解的抽象观念。但是,在这样做时,我们剥夺了事物的很多本然。


3. 个别艺术家如此,整个艺术学派也可能如此。有很多事物,人们经历了,却不想表达出来;或者,他们可能努力要去表达自己所经历过的事物,却只以多种艺术中的一种来表达。有时,他们则会以另一些方式来表达,而这些方式与原来的经验并没有立即可辨识的相似关系。就最后这种情况而言,A.K.库马拉斯瓦米 (23)博士在谈到远东的神秘艺术时,说了一些有趣的事。这儿所谓的远东的神秘艺术是指:在这种艺术中,“明指与暗指无法分开”,“一件东西的‘本然’与它的‘所指’之间没有区别”。这种神秘艺术的最重要例子是禅宗风景画——在中国的宋代兴起,并于四个世纪之后在日本再度兴起。印度与近东都没有神秘风景画,但是它们有对等的东西——“印度的毗湿奴绘画、诗与音乐,其中的主题是性爱;波斯的苏菲诗歌与音乐,赞美酒醉的状态”。

《西藏生死书》

1. 佛陀安详而庄严的禅坐着,天空就在他的四周上方,好像在告诉我们:坐禅时,你的心要像天空一般开放,却稳固在大地。天空就是我们绝对的本性,没有藩篱,无边无际;大地则是我们相对的现实,我们的相对心和凡夫心。我们坐禅时的姿势,象征我们正在连接绝对与相对、天空与大地、天堂与人间,就像鸟的双翼,融合了我们如天空般的无死心性,和虚幻有限的凡夫心地。 


2. 因此,无论生起怎样的思想和情绪,就让它们生起和消退,像大海的波浪一般。不管你发现你在想些什么,就让那个思想生起和消退,不要加以限制。不要紧抓它,喂养它,或纵容它;不要执着,不要让它具体化。不要随着思想跑,也不要迎请它们;要像大海看着自己的波浪,或像天空俯视飘过的云彩一般。很快你会发现,思想就像风,来了又去。秘诀是不要去「想」思想,而是要让它们流过心,不在心中留下任何痕迹。在凡夫心中,我们看到思想之流连续不断;但事实却非如此。你自己将会发现,每两个思想之间都有间隙。当过去的思想过去了,而未来的思想尚未生起时,你将发现当中有间隙,本觉或「心性」就在其中显露出来。因此,禅修就是要让思想缓慢下来,让间隙越来越明显。 


3. 负面的经验往往最容易误导人,因为我们总是把它们当作坏的象征。事实上,在我们修行中的负面经验,却是伪装的福报。试着不要去厌恶,反过来却要了解它们的真实面目,它们只是经验而已,如梦幻泡影。体悟经验的真实本质,可以让你免除经验本身造成的伤害或危险,这样一来,即使是负面的经验,也可以变成大福报和成就的来源。自古以来,就有无数的大师,在负面的经验上用功,将它们转化为觉悟的催化剂。 

凯文·凯利（Kevin Kelly）本月迎来了70大寿！在每年生日之时，他会撰文分享诸多生活经验和感悟。我在前两年翻译过他的两篇文章：
- 凯文·凯利的99条生活感悟
- 网络文化教父KK的68条生活感悟
今年继续延续传统，分享一下这位给我带来诸多思考的线上导师的最新文章，谢谢KK，生日快乐！

- 大约99%的情况下，正确的时间就是现在。


- 除你自己之外，没有人对你的财产印象深刻。


- 永远不要为你不想成为的人工作。


- 培养12个爱你的人，这比拥有1200万喜欢你的人更有价值。


- 不要老是犯同样的错误；要尝试犯新的错误。


- 如果你停下步伐听音乐人或看街头艺人表演超过一分钟，你就欠他们一美元。


-  「但是」之前的任何话都没什么意义。


- 当你原谅别人时，他们可能不会注意到，但你自己会被治愈。宽恕不是我们为别人做的事情，而是给自己的礼物。


- 礼节无需花钱。比如说用完马桶后把马桶盖放下；让电梯里的人先出来你再进去；把购物车放回指定区域；归还所借之物时，维护或者提供一个更好的状态（装满或者清洁）。


- 每当双方各执己见时，找到一个第三方的论点。


- 提升效率被高估了，玩物丧志被低估了。定期给自己安排休息日、假期和漫无目的的闲逛时间。顶尖的表现力需要相匹配的休息时间，最好的工作之道是懂得劳逸结合。


- 作为领导，你真正的工作是培养更多的领导者，而不是积累更多的追随者。


- 私下里批评，公开地赞美。


- 生活的教诲会按照必要的顺序呈现给你。掌握课程所需的一切都在心中。一旦你真正学会了一课，就会进阶到下一门课。如果你还活着，就意味着你仍然有东西要学。


- 从老师那里得到一切是学生的责任，从学生那里得到一切也是老师的责任。


- 如果在一场游戏中获胜变得过于重要，那就改变规则吧，让游戏变得更有趣。改变规则可以成为新的游戏。


- 向资助人要钱，他们会给你建议；但向他们索取建议，他们会给你钱。


- 不要将以更好的方式尽快完成任务作为目标，而是致力于找到更好的任务，这样你可以一直乐此不疲的做下去。


- 尽快支付供应商、工人、承包商的工资。他们下次会不遗余力地优先与你合作。


- 我们告诉自己的最大谎言是 「我不需要写下来，因为我会记住的」。


- 评估有意识地成长的一项指标是看你愿意进行多少次不舒服的谈话。


- 说话时要自信，就好像你是对的；倾听时要细心，就好像你是错的。


- 伸展臂长=身高。


- 连贯性（锻炼、陪伴、工作）比数量更重要。没有什么比每天坚持做同样的小事更重要，这比偶尔做大事重要得多。


- 做艺术不是自私的，而是为他人服务。如果荒废艺术才能，就是在欺骗大众。


- 永远不要问一个女人是否怀孕了。如果她怀孕了，就让她亲自告诉你。


- 你需要三种能力：不放弃某件事情直到它成功的能力；放弃不起作用事情的能力；以及信任其他人来帮助你区分这两种情况的能力。


- 公开演讲时，要经常停顿。换新说法之前要停顿，说了认为重要的事情之后要停顿，把停顿作为一种缓和的手段，让听众有时间笑话细节。


- 没有所谓的准时之说。你要么迟到，要么早到，这是你的选择。


- 问问你钦佩的人：他们走运的时机都是发生在远离主干道的弯路之上。生活对任何人来说都不是一条直线，绕道走走弯路没什么不好。


- 在互联网上获得正确答案的最好方法是发布一个明显错误的答案，并等待有人来纠正你。


- 鼓励好的行为而不是惩罚坏的行为，会得到10倍的效果，特别是针对儿童和动物时。


- 写邮件时，花费与写内容同等的时间想一个好题目十分重要，因为题目往往是人们阅读的唯一内容。


- 不要等待暴风雨过去，而在雨中起舞。


- 当检查求职者的推荐信时，前雇主可能不愿意或被禁止说任何负面的话语。所以给前雇主发送一条信息，"如果你强烈推荐这位求职者，请给我回信。" 如果他们不回复，就当作是对求职者的否定。


- 使用密码管理器。


- 接受教育的一大半目的是学习你可以忽视的东西。


- 拥有一个看似不可能实现的雄伟目标的好处是为自己设定了非常高的标准，所以即使是失败，也可能会达到普通人眼中的成功。


- 了解自己的一个好方法是认真反思你在别人身上发现的一切令人恼火的特质。


- 住酒店时，让所有的东西都显而易见，不要放在抽屉里，并全部集中在一个地方。这样你就不会落下任何东西。如果你需要在角落里充电，在充电器旁边放几件其他的大件物品，这样就不会忽视它们的存在。


- 拒绝或回避赞美是不礼貌的。即使你认为它们名不副实，也要心怀感激地接受它们。


- 阅读纪念碑旁边的牌匾。


- 当你取得成功时，会有一种冒名顶替者的感觉。但当你凭借自己的独特才能和经验创造出只有你才能做到的事情时，那么你绝对不是冒牌货，而是受命者。在只有你能做的事情上努力奋进是你的职责。


- 你在糟糕的日子里做的事情比在好日子里做的事更重要。


- 创造对人们有好处的东西。


- 开油漆的时候无论多小心都会溅到衣服上。


- 为了让调皮捣蛋的孩子们在公路旅行中维持良好的表现，准备一袋他们最喜欢的糖果，每当他们行为不端时，就向窗外扔一块。


- 你无法让聪明人仅仅为了钱而尽心尽力工作。


- 当你不知道该为某项任务付给某人多少钱时，问问他们怎样才算合理？他们通常会给你答案。


- 90%的东西都是糟粕。如果你认为你不喜欢歌剧、爱情小说、TikTok、乡村音乐、素食、NFT，继续尝试，看看你是否能找到那10%的精华。


- 人们将根据你是否可以善待那些不能为你做任何事情的人来评判你。


- 我们倾向于高估一天能做的事情，而低估十年内能取得的成就。十年的时间可以诱发奇迹。复利的长期游戏甚至可以战胜大的错误。


- 感谢改变你生活的老师。


- 最好的工作是你觉得不会胜任的工作，因为这能锻炼你的能力。事实上，只申请你觉得不会胜任的工作。


- 买二手书，去图书馆。


- 你可以成为任何想成为的人，所以做那个提前结束会议的人吧。


- 一位智者说：「在你说话之前，让话语通过三道门。在第一道门问自己："这是真的吗？" 在第二道门问："这有必要吗？" 在第三道门问："这是善意的吗？」


- 走楼梯。


- 不是所有的价格都出现在标签上，实际成本往往是市场价格的2倍，因为你需要花费精力、时间、金钱来设置、学习、维护、修理和做最后的处置。


- 当你入住酒店时，先找紧急出口。这只需要一分钟时间。


- 回答 「我现在应该做什么？」的唯一富有成效的方式是首先解决 「我应该成为谁？」这个问题。


- 在超过平均水平的时间内保持平均收益会产生非凡的结果。买入并持有。


- 对无礼的陌生人极度礼貌是很刺激的。


- 一个不太聪明的人，如果能很好地沟通，有可能比一个不能很好沟通的超级聪明人做得更好。这是一个好消息，因为提高你的沟通能力比提高你的智力要容易得多。


- 偶尔受骗是相信每个人都是好人所需付出的小小代价，因为当你相信别人都是好人时，他们一般也会对你很好。


- 培养孩子的最好方法是只在他们身上花你认为应该花的一半的钱，但花双倍的时间与他们在一起。


- 购买最新的家乡版旅游指南。每年扮演一次游客，你会学到很多东西。


- 不要排队打卡网红餐厅。


- 迅速揭示你刚认识的一个人的真实性格的方法是，把他们转移到一个慢得不能再慢的网络连接上，观察他们的反应。


- 成功的处方之一：做一些奇怪的事情，让怪异成为一种习惯。


- 至少有一个物理备份和一个云端的备份。备份你的备份。如果你丢失了数据、照片、笔记，你会花多少钱来找回它们？与遗憾相比，备份很便宜。


- 不要相信你认为自己相信的一切。


- 发出紧急信号的三原则；三声呼喊，三声喇叭，或三声口哨。


- 三分之一原则：把1/3的时间花在探索新事物上，2/3的时间花在深化旧事物上。


- 真正的好机会不会在标题栏写着「好机会」。


- 当和某人初次结识时，要有4秒钟的眼神接触，你们都会记住对方。


- 如果你发现自己在想 「我的好刀呢？或者，我的好笔在哪里？"」，这意味着你有不好的东西，扔掉它们吧。


- 当你感到卡壳时，向别人解释你的问题。通常情况下，简单地列出问题就能让你想出解决方案。


- 购买花园水管、延长线或梯子时，要买一个比你认为需要的长得多的。这才是正确的尺寸。


- 不要费力地与旧事物作斗争；专注建立新事物。


- 向团队时不时的表达感激之情，他们因此能做出超出你想象的伟大事情。


- 发表公众演讲时，将目光固定在几个人身上比扫视每个人更好。你的眼神会向别人传达你是否真的相信自己所言。


- 习惯比灵感要可靠得多。通过养成习惯来取得进步。不要把注意力放在减肥塑身上，要专注成为从不错过锻炼的人。


- 谈判时，不要以争取更大的蛋糕为目标；要以创造一个更大的蛋糕为目标。


- 如果把今天所做的事情重复365次，你明年会达成想要的目标吗？


- 人与人打交道时，你只看到对方的2%，而他们只看到你的2%，让彼此适应隐藏的98%吧。


- 人们在回忆自己所经历的美好时代时，总会回到自己10岁左右的时光。


- 你的时间和空间是有限的。移除、扔掉生活中那些不再能激发快乐的东西，以便为那些能激发快乐的东西腾出空间。


- 我们的后代将取得令我们惊讶的成就，如果我们想象力足够充沛的话，后代们会用我们今天创造出的材料和工具来继续打造美好的未来。


- 为了获得巨大的回报，对你不感兴趣的事情要怀有好奇之心。


- 专注于方向而不是目的地。没有人能够预知自己的命运，但保持正确的方向，你就会到达你想去的地方。


- 每一个突破一开始都是可笑又荒谬的。事实上，如果它一开始不是可笑和荒谬的，就不会产生突破。


- 如果你借给别人20美元，而他们因为拒绝还钱而消失了，那他们就值20美元。


- 抄袭他人是一个好的开始。抄袭自己是一种令人失望的结束方式。


- 为新工作谈判薪水的最佳时机是在他们说要你之后，而不是之前。让招聘方先给你一个数字对你有利。


- 与其过着一成不变的生活，不如直接去主动体验充满惊喜意外的生活。


- 用信用卡租车，不要购买额外的保险。


- 如果你对一个问题的意见可以从你对另一个问题的意见中推理预测出来，你可能受困于一种意识形态。当你真正为自己思考时，你的结论往往不可预测。


- 争取死后一贫如洗。把钱在死之前分给受益人，或是花光所有的钱。你的最后一张支票应该交给殡仪馆。


- 防止变老的主要方法是保持对事物惊讶的态度。

Greeting from Lisbon!

I moved back to Portugal this month after getting my residency visa sorted. Thanks to Pieter Levels who built up the Rebase.co that helped me with the immigration process (here is the road map of my application). Lisbon will be my temporary base for now. Say Hi when you’re here, and let’s meet IRL!

This month I ticked a box of a decade long dream — visited Camp Nou and watched Barca’s victory at the home ground! Nothing can compare with the joy of a childhood dream coming true. Més Que Un Club! Barca represents Catalonia’s rebellious spirit and Cruyff’s philosophy, which had a massive impact on me throughout my teenage years to now.

Thanks for the invitation from the Talent Protocol team so I can fly to Barcelona to attend the Celo Connect conference and tour this amazing city! I’ve learnt so many tools and knowledge in web3 and Packy McCormick (one of the speakers) wrote a detailed blog post about Celo and ReFi, a highly recommended read.
​
OK, let’s get into this month’s content.

No mobile phone, no talking, no reading or writing, no listening to songs or watching shows, no physical contact with others, no killing, no drinking or eating meat… plus getting up at 4 am every morning and sitting in meditation for 12 hours. This has been my life for the past 10 days.

When I first heard about the Vipassana Meditation course from a friend and read the rules above, my first impression was, ‘WTF… who’d like to go to this meditation prison? Especially for someone like me who heavily depends on digital devices for work. But out of curiosity, I decided to give it a go. So I enrolled in a course at one of the Vipassana Centres in England to learn this thousand-year-old Buddhist meditation technique.

I can’t exaggerate that these 10 days were a life-changing experience but provided me with a brilliant tool to deal with my emotional burdens. To look at thoughts and emotions objectively, rather than be led by them or avoid their existence. To know everything will pass, whether happiness or sadness, pleasure or pain, rather than attach “I” to those sensations. We realise impermanent is the true nature of life.

An unexamined life is not worth living. We need to observe and experience reality with consciousness. If we are lucky, we’ll be able to achieve a state of oneness and live a peaceful and harmonious life. 
​
Read the detailed reflection HERE.

Recommend two hyper-fast-paced and top-notch shows that focus on the tech world.

Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber
​First of all, if you could guess who did the voiceover in this show without Googling, you are my people LOL! American showrunner Brian Koppelman (his podcast The Moment is my frequent-listened show) co-created this limited series that revealed the rise and fall of Uber CEO Travis Kalanick. Uma Thurman’s performance as Ariana Huffington is perhaps the most eye-catching part of the series. According to Brian, Season 2 will feature Mark Zuckerberg’s story. Something to look forward to!

WeCrashed
This miniseries is based on the podcast WeCrashed: The Rise and Fall of WeWork, featuring Jared Leto and Anne Hathaway as Adam Neumann and Rebekah Neumann. The biggest takeaway from this show is no matter in high or low, it’s extremely important to have someone who shares the same values, deep trust and faith along your side. Adam and Rebekah are full of charismatic (cult-leader like) and have a strong ambition in their life. Though ordinary people might not understand their lifestyle and vision, I can see many great people in history who shared the same path.
​
Remember this is a LOVE story. Love what you do and may y'all find someone who can look at you in the eyes and tell you ‘You are a Supernova’. 

Many people (especially from China) are curious about my digital nomad life. Now, there is a book to help us understand the history of nomads, global mobility and borderless living. Lauren Razavi, an early adopter of remote work who has lived as a digital nomad since 2013, recently launched a comprehensive book, Global Natives in this domain. She documents her insights from living and working across 40+ countries and advises policymakers to establish nomad hubs based on the increasing need for global mobility.

When I searched the history of digital nomads, Lauren’s tweetstorm popped up and helped me understand the origin of this concept. Her newsletter Counterflows focused on borderless living and featured the six best links on the topics to enhance people’s knowledge of digital nomads every week. Next month, I’ve scheduled an interview with Lauren to talk more details about her book. Stay tuned if you are interested in this topic :)
​
MY BOOK/PODCAST/NEWSLETTER RECOMMENDATION

In 2018, I read every single article on Derek Sivers’s website after listening to some of his podcast interviews. His soothing voice and easy-to-understand life advice helped me to get out of the dark moment in my life. From Hell Year or No to Move to Big City, from NOW page movement to being a solitary socialite… While indulging myself in Derek’s pearls of wisdom, I found out he lived in New Zealand! So I reached out to him and met him in Wellington just before he was about to leave New Zealand for good (now he happily lives in NZ again).

Consuming Derek’s content and meeting him in person was eye-opening because I resonated with his thinking in many ways, but I found it hard to put them into words. His sharp writing unchained my abstractive thought onto paper so I could see myself clearly. Plus, that was the first time I was brave enough to meet my online mentor IRL and his kindness and friend attitude comforted my nerves and encouraged me to reach out to more like-minded online friends in the future.

I volunteered to translate many of Derek Sivers’ articles into Chinese and participated in his book project Your Music and People. I couldn’t express more gratitude for life. While I was lost, the universe sent him to help me walk through the darkness toward light. Derek’s previous decision to move to Portugal also planted a seed in my mind, and now I made it happen. Thanks, Derek!
​
Highly recommend anyone who feels stuck in life read his brilliant book collections. 

• Current most popular web3 app in China: STEPN, a blockchain-based GameFi platform and fitness app turning miles into money.
• As a Talent House #1 participant, I highly recommend this brilliant initiative to all web3 enthusiasts! Apply now and get a chance to get to join Talent House #2 and go to Paris!

​Question from people interested in Rebase.co service to move to Portugal.

​Answer:

I documented my journey with Rebase with the price on a Notion page.

In the beginning, I was planning to run the whole immigration process myself since I could find everything I needed to know online. Out of curiosity, I booked the call with Rebase. I was impressed by the lawyer’s customised solution to my complicated situation as a non-EU citizen who had a UK residency with an NZ company and had already temporarily worked in Aveiro, Portugal.

So I paid for her service since it would save me tons of time and flew back to England to submit my application at the Portuguese Embassy in London. It usually takes 60 -120 days to get the D visa. Still, since my UK residency is expiring soon and I have to make international travel during the application period, I got my visa within a month (just a day before my Barcelona trip LOL).

Whether you choose to use Rebase, other immigration services, or DIY really depends on your OWN situation. I can only say this service has helped me a lot because my goal is to save time and have someone to consult with whenever I have questions about the process, so I don’t mind paying money. I DIYed my NZ permanent residency and citizenship application by myself because back then, I had just started my career and didn’t have much money to spend, plus people speak English in NZ so I could ask the bureau directly.

That’s it. Check out my process if you’re interested in immigrating to Portugal. Hope to see you at nomads meet-ups sometime soon! 

• Preface
• Flowism
• Life Principles
• Origins
• Tibet Trip
• Meditation Journey
• Psychedelic Experience 
• Ultimate Goal

​When I was little, I was obsessed with my Dad’s study room. How come he could pick up some colourful and heavy things on the shelf and lock himself in the room for the whole day? I imitated his behaviour but hardly understood a word from his accounting, economy and management books.

One day, I browsed my Dad’s treasures and found one book rather fascinating. The Life of Friedrich Nietzsche by Daniel Halévy (The Chinese translation version of that book called Friedrich Nietzsche: I’m the Sun《尼采传：我是太阳》) triggered me because that’s the only few words I could recognise at the young age. I felt highly excited like Archimedes leapt out of the bath and rushed home naked crying, “Eureka! Eureka!” I thought I found the universal truth that the Sun is this beard and weird-looking guy!

My family made fun of me about how I secretly told everyone, “do you know the Sun has a name called Ni Cai (Nietzsche’s pronunciation in Chinese)?” and how I regarded myself as a detective scientist who decodes the identity of the Sun. Silly, right? That childhood mystery followed me for ages until I learnt at school what metaphor is and who the real Nietzsche is, and apparently, there is a conventional rule to name things in our society, including the Sun. 

My old friend’ Nietzsche didn’t fade away with my stupidity but lingered around my life and led me to dig more about him and his fellow philosophers. As his saying goes, he who has a why to live can bear almost any how. Like many rebellious, moody and self-centred teenagers in my adolescent years, I blamed my parents for everything because “I didn’t choose to be born”. My early 20s also filled enormous pains from internal self-doubt and disturbing external facts. I didn't know why I was here and what's it for.​

I wrote numerous suicide notes in my diaries but never made it into action. I suffered from a constant existential crisis but never fell into mental illness. I don’t know if I am a coward or a survivor in this life game.

Now I want to share my journey of discovering my WHY (aka, my philosophy). This article is my guiding principle for my short life on earth. I hope you will find your path and live life on your own terms. 
​

​My life philosophy is Flowism, a term I made up when my friend James asked why I constantly change my mind and never settle down on one idea, a place, a job or a person.

I joked, “I go with a flow. I’m practising Flowism.”

That’s how Flowism came to life, and I think it’s a great term to define my living principle. 

Going with a flow doesn’t mean I am a fence-sitter or flip-flopper. It’s a state of following the universe’s rhythm and constantly evolving my thoughts and ideas. As Alan Watts said, “there is a contradiction in wanting to be perfectly secure in a universe whose very nature is momentariness and fluidity”. 

If the universe was an ocean, what we understand is only a drop of water. I am aware of my limited knowledge, but I can explore everything with intellectual curiosity. Therefore, it’s necessary to change my mind regularly with new information based on my critical thinking.

The concepts of time and space and cause and effect are an illusion. Nobody has the ability to define the objective truth based on our current understanding of the universe. What we need to do is ask honest questions and obtain a good explanation. 
 
All things are neutral, and everything depends on our perspectives. We have the choice to fall into nihilism or make everything meaningful to ourselves. As Albert Camus said, “the struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy”. Choose the suffering we enjoy the most. 

All things, including people, come and go. Nothing is certain. Nothing is for sure. Everything is impermanent. The secret to living a peaceful life is not forcing, not interfering, just accepting everything as they are. 

Remember we wecome to this world alone and will die alone. Life is a single-player game with sufferings from desire, departure and detestation. Once accepted in this setting, everything we encounter in life will be more bearable. 

Everyone has their own hero journey. The most important question we need to keep in mind is whether we dare to face the uncertainty and walk through this lonely journey. 

Our thoughts and ideas, or so-called free wills, are inextricably tied to language, and language is socially constructed. We are all socially conditioned. The only way to escape the circle of the condition is to seek truth and beauty and follow your bliss.

The meta meaning of living is existing. We are loved just for being who we are. We didn’t come into this world but came out of it. We are part of the universe, and everyone is connected with love. 

What I say here may sound different from what I really mean, but it doesn’t matter. Go with our own understanding of flowism because others, including myself, are an illusion.

Life only makes sense when we look back and connect the dots together. So, go with flow forward and collect as many dots as possible on the way.

Remember, all things come to those who flow the way, as all wild streams and unruly torrents eventually drive to great rivers and the sea. 
​

I summarise and update my life principles on my birthday every year. Here are my 30 principles to live by (Chinese version): 

1. When facing a dilemma, choose the option that will bring more opportunities in the future; choose the path that looks complicated for now. 
2. Experience a religious ritual or psychedelic retreat. We don’t have to believe in it or be addicted to it but keep an open mind for unexpected healing effects.
3. Invest in a good pillow, mattress and eye mask. A good night’s sleep is a free remedy to repair our bodies.
4. Regularly review our friends and colleagues circle - do they inspire me or hold me back? Try our best to surround people with whom we’d like to play a long-term game. 
5. An information diet is as essential as a healthy diet. 
6. In web3, there are no adults but curious children who are constantly learning and trying things out. No one knows what they are doing, and no one cares what we are doing, so feel free to try new things and run experiments. 
7. Make it done/work first. THEN make it pretty.
8. We can’t have everything, but we will get what we want the most. Be focused and understand our true desires.
9. Sooner or later, we’ll find out we can’t please everyone all the time. There will always be somebody who misjudges or misunderstands us. One must learn to stop living one’s life based on the expectations of others but live on our own terms. 
10. If we improve 1% every day, we’ll not improve by 365% at the end of the year, but by 3800%. This is the power of compound interest.
11. Simple rules can generate highly complex systems. e.g. Mandelbrot Set and the Game of Life. Focus on the fundamental principles and let them grow and evolve organically.
12. If we focus too much on optimising our lives, we’ll miss the opportunity to live at the moment. Be here and now and feel. 
13. We are at the golden age for creators. Find the niche where we serve the person we used to be. 
14. “Every transformation demands as its precondition ‘the ending of a world’—the collapse of an old philosophy of life.” — C.G. Jung
15. We have been given life as a gift to discover what the gift in our life is. When we figure out something that could give back value to our world, it’s our responsibility to fulfil this mission.
16. Most people prefer ugly certainty to potentially beautiful uncertainty. The biggest question you need to answer is whether you dare to step on the unknown journey. 
17. People are not seeking the meaning of life but want to experience life and feel what it is like to be alive. 
18. My underlying logic of human interaction is that we can always learn from everyone we encounter. Don’t judge but learn. 
19. Any relationship is a good relationship as long as we are a whole person rather than a person having a hole to seek for others to fill the gap. 
20. There are countless paths in the world, and each unique individual should avoid competition and take their own course. The guaranteed way is not the suitable way for everyone. 
21. The problems in life are features, not bugs. Find the ones you like to solve and make peace with them.
22. We spend our whole lives unlearning in order to find our lost true nature. 
23. Mastering storytelling as a skill. If we look back at history, the stories that have been repeated again and again formed our society. 
24. Sources of suffering: treat maps as territory and treat stories as reality.
25. When we give up controlling our life, the universe takes us to the perfect place. The universe has a much better plan for us than the one we envisage with your short-sightedness and limited knowledge. 
26. Amor Fati. Memento Mori. 
27. Logic is a human being’s creation. The universe doesn’t give a damn about that. We all try to figure out the correlation and causation and brag about the pattern we discovered. However, there are so many black swans events happening around us. Maybe randomness is the key message we should bear in mind.
28. Be careful with others’ compliments, and then we won’t pay much attention to their criticism. Our ability has a benchmark and won’t change based on others’ thoughts. But be humble to take constructive feedback.  
29. Action speaks louder than words. If we’d like to know people’s values, just look at their actions. 
30. “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” --Albert Einstein 

I was born in Jinan, China, where under the tremendous influence of Confucianism, emphasised personal and governmental morality. The societal values are to respect and obey authorities and elders and sacrifice individual welfare to achieve a group goal.

Throughout primary school, I studied very hard, obeyed all the rules, and was awarded as a Merit Student. I remember so vividly on graduation day, my best friend Shixin told me, “You have such a beautiful pair of eyes, but I can’t find any happiness inside them. I wish you a happy life.”

I was shocked and then cried for many days.

That was the first time I realised I lived a pretentious life and never was a happy kid deep inside. All I did was oppress my free spirit to adapt to mainstream society to get approval from others. What’s for? Why do I do that? What’s my purpose? Those self-examination questions lead me to so many depressing hours during my childhood.

Thanks to my grandparents, Qi Kaimin and Sun Yuzhen, the Cultural Revolution survivors, who were highly educated and cultured. They devoted their retiring life to researching Yi Jing (also known as I Ching or Book of Changes) and other Chinese ancient classics, including Three Teachings (Buddhism, Daoism and Confucianism). They proposed changing my name from Chenlu to Yixuan to alter my fate based on Yi Jing’s statement. 

I had no idea why I changed so dramatically after the name change (puberty hormonal changes?). I started to behave in such a rebellious way, disobeyed authorities, wrote political-sensitive content, and asked numerous questions about existence that drove adults crazy. My parents saw through my personality and thought it would be better to send me overseas than live in a traditional Chinese society where my free spirit was suppressed. 

I joined the exchange student program and went to New Zealand to study. The language barriers and culture shock took me to another round of loneliness and depression. I came across a Baptist Church near my school and prayed for Christian God to save me from suffering. Meanwhile, I attended a campus counselling service and tried to cure myself based on psychological practice. I also found libraries and bookstores as my shelters where I could temporarily escape from reality and enjoy my solitude time.

After I moved from New Zealand to the UK, I got a chance to meet and talk with people from different cultures and backgrounds where I could learn about Muslim, Orthodox and other schools of religions and philosophy that originated from the northern hemisphere. I read from Greek saints to German philosophers, from ancient gurus to contemporary thinkers, and then developed my philosophy by standing on those giants’ shoulders.

Apart from reading, I also tried different religious experiences, meditation and psychedelic retreats, drugs and alternative therapies. 

Here is the list of names and schools that influenced my philosophy to my awareness:

• Stoicism, Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism and Existentialism
• Plato, Rene Descartes, Friedrich Nietzsche, Immanuel Kant, Soren Kierkegaard, Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, David Deutsch, Jed McKenna, David Hume, Immanuel Kant, Martin Heidegger, Ayn Rand, Mark Manson, Ryan Holiday, Derek Sivers, Naval, Kapil, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Jiddu Krishnamurti, Maharishi Mahesh, Alan Watts and Alain de Botton
• Among hundreds of books I read, this is the list of the top books I recommend where I benefit a lot from those writers: https://mostrecommendedbooks.com/user/camelliayang

​​

In 2015, I quit my full-time job at a well-known New Zealand corporate because I lost my motivation and inspiration as a content creator. I went to America and indulged myself in materialistic pleasure. It was a fun month, but this kind of action provided me with a temporary solution rather than a permanent cure.

I fell into a void and emptiness.

Back then, my Dad made his trip to Tibet and shared photos of those majestic palaces and magical natural scenery with me. I have always been fascinated by Tibetan Buddhism and the profoundness of Tibetan culture. Since I was a child, I heard Princess Wencheng entering Tibet and marrying Songtsen Gampo and the story of how Tibetan used human skin to make drums. 

I longed for this sacred and mysterious land, and it was time for me to pay for a visit. 

It took me 24 hours by train to arrive in Lhasa, Tibet. I went through horrible altitude sickness (headache and accelerated heartbeat plus breathing difficulty), but the grand scenery along the way made me survive this mammoth trip. 

I visited many villages where I saw the national five-star red flag flying in almost every house. I had no idea if it’s the government’s efforts or Tibetans voluntarily did so. My journalist background drove me to talk with everyone I met, but many elder villages could not speak Mandarin. Although we could not communicate, their genuine and innocent smiles made me feel very comfortable.  

What impressed me most was the Tibetan Buddhism Prostration. Tibetan Buddhism believers prostrate themselves on the ground, with the head, arms, and knees down on the ground, and move forward slowly, following every step with a kowtow. This was the way to express their most honest hearts to the Buddha, as they walked from their hometown to Lhasa, one kowtow with every three steps they took until they arrived in Lhasa (usually took a couple of months with 100,000 kowtows!). 

I was shocked because I never saw hundreds of people prostrating this ritual along the way. What made them so devoted? What’s the purpose for them to do so? What would they want to achieve?

Reflecting on my life, I had never focused on one thing, not to mention committed to any practice like that. I talked with the locals and prostrators and learnt that Buddha said our world is an illusion. Human beings can strip themselves of this illusion through meditation and self-denial to achieve enlightenment. The prostration practice is essential to the mind’s purification and freeing it from lousy karma due to harmful doings or thoughts. 

Although I’ve read a couple of Buddhism books before and had an idea of the Tibetan prostrator. Words on paper could not compare with seeing them practising at the Dazhao Temple in front of me! I was so touched by their actions and devotion. Moreover, visiting Dazhao Temple made me emerge the hope to our human race. 

The Dazhao Temple owns its fame to its life-sized statue of the Buddha at age 12, brought to Lhasa as part of the Chinese Princess Wencheng’s dowry in 641.  1000 years later, another notable event happened in the temple’s long history: Chinese Emperor Kangxi’s visited here as a part of governing inspection.

How glad to see different ethnic groups could live harmoniously in one land throughout history. Although conflicts and wars had happened occasionally, the mixed ethnic culture memes would find their way to survive and left essences to the future generation. 

One of the highlights of my Tibet trip was visiting the Potala Palace. Songtsen Gampo built this world wonder to marry Princess Wencheng from mainland China over 1,300 years ago. The Potala Palace was built on top of the mountain with more than 2,000 rooms full of paintings, books and exotic treasures.

The whole trip was mind-blowing with awe. Although human beings only existed in this universe for such a short period, the hard labour of creating those fantastic buildings and arts have always made me so emotional. ​
​
According to Tibetan Buddhist culture, if you circumambulate Mount Kailash clockwise on foot in the Year of Horse, it will bring good fortune because Mount Kailash is considered a home of Buddha Cakrasaṃvar, who represents supreme bliss; If you walk around Lake Namtso clockwise on foot in the Year of Sheep, it will bring buddha’ blessings because Lake Namtso is the holy lake in the Tibetan world.

​The sixth Dalai Lama, Cang Yang Gyatso, once wrote a poem about his experiences walking around the mountain and the lake, “In this lifetime, circumambulating the mountains, the lake and stupas but not to seek rebirth, only to meet you along the way”. How romantic! 

I also wrote a piece to this beautiful land that blessed me with her beauty and holiness. 

告别西藏，
难忘那白云朵朵蓝色静谧的天空，
难忘那浪花淘淘绿色磅礴的江水，
难忘那蓝白红绿黄代表天地五行的经幡，
难忘那东西南北中虔诚扣头敬拜的教徒。

布达拉宫依旧在旭日的照耀下璀璨生辉，
藏香袅袅，佛音阵阵，
美好一天又轮回，
我在告别，
你在守候，
何日我们再相会？


Farewell to Tibet, 
The Potala Palace shining brightly under the rising Sun.
Farewell with the prayer flags with five pure lights.

Farewell to Tibet,
The Tibetan incense is curling up, 
Farewell to its white clouds, blue sky, and colourful lands.

Farewell to Tibet,
The Buddhist chanting is bursting out,
Farewell to devoted people from the bottom of my heart.

A beautiful day has come and gone.
I’m saying goodbye.
You are staying hereby.
We are fated to meet again,
Between the dark and dawn.
​

If you’ve never tried it before, meditation can seem both improbable and pointless. You might wonder what the point is of sitting quietly for twenty minutes. It looks like a waste of time that doesn’t have any tangible benefits! But countless people and books talk about how important meditation is for your health, so I wondered: shall I give it a go and see what would work for me? 

Transcendental Meditation (TM)

In 2018, after researching many different ways of meditation, I signed up for the Transcendental Meditation (TM) course, primarily influenced by Ray Dalio, whose Principles was one of my favourite books. In this six-week course, my teacher taught me a mantra (he said everyone’s mantra is different. The mantra itself is meaningless, and it’s just an anchoring tool to help you focus). All I have to do is practice meditation for 20 minutes twice a day, once after waking up in the morning and once before dinner, in any setting or comfortable position.

So, how do I practise? First, choose a comfortable position, either sitting cross-legged or on a chair or sofa, as long as you are not lying down. Second, close your eyes and sit still for half a minute to a minute. When you feel relaxed, start repeating your mantra in your head. Your brain will generate many mixed thoughts at this time. The ideal state is when the mantra and the thoughts cease to exist, and a feeling of emptiness is achieved.

As it is written in the biography of Steve Jobs, “If you just sit and observe, you will see how restless your mind is. If you try to calm it, it only makes things worse, but over time it does calm, and when it does, there’s room to hear more subtle things — that’s when your intuition starts to blossom, and you start to see things more clearly and be in the present more. Your mind just slows down, and you see a tremendous expanse at the moment. You see so much more than you could see before. It’s a discipline; you have to practice it.” I totally agree. The important part is not controlling your thoughts but letting them go without interruption.

It takes time but worth it. 

Yoga and Meditation Retreats 

Once a year, I took a couple of weeks to do a Yoga or Meditation retreat. In 2019, I joined the Blooming Lotus Yoga retreat in Bali, including daily morning and evening yoga classes, theoretical study of the yoga system, daily morning and evening meditation sessions, and Bali’s cultural tour. 

As an amateur CrossFit girl, I always find yoga too soothing and soft. I prefer to pump and punch in the gym or go to a HIIT class, making me feel like exercising. This seven-day intensive yoga training has changed my perspective on yoga classes in a fundamental way. I had a chance to learn Yin and Yang yoga. One is slightly faster, fluid, energetic and powerful; the other is softer, focusing on stretching and emphasising the endurance to achieve a state of unity between body and mind. 

Yoga is not just a form of exercise but a way of life that unites body, mind and spirit, dating back 5,000 years to the Indus Valley. It has evolved over the millennia into many schools of thought, from the classical five major systems (wisdom yoga, karma yoga, hatha yoga, king yoga, kundalini yoga) and the eight branches of practice (abstinence, practice, asana, pranayama, mindfulness, concentration, meditation and samadhi) to the countless variations in modern society (hot yoga, Iyengar yoga, etc.).

The instructor briefly introduced us to Yoga Nidra, Chakras, Ayurveda and the yogic philosophy of ‘Unity of the Self’, and highlighted how to apply this theoretical knowledge to practical life by adopting healthy eating and exercise habits, self-healing and achieving a state of inner peace through a series of daily rituals. The most exciting part for me was the sister of Yoga: Ayurveda, derived from the Sanskrit word ‘life science’ with 5,000 years of history (Chinese medicine is also derived from Ayurveda). 

Ayurveda believes that everything in the universe is made up of the five elements: Air (Akash), Wind (Vayu), Earth (Prithvi), Fire (Tejas) and Water (Apa), and the same is true of the human body (the five elements of Chinese medicine). These five elements are mixed to form Doshas’s life energy and are divided into three main categories.

Vata = Air + Wind 

Pitta = Fire + Water

Kapha = Earth + Water

The Ayurvedic system teaches people to look within, understand themselves from the inside out, and find out what makes ‘themselves’. The essence of Ayurveda is to find, discover and regulate your own sense of balance, to live in harmony with yourself, with others and with everything in the world. No one can give more than what they have, which is why you must first start loving yourself. Be less obsessive with perfectionism and focus more on caring for yourself.

The most noticeable change since I started meditating is that I have become more aware of my ‘thoughts’ and many things I thought I had forgotten. Also, the emotions I had previously hidden and suppressed have come out (it can be horrifying at the beginning few months of practising meditation because you have to confront those ugly things that you avoided before). 

Sigmund Freud once said, “unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways.” No wonder I went through a couple of panic attack in the past years --- my repressed emotions eventually reached their breaking point and suddenly attacked me. 

With the help of meditation, I have more courage to face these deeply buried thoughts and feelings, which, although painful, are temporary, and when they are resolved one by one, I will no longer be disturbed by them and will have a clear-thinking mind.

Meditation, like most things, is a long-term process, and just as the body needs to keep exercising to build muscle, the brain needs to keep meditating to develop awareness. Once you can be aware of yourself rather than follow the crowd, you’ll better understand who you really are and what you really want. And once this fundamental problem has been solved, other secondary issues that arise from a lack of clarity about ‘who you are’ will cease to exist.

Digital Detox Retreat

Due to my work’s nature, I am always on my phone or in front of my computer, swiping through various social media platforms at all times, and actively/passively receiving a lot of fragmented information. Because of the fragmented knowledge in my head, I cannot focus and easily affected by all kinds of redundant and cluttered information whenever I am thinking about complex issues. I constantly feel tired and less productive.

In 2018, I got a chance to check out a digital detox retreat in Auckland. It’s an excellent excuse for me to get away from the screen, be alone with myself and reflect on myself. In those three days, I didn’t touch any of my electronic devices. Each morning, I woke up naturally and practised two full meditation sessions, including 10-15 minutes of yoga, 5 minutes of breathing exercises, 20 minutes of Transcendental Meditation, resting in bed for the last 10 minutes and then repeating the above set of movements.  

The rest of the day was writing journals, reading books, going out, and talking with other participants. I remembered one day I was sitting on my balcony and meditating. The Sun was shining brightly before I closed my eyes. When I woke up from the half-hour-long meditation, it was drizzling outside, and a little bird standing on my balcony, singing freely. 

It reminds me of the time I watched the movieThree Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. The heroine saw a deer strolling on the green grass under the billboard, with the sunray in the backdrop. The heroine could not help but talk to the deer about her love for her daughter, and she returned to nature and facing the soft part of her heart. I shared the same feeling, appreciating nature’s beauty with gratitude.

10 Days Vipassana Meditation
​

No mobile phone, no talking, no reading or writing, no listening to songs or watching shows, no physical contact with others, no killing, no drinking or eating meat... plus getting up at 4am every morning and sitting in meditation for 12 hours. This has been my life for the past 10 days.

When I first heard about the Vipassana Meditation course from a friend and read the rules above, my first impression was, 'WTF... who'd like to go to this meditation prison? Especially for someone like me who heavily depends on digital devices for work. But out of curiosity, I decided to give it a go. So I enrolled in a course at one of the Vipassana Centres in England, along with more than 20 new students, to learn this thousand-year-old Buddhist meditation technique.

​​Overview of the Course

Vipassana is a Pali word that means seeing things as they really are. This ancient Indian meditation method was rediscovered and developed by Siddhattha Gotama over 2,500 years ago as a technique to help human beings out of suffering. Vipassana Meditation aims to rebuild the mind-body connection, eliminate distractions from the mind, and cultivate a balanced heart to live with peace, love and compassion.

The course is taught on video by S.N. Goenka, who was born and raised in Burma to a family of merchants and grew up with a luxury lifestyle just like Buddha Siddhattha. After having everything but feeling unfulfilled and unhappy, Mr Goenka started a fourteen-year training with Sayagyi U Ba Khin and learned the technique of Vipassana from him.

In 1969, Mr Goenka moved to India and began teaching Vipassana in person. In 1982, Mr Goenka started to appoint assistant teachers to help him to meet the growing demand for the crouse. Nowadays, there are over 160 Vipassana Meditation centres across the five continents with hundreds and thousands of students from different races, religions and backgrounds. 

Vipassana courses entirely rely on donations from participants and volunteers. Students must follow a strict code of conduct during the ten days and then apply what they have learnt in their daily lives afterwards. Here is a summary of my experience during this 10 days course. 
​​

DAY 1-3 
Upon arrival at the meditation centre, I was assigned to a dormitory with another two girls. After a short break and course induction, we started to live in Nobel Silence (following the rule I mentioned above) with a strict schedule.

Getting up early and having a long meditation routine is not difficult for me because meditation has already become a part of my life since I started five years ago. I wasn't perturbed about the strict timetable but rather glad that I finally had time to be with myself without any external distractions.

Speaking of the food, breakfast is organic cereal/bread with fruit plates, and there are various nut butter and jams and coffee and tea to choose from. Lunch varies daily: Indian curries, Italian pasta, Middle Eastern dishes, Chinese tofu, and many stir-fries or slow-cooked dishes with rice. There is no supper, but tea breaks where fruit plates are served. 

At the first day, I learned the Anapana technique, a breath-focused meditation that requires focusing on the triangle area between mouth and nose and devoting yourself to inhalation and exhalation activities only. Since I've been practising Transcendental Meditation for a while, this course was an unlearning process for me to get used to this new technique.

Every time thoughts emerge in the head, just let them come and go, bringing your attention back to the breath again and again. I found the first three days was relevantly relaxing because I enjoyed this breath-focused meditation. Moreover, I also indulged myself in daydreaming exercises during each break. There was a wee theatre in my head that featured me as the main character. What a pleasure with imaginative scripts full of pleasure and fun. 

Just when I thought it would be such a free and easy ten days at Vipassana centre, the reality hit me hard.

DAY 4-6 
Day four was the official starting point of practising Vipassana. Mr Goenka explained that our mind and body are ready to enter the deep level after the three days of preparation. We need to scan the whole body from head to toe and not move during the entire one-hour of meditation.

Meditating in solid stillness for 20-30 minutes is easy for me but for one-hour, I was doubted about that. As expected, the first Vipassana session was such a struggle to me mentally and physically. I got tangled up at around the 30-minute mark. Not only did I feel my legs tingle and my back stiffen, but all the cells in my body were howling madly inside and screaming: MOVE! 

I kept using the willpower to convince myself not to move. Well, my monkey mind wouldn't listen and kept popping up fearful thoughts one after another: I'm going to break my legs if I don't move; ah, my face is so itchy, and I need to scratch it; OMG, I'm going to be paralysed for the rest of my life! Every part of my body is hurting so much!!!

Seconds felt like years, and I finally used up my willpower. I burst out with tears from self-blame and pain and started to stretch my legs. At the same time, I was aware that other students around me began to move, and I could even hear the footsteps leaving the meditation hall. I was in a frustrated stage: how come I was too weak to sit still just for one hour? And I cried even more (silently). 

When I researched this course, I heard many students left the meditation centre on the third or fourth day. I thought they were incapacitated, and now I was one of them planning to go. Just the moment I came up with the perfect 'prison-break' plan, the chanting from Mr Goenka hit my ears. The hour-long meditation ended. I felt like his voice was the most beautiful sound I had ever heard in my life. 

I rushed out of the hall to the yard, stretching my limbs. Many other students joined me, and everyone looked like a newly released prisoner who was desperate for fresh air and wide-open space to free their trapped bodies and minds. 

On the fourth day, I had an appointment to talk to the assistant teacher. The moment I opened my mouth, I wept uncontrollably. What a blessing to be able to speak! I spoke to the assistant teacher about my physical pain, weak mind, and desire to leave the course. The assistant teacher, a middle-aged Asian woman, practising Vipassana for over 20 years, looked at me with a gentle smile. 

She said it was customary to experience what I had been described. When the pain appears, we need to observe it, not fight against it, knowing that pain is just a feeling like other pleasurable sensations. It's the MIND that constantly differentiating those feelings and giving them a different meaning. In general, sensations are all the same, all Impermanent.

I had studied Buddhism before, knowing the teachings of the Four Noble Truths. I know I shouldn't crave different sensations and everything will pass away eventually. However, knowing is one thing but doing is another thing. The assistant teacher reminded me that most people have the knowledge, not the Panna (wisdom). Wisdom is about applying what we have learned into practice, continually, due-diligently and persistently.

In the afternoon, I took the teacher's words into mind to observe pain from the third person's perspective by replacing the phrase "I'm in pain" and "I'm going to be paralysed" with "this is the point of pain" and "the pain won't last long". To my surprise, after a few round of attempts, the pain, as if it were a child playing hide and seek, really stopped pestering me when I uncovered it. In the following days, I played this 'hide-and-seek' game with pain, and finally, on the sixth day, I was able to meditate for an hour or more without moving.

DAY 7-9
Without iPhone and iWatch, I didn't know the date and weather. However, those details become irrelevant to me. The repetitional daily schedule took my memory back to the COVID lockdown. Back then, I thought I would be too bored to survive, but eventually, I not just survived but thrived with many personal achievements. The adaptability of human beings is truly immense. It's the mind trying to trick us with different interpretations.

Every evening, Mr Goenka's video lectures were always full of laughter, as he always turned esoteric Buddhism concepts and terms into vivid stories. For example, one night Mr Goenka told us the below story:

Mr Goenka was walking in the dark with five students when one of his students accidentally bumped into a man. The man started to swear and yell at his students, at which point Mr Goenka thought it was funny.

Mr Goenka was walking in the dark with five students when he accidentally bumped into a man. The man started to swear and yell at him, at which point Mr Goenka felt ashamed and embarrassed. 

Mr Goenka was walking in the dark with five students when he accidentally bumped into a man. The man started to swear and yell at him, at which point Mr Goenka found the man was his son, so he felt ashamed and embarrassed and heartbroken. 

The story revealed why we reacted differently to the same thing because we attached emotions to our egos, especially when others attacked 'me'. Even worse, when someone 'I' cared about attacked 'me'. 

Suppose one can look at everything objectively, without associating 'I' with any emotion, knowing that all emotions and feelings follow the law of birth and death and do not last forever. In that case, one can escape from suffering and achieve a state of peace and harmony.
​

DAY 10
On the last day of the course, Mr Goenka shared the art of living. Many students were moved to tears and were grateful that we had completed the course and mastered the Vipassana meditation technique. 

A person who suffers from inner agitation also causes negative vibes to people around them. Imagine the earth full of such people, and then the whole world would be filled with suffering. So how can we maintain inner peace and tranquillity and live in harmony

First of all, we need to understand the origin and cause of suffering, and by looking at it, we see that all suffering is caused by unfulfilled desires. When things don't go as planned, negative emotions arise, and people either express or repress them, the former making the world a violent place. At the same time, the latter may appear harmonious and peaceful on the surface. Still, deep down, those suppressed emotions are like dormant volcanoes that will sooner or later explode.

Avoidance and escaping emotions are not the answer we seek. On the contrary, we need to face the problem. Whenever a negative thought arises in our mind, if we just observe and face it rather than react to it, that emotion will lose its power and slowly vanish. So how exactly should we observe emotions? 

Ancient Indian monks discovered that when our mind becomes polluted and distracted, the body gives signals accordingly, either losing the normal regularity of breathing or having a biochemical reaction to produce certain feelings. With continuous training and practice, we can easily observe the changes and sensations in our breath and body. Once we are brave enough to face this reality, there is no room for emotions to escape, and we can make them disappear by pure observations.

We like to look for the causes of unhappiness from the outside world, not realising that the only solution is the one within. Observing the reality deep inside will free ourselves from false delusion and get away from suffering to enjoy a peaceful and happy life.  ​

Conclusion

Like learning everything, ten days will not make a huge difference; all we need to do is repeatedly apply the techniques we have learned over the rest of our lives

To look at thoughts and emotions objectively, not to be led by them or to avoid their existence, but to put the 'I' out of the way, knowing that it will all pass, whether happiness or sadness, pleasure or pain. Impermanent is the true nature of life.

An unexamined life is not worth living. We need to observe and experience reality with consciousness. If we are lucky, we'll be able to achieve a state of oneness and live a peaceful and harmonious life. 

P.S. On my last day walking in the Vipassana centre, I found a treasure. Perhaps because I had been meditating for 120+ hours in the past ten days, I became more aware of my surroundings. That's where I noticed a broken tennis ball hidden under the grass. When I dug it out, it had my lucky number on the back, which was also my current age, 33!

In 2021, I had my first psychedelic experience with the Grandfather plant, San Pedro, at The Lighthouse Retreat.

2 trips in 4 days let me ‘saw’ the themes constantly haunted my mind: time, space, reality and dream. We all know language could be limited when you try to describe something overpowering magnificent. Here is my attempt to describe those visions and insights (The Doors of Perception: Heaven and Hell by Aldous Huxley described better than my words) :
​
Eighty-four thousand thoughts and ideas,
Landscape transformation in the whirligig of time,
Everything is evolving and decaying in front of my eyes.
​
Vivid Colours dancing along with the music of nature,
Infinite fractals emerging and disappearing like the Mandelbrot set and Mandala of Sanskrit.
Van Gogh’s painting in a tangible form.
​
Ram Dass’s message comes into my mind,
“We’re all just walking each other home”.
We are nameless and formless,
We are a pixel and we are a Buddha,
Was vernünftig ist, das ist wirklich,
We’re loved just for being who we are, just for existing.
​
Let’s accept ourselves and others in full,
Try not to control, try not to force, try to surrender to the power of the universe.
Time and space are a total illusion.
The reality doesn’t seem like what we see.
To see beauty, use our heart, not our eyes.
Feel, and we shall know.
Seek, and we shall find.
​
I rise above the earth and travel through abstract concepts and patterns.
A snap of the finger is the moment of eternity.
I could have lived forever in that dazzling and wonderful dream,
But your sweet smile pulls me back to the material world.
​
Remember, remember,
Life is the eighth wonder.
When we genuinely want something,
The whole universe is always on our side.
​
P.S. My teacher Isher at the retreat centre gave me the nickname “Zen Master” because I could sit on the platform for hours, calm and still. He mentioned my peaceful energy would help to balance unstable emotions from others.

Apart from the above experience, I do fully echo with what Steve Jobs once said, “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future”.

Everything that happened in my life has already connected in a beautiful circle. What I need to do is just follow my intuition and walk through the journey with love. I was also astonished when I found Mandala flowers at the retreat centre! When I studied Buddhism at an early age, I named myself Mandala, and after two decades, I finally met ‘myself’ again.
​

Last but not least, my grandpa left a poem to my family before he passed away in 2009.

He was a lifelong learner and independent thinker with intellectual curiosity on many subjects. Although he went through numerous ups and downs in his lifetime, he chose to have an innocent heart with a peaceful mind. 

I hope one day I could reach the same level as what he called oneness between me and the universe.​
​

《静坐吟》
流光荏苒去无踪，富贵如云过眼空。
淡泊生涯游物外，超然世俗学禅宗。
阴阳和化情缘净，动静参修性意通。
精气相乘神内守，天人合一九霄中。 ​​​​

​Meditation
The light of the day is gone without a trace,
Wealth and fame are like clouds passing by.
I am a simple person living a life outside of the material world,
And I have studied Zen from the journey within.
Yin and Yang harmonise and purify my emotions,
 Moving and meditating cultivated my mind.
The essence of the spirit is my inner guard,
The universe and I unified in one.

不能使用手机，不能说话，不能读写，不能听歌刷剧，不能和他人有任何身体接触，不能杀生，不能饮酒吃肉... 每天早上四点起床，静坐冥想12个小时，这就是我过去十天的生活写照。

初次了解内观（Vipassana）冥想课程，得知需要遵守如上所述的守则时，我的第一感觉是感觉是这完全就是「冥想监狱」啊，像我这样工作生活完全依赖手机的人，怎么可能十天不上网，不与外界有所联系！但在好奇心的驱使下，我决定给自己一个尝试体验的机会，于是趁着在英国休假的空闲，报名参加了位于萨福克郡的内观冥想中心的课程，和20多位新学员一起挑战着我们身心的极限，学习内观这项流传了千年的佛家冥想技巧。

内观（Vipassana）是巴利语，意思是如其所是地观察事物。这项起源自古印度的古老的静坐方法，在两千五百多年前重新被佛陀释迦牟尼发现并发扬光大，作为帮助众生脱离苦海的技巧，旨在从根本上疗愈尘世的痛苦。内观专注于向内探索，重新发现身心的连结，消除头脑中的杂念，获取强大的专注力和平衡的内心，从而活在充满着爱与慈悲的环境中。

现在的内观课程由S.N.葛印卡先生视频教授，他出生并成长于缅甸的商人家庭，像佛祖释迦牟尼一样从小衣食无忧，过着奢侈的生活。他在拥有一切之后但还是感觉不满足不快乐，于是拜师当时身任缅甸政府高官的乌巴庆长者，开始了长达十四年的内观学习技巧。

1969年，葛印卡老师学成出师移居印度并开始传授内观技巧，吸引了来自世界各地的学员。1982年，葛印卡老师开始委任助理老师协助他指导课程，以应对内观课程日益增长的需求。如今，内观课程中心遍布全球五大洲160多处，普惠了成千上万的来自不同种族和宗教的学员。

为期十天的包吃包住的内观课程毫无任何商业性质，完全依靠学员的捐助。参与者在十天内需要遵循严格的守则，并在之后将所学所得应用于日常生活中。在不间断的内观冥想练习中脱离痛苦，实现解脱。

下面，分享一下我这十天具体的心得体会。

抵达冥想中心后，我被分配到一间三人的女生宿舍中。短暂地休息过后，我们便正式开始进入「静默（Nobel Silence）」生活，不仅不可以说话，连和他人的眼神接触最好都不要有，并且需要严格地遵守课程的时间表。

每天早上四点起床，洗漱完毕后来到冥想大堂进行两个小时的冥想。六点半早餐，之后是一个小时的集体冥想，随后听从助理教师的安排，或者继续集体冥想，或者回房间单独冥想。十一点午餐，随后是一个小时的休息或者师生答疑时间，此时可以选择午睡、散步或是和助教有短暂地对话交流，之后重复早上的集体冥想和助教安排。下午五点茶歇（没有晚饭，只有水果和饮品），随后是集体冥想，接受葛印卡老师的教诲，集体冥想，九点结束一天的安排，按时熄灯就寝。

对于我来说，早起和长时间的冥想作息并不是一件难事。自五年前正式开始接触「超越冥想」以来，冥想也成了我生活中的一部分。当看到严格的时间表时，我并没有特别地担心，反而心怀庆幸，终于可以有大把的时间沉浸在自己的世界中，免受外界的打扰，好好地对自我进行一番内心审视。

前三天的生活算是悠然惬意，老师教授了专注呼吸的「Anapana」冥想方法，打坐的时候将注意力集中在口鼻之处的三角区域，全身心地投入到吸气-呼气的活动中，当脑海中有杂念时，不去理会，让它们随之来随之走，一次又一次地将注意力拉回到专注呼吸之上。打坐太久身体不适时也可以在自己的坐垫上做些轻微的调整，或是在不打扰他人的情况下静静地走到大堂后面做几分钟的伸展。

早餐以有机麦片面包和水果为主，还有五六种不同的坚果酱和咖啡茶。午餐每天各不相同，印度咖喱、意大利面、中东菜肴，中式豆腐、大杂烩炒菜，有时还有烘焙的饼干和甜点。茶歇时间则会提供果盘，本想着来冥想中心减肥的我，这几天伙食不错且无运动，倒是被养的白白胖胖。

休息时分漫步在冥想中心广阔的花园中，或是倚在草地的躺椅上接受日光浴，让我感觉来这里好似度假一般，再加上我特别擅长做白日梦，前三天除了冥想，就是沉浸在脑海的小剧场中，欣赏着一轮轮的以自己为主角的大戏，在想象的空间中玩得不亦乐乎。

就在我以为这十天都会是如此逍遥自在的生活时，现实狠狠地给我上了一课。

第四天正式进入内观修行期。老师介绍说经过前三天的适应时期，每个学员的身心此时已经做好了内观的准备，接下来可以学习内观的技巧，从头到尾扫描全身，并要做到一小时冥想期间完全不挪动身体，更不可以离开冥想大堂。

以往冥想时，我可以做到20-30分钟一动不动，第一次内观冥想，便在差不多30分钟左右的时间点纠结起来，不仅感受到腿部发麻，背部僵硬，浑身上下的细胞都在疯狂地嚎叫着想动一动。我不断地用意志力去说服自己不要动，不要动，专注于扫描全身的内观冥想上面，可是头脑却完全不听使唤，一个个的恐惧念头不断地冒出来：再这么坐下去腿肯定要断了，赶紧动一动；啊，我的脸上好痒，背也不舒服，需要挠一挠；天呢，下半生肯定要瘫痪了，腿脚已经痛到不行了... 就这样我以为过了半个小时，其实可能连五分钟都没到，此时眼泪已经不受控制地流下来，而意志力也消耗殆尽，身体随之不自觉地挪动起来。

与此同时，我察觉到周围的学员们也像我一样开始挪动身体，甚至听到了不少人离开冥想大堂的脚步声音。我陷入到深深地自责当中，觉得自己实在是太过虚弱，连一个小时的打坐都没法坚持，随之哭地更加厉害（静默哭泣）。之前听说过很多学员在第三四天逃离了冥想中心，原来觉得不可理喻，现在的我也在头脑中规划起来怎么离开这个地方。就在我想出完美的「越狱」计划之时，葛印卡老师的诵经之声响起，一小时的折磨就此结束。

我迫不及待地冲到草坪上，不断地伸展着四肢，做起来简单的瑜伽动作。此时也有很多其他学员加入了我的行动，可以看出每个人都好似重获新生的囚徒，此时急需新鲜的空气和广阔的天地解放受困的心灵。以前痛恨跑步的我，此时特别想像球员一样在草坪上狂奔，但除了静静地走路和做些轻微的伸展运动外，其他各项活动均被禁止。

在第四天的时候，我和助教老师预约了谈话。三天没说话的我，刚一张嘴便控制不住地开始流泪，第一次感觉到能说话其实也是一种福分，心中充满了感恩之情。我和助教老师讲到了我身体的疼痛，表达了自己的懦弱以及想要提前离开的念头。助教老师是一位修行了内观冥想20多年的中年女性，她看着我微微笑道，其实每个学员都会经历我所经历的一切，这是再正常不过的事情了，当疼痛感浮现出来时，我需要去观察它，而不是抗拒它，要知道疼痛就像快乐以及其他愉悦的感觉一样，都是「感觉」而已，是头脑不断地将不同的感觉进行区分，并赋予它们不同的意义。感觉本身并没有好坏之分，且都是暂时的，我所需要做的便是不断地观察这些感觉，知晓所有的感觉就像世间万物一样都是「无常impermanent」的，在我们不断地观察当中疼痛也会消失殆尽。

起初我觉得老师讲的大道理我都懂，之前研习佛法时也知道「三法印（诸行无常、诸法无我、涅槃寂静）」和「四真谛（苦、集、灭和道）」的教诲：不将自己和这些念头绑定到一起，不心生欲望和执念，知道一切都会消逝，但是真正做到「知行合一」实在是难上加难。而老师也提醒我说，大多数人学到的东西都是知识，而不是「智慧Panna」。智慧是真正地将所学所得应用到实践当中，并在不断地重复和练习中，实现开悟的状态。

我带着老师的教诲在下午的集体冥想当中尝试观测疼痛，且把「我很痛」「我要残疾了」等一系列将自我与感觉联系在一起的话语换成了「这是疼痛的点」「痛点不会存在很久」，以第三方的视角去观测疼痛的存在，神奇地是，当我界定了疼痛感觉的存在时，疼痛放佛是和我捉迷藏的小孩，竟然真的在被揪出来后不再将我纠缠。于是在接下来几天的修行中，我不断地玩着这个「捉迷藏」的游戏，也终于在第六天时可以一动不动地打坐一个小时，甚至更长的时间。

没有手机和手表的日子，我都不知道每天究竟是几月几号，或者当天的天气预报是什么，而这一切也变得不再重要。每日不断重复的日程安排，将我带回到疫情封城的记忆当中，那时觉得自己肯定会被无聊闷死了，现在看来，也不是快乐地活下来了吗？人的适应力真的是无比的强大，也验证了「事无好坏，诠释在人」的真谛。

葛印卡老师每天晚上的视频授课总是充满了欢笑，这位俗家得道大师总会用接地气的生活故事，向我们解释晦涩难懂的佛家教义。我印象最深的一则故事便是同一件事情的不同反应：

葛印卡老师和五个学生在黑暗中行走，他的一个学生不小心撞到了一个人，那个人便开始骂骂咧咧，此时葛印卡老师觉得很好笑。

葛印卡老师和五个学生在黑暗中行走，他不小心撞到了一个人，那个人便开始骂骂咧咧，此时葛印卡老师觉得有点自责和生气。

葛印卡老师和五个学生在黑暗中行走，他不小心撞到了一个人，那个人便开始骂骂咧咧，葛印卡老师发现这个人是他的儿子，此时他觉得特别自责和伤心。

其实事情归结到本质都是一样的，只是因为我们将情绪与自我连接起来，所以会有不同的反应。尤其是当意识到别人在攻击「我」的时候，以及「我」在乎的人攻击「我」时，更容易有强烈的情绪反应。如果可以客观地去观察一切，不将「我」与任何情绪联系在一起，知道一切情绪和感觉都遵从生生灭灭的法则，不会长久的存在，那么人类就可以逃离苦海，实现安祥与和谐的状态。

最后一天的课程上，葛印卡老师讲述了关于生活的艺术，很多学员都感动地流下了眼泪，也庆幸我们终于成功地完成了课程，并掌握了脱离苦海的技巧，简单总结下葛印卡老师的演讲。

每一个痛苦的人，除了自己内心焦躁不安之外，也会令其四周充满着苦楚，如果地球上充满了这样的人，那么全世界都会弥漫着痛苦的气息。那么，我们究竟如何才能保持内心的宁静与安详，并同时维持周遭气氛的和谐呢？

首先我们需要了解痛苦的本源和起因，通过审视我们发现，一切苦皆源于欲望得不到满足。当事与愿违之时，负面情绪就随之产生了，人们或者释放这份情绪，或者压抑转移这份情绪，前者让世界充满了暴力，而后者虽然在表面上呈现出一幅和谐安逸的样子，但是内心深层却犹如沉睡的火山，压抑着负面情绪，迟早会有猛烈爆发的一天。

逃避不能解决问题，我们需要面对问题。每当心生负念时，如果我们只是观察它，面对它，而不是因此做出反应，那这份情绪就会失去力量，慢慢地被根除。那么我们究竟应该如何观测情绪呢？古印度的僧侣发现，当我们心生杂念时，身体也会相应地给出信号，首先是呼吸失去正常的规律，其次是身体开始有生化反应产生某种感受。经过不断地训练与练习，我们便可以很容易地观察到呼吸和身体的变化和感受。一旦我们勇于面对这个实相，情绪就不会有逃离的空间，我们也可以在观测间令其消逝。

以往我们总是习惯在外界寻找不快乐的原因，殊不知只有在内在的源头上解决了问题，我们才可以真正地摆脱痛苦，逐渐地修炼出一颗平静且充满喜乐的内心。这就是佛陀所教授的生活的艺术：藉由观察内在的实相，净化内心的杂染，不断地从痛苦中解脱出来，从而享有真正的安祥和快乐。

就像大多数的冥想技巧一样，十天的内观并不会带来巨大的改变，我们需要做的是在接下来的生活中，不断地将学到的技巧应用于实践当中，在不断地重复当中体验活在当下的感觉。

客观地观察思想和情绪，不被它们牵着鼻子走，也不去逃避它们的存在，而是将「我」置身于事外，知晓无论是快乐还是悲伤，愉悦还是痛苦，一切都会过去，这就是生活的无常本质。

未经审视的生活不值得过活，我们需要充满觉知地去观测和体验现实，最终实现身心合一，天人合一的状态。

P.S. 最后一天在草坪漫步时，也许是这几天冥想让我更容易察觉周围的事物，在每天必经的道路上突然注意到一枚小球，将它挖出来以后，背面竟然印着我的幸运数字，也是我年龄的33！想起当时在葡萄牙体验仙人掌疗养时，最后也在大山深处第一次见到曼陀罗花，冥冥之中自有安排。

记得2019年刚从新西兰搬到欧洲大陆，我就买了巴萨对阵皇马的球票，一心期待着即将到来的诺坎普朝圣之旅，可惜，加泰罗尼亚地区突然暴乱，国家德比也随之取消。2020年的疫情又将我前往巴塞罗那的旅行计划打乱，这一拖就是两年。这周有幸前往巴塞罗那参加区块链大会，总算有机会一睹诺坎普的真容，膜拜高迪的建筑，结识了一票混迹web3的小伙伴们，现在来分享一下我在巴塞罗那的游记。

自从2017年开始接触区块链技术以来（感谢前男友带我入坑），一直没有停下学习的脚步，无论是买币、挖NFTs，还是参与相关的DAO项目，在web3的世界玩得不亦乐乎！

去年朋友邀请我试试他搭建在Celo上的项目：Talent Protocol（俗称web3的LinkedIn），正好借机了解了下被人戏称为「难民链」「乌托邦链」的Celo，也促成了此次的趴体，啊不对是学习之旅。

Celo是一个基于区块链技术的去中心化稳定币与金融应用（DeFi）生态系统，旨在打造普惠金融体系，让世界上没有银行账号但是拥有智能手机的人都可以享受支付、借贷等一系列金融服务。简单来讲，Celo通过使用超轻量级的身份协议，借助移动端的优势，将公钥和手机号码的哈希值进行匹配，从而允许用户向任何手机号码发送加密货币，消除了加密货币交易的很多壁垒。

和众多新兴公链（如 Solana、Avalanche、Fantom）一样，Celo拥有更低的gas费和更快的速度，其生态系统还包括去中心化的权益证明（PoS）区块链技术堆栈、原生资产 （$CELO）、稳定币 （cUSD 、cEUR、cREAL)，以及Celo基金会（Celo Founations）和研发中心（cLabs）。

​Celo在世界语（Esperanto）中表示「目的/目标Purpose」，创始人本着打造超越语言和地域限制的金融系统的目标，致力于连接世界各地的人群，解决跨境交易难题，共享全球金融稳定性。主办方此次选择在巴塞罗那举办首届全球大会，因为Barcelona包含了Celo的名字（会玩），一下飞机就在机场看到了gm和wagnmi等一系列web3标语，巴塞罗那市内也随处可见Celo的标识和宣传海报。

Celo Connect会址位于巴塞罗那海滨旁的一栋百年历史哥特式建筑，与会嘉宾和演讲人包括Chris Dixon（a16z）和Packy McCormick（Not Boring）等上百位活跃在区块链领域的投资人和创始人。我也有幸沾沾朋友的光，上台宣传一下社交代币（Social Token，话说我的$CAM代币目前已经突破千元大关，欢迎支持）。

Celo采取的是农村包围城市的策略，先主打非洲拉美，然后再进军欧美和亚太。大多数项目针对气候变化和环保（ReFi）和实现全民基本收入（UBI）。目前该链的亚太地区发展基本为零，所以团队也想在这方面多花点时间和心思，我在大会上和Celo团队的人力资源、生态系统和市场营销团队的人聊了聊，得知他们都很迫切的想招聘熟悉亚太市场的人才（从技术到市场开发到管理等），Celo目前200多位员工遍布世界各地远程办公，通过这一周的接洽，感觉企业文化积极有活力，会是不错的工作环境，感兴趣的小伙伴们（实习全职或者项目相关）可以登陆Celo官网进行详细了解。

Més que un club！巴萨不只是一家俱乐部，更是一种信仰。

2003年跟随着小罗入坑巴萨，我便了解了克鲁伊夫的足球哲学和管理体系，学到了加泰罗尼亚的文化和历史，见证了巴萨梦二梦三队的辉煌... 上学期间还在校服后面画着大大的巴萨logo招摇过市，在新西兰街头巷尾穿着队服为主队呐喊助威... 

作为近20年的巴萨球迷，此次亲临诺坎普球场，和近十万名球迷一起唱巴萨队歌，并见证球队赢球，激动的心情难以用言语形容！自打荷兰人克鲁伊夫在我出生的那一年执教巴萨开始，红蓝巴萨和荷兰足球就有了再也逃离不开的关系。克鲁伊夫贵为巴萨足球教父，将荷兰足球的「全攻全守」理念完全贯彻到巴萨的血液里。参观克鲁伊夫纪念展时，我也多次泪奔不止，从他遗留下的影像资料和物品中感受他对足球那深入骨髓的爱意。

话不多说，分享下我在诺坎普球场的照片和比赛视频！

人们都说巴塞罗那是高迪的城市，无论是高耸入云的圣家堂，造型奇特的米拉之家和巴特罗之家，还是色彩斑斓的古埃尔公园，巴塞罗那几乎所有颇具盛名的建筑物都出自高迪之手。

高迪认为艺术必须出自于大自然，因为大自然已经为人们创造出最独特美丽的造型。所以他的建筑设计从来都不是规规矩矩的直线，而是从大自然中汲取灵感的螺旋和曲线设计，他那大胆新颖的设计风格，为后人留下了无与伦比的视觉盛宴。

坐在圣家堂的祷告室中静坐冥想，我也摆脱了时空的限制，沉浸在天人合一的美妙境界中，体会「真」和「美」的能量。感谢从古至今参与打造这些雄伟建筑的艺术家和工匠们，让我们通过人为的媒介，怀着敬畏之情，感受大自然的伟大。正如诗人沃尔特·惠特曼在第一版《草叶集》的序言中写道的那样，「这是你应该做的事情：爱地球，爱太阳，爱动物，蔑视财富，给予他人想要的施舍，为愚蠢和疯狂的人出头，把收入和劳动奉献给他人，对任何已知或未知的东西脱帽致敬，与强大的未受过教育的人还有年轻人自由交往。在你生活的每一年每一季，去户外看看树叶，重新审视你所在的环境和被告知的一切，摒弃任何侮辱自身灵魂的东西，将肉体活成一首伟大的诗，处处充满丰富的流动感」。

I often got asked by readers and friends: how come you have extra hours to do so many things: write two newsletters (Chinese and English), run two podcast shows (Chiwi Journal and A Paradise of Poems), publish novels (Chinese and English), found a business, work with clients from four continents, read 50+ books a year, play Fantasy Premier League game, translate well-known writers’ books in Chinese and still have ‘me’ time and social life?  

My secret weapon is personal energy management. 

Before I reveal the information, let’s look back to history to know who contributes to my secret formula. 

Many historical figures with multi-talents made considerable achievements in more than one field of life. Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States, devoted his time to politics and government and was also a prolific writer and inventor and had interests in architecture, wine and birds.

Leonardo Da Vinci, the most talented polymath ever in history for his designs, art, cartography, geology, and anatomy, did various sketches in his notebooks that transformed the direction of human civilisation; Isaac Newton, a well-known physicist and mathematician, made contributions in philosopher and alchemist to unlocksome of nature’s greatest secrets…

The list goes on and on. Among all of them, Winston Churchill is the one I look upon the most because I can take the reference of his down-to-earth method of energy management and put them into my daily practice. 

In his lifetime, Winston Churchill published more than 40 books with over 10 million words, won the Nobel Prize for Literature, painted 500+ pictures, and delivered 2,300+ speeches... And, of course, he was a busy politician who led Britain to victory in World War II. 

Looking at Churchill’s daily routine:

Day after day, year after year.

Apart from writing and working, Churchill developed two hobbies during the war to help him relieve stress and charge his energy: bricklaying and oil painting.

Although the skills would not reach the professional level, his hobbies provided him with a solitary mind to think clearly and cope with political disappointments when he was voted out of the parliament after WWII.

I learned from those great minds before me who genuinely believe in the power of daily routine and practice to cultivate a productive lifestyle. Here are my three tips to build up the energy management system that help me to achieve a productive lifestyle. 

As Dan Heath said in his best-seller Upstream: The Quest to Solve Problems Before They Happen, we have to tackle the problem at its roots. In this case, we need to look at how we spend our time and where does our energy go and then decide how to use them more effectively.

First, let me share how I spend my day (based on the inspiration from Pieter Level’s blog) and how I value my daily activities (based on the excise from Mark Manson’s The Subtle Art School)

Once knowing our time allowance and the value of those activities, we can prioritise or arrange the time based on different projects and situations and follow our daily practice accordingly. Here comes my daily routine and practice:

When it comes to deep work, the bestselling author and peak performance expert Steven Kotler has summarised well in The Art of Impossible: A Peak Performance Primer.  

We all heard about Flow State, but not many scholars could explain it as clearly as Kotler. He decodes the Flow State at its fundamental level with support evidence from neuroscience and psychology subjects. We have to master the 4-stage sequence to enter the Flow State:  

• Motivation. Follow your intrinsic curiosity and passion and develop skills such as persistence, grit, and the ability to delay gratification to sustain motivation over the long haul.
• Learning. Acquire new skills and knowledge, and nurture the ability to understand the process of learning itself via mental models and first-principle thinking. 
• Creativity. Mastering skills like idea generation, pattern recognition, and risk-taking to produce novel and valuable ideas
• Flow. Enter the Flow State and live a high-flow lifestyle to achieve impossible tasks. 

It’s easy said than done to enter the Flow State. The best-seller author Nir Eyal shared in his book Indistractable how our emotions prevent us from doing deep work. The tactics include journaling and meditation.

Nir Eyal mentioned that all human behaviour is spurred by the desire to escape discomfort neurologically. Knowing our true feelings about specific scenarios is necessary to understand what we are running from to avoid energy drain. 

I treat the journal as my trustworthy and loyal friend where I can express freely about everything. By consciously pouring out the thoughts and feelings from my head, I bring back to light what is buried deep in my heart. In addition to that, keeping a diary before bed has made me more disciplined and forged the habit of writing on paper instead of scrolling social media feeds that would disrupt my sleep. 

In 2017, I got a chance to learn Transcendental Meditation and started to practise it every day. The most noticeable change from meditating is that I have become more aware of my energy flow. Those hidden and suppressed emotions that suck my energy up are finally coming out. It can be horrifying at the beginning of a few months of meditation because we have to confront those ugly things we avoided before. 

Our distractions have a strong tie with emotion. We have to know the diversity of our feelings and what kind of pains we are trying to escape in order to maintain our energy level at a healthy status. As Sigmund Freud once said, “unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways.” Let’s be courageous and face them to cope with the problem at the root cause. 

Last but not least, meditation is a long-term process, and just as the body needs to keep exercising to build muscle, the brain needs to keep meditating to develop awareness. ​

As the management guru Peter Drucker famously said, “If you can't measure it, you can't manage it.” Once we understand our daily routine and know our energy consumption, it’s time to build up a personal dashboard to monitor and optimise our system. 

I’d like to share three examples from my fellow 1729er and myself to showcase an example of how we build our personal dashboard:

• Coleman Foley: The Personal Dashboard
• Camellia Yang: A Story of My Life
• @r4bbit.eth (shared in 1729 community Discord)

​If you are a high-agency person like me, here are my two cents on living a productive, ambitious and creative life. 

• Record your 24 hours to see where you spend your time and energy and weight each item with a value score
• Write your ideal day in detail and live towards it with daily practice. 
• Read Steven and Nir’s books on achieving a flow state without distraction. ​

Only one enemy stands in the way to prevent you from becoming who you are. 

You know the answer, right? Just set yourself free by doing it, my friends!

I spend 140+ hours digging insights from Chinese and English books, articles, and podcasts each month and sharing them in a 6-min easy-to-read email.

Subscribe and read the whole piece here.
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​If you ask Ukrainians, who is the most memorable and influential British in their history, Gareth Jones’ name is undoubtedly on the record. 

Ukraine’s capital city has renamed a street “Gareth Jones Lane” in honour of him as the first foreign correspondent who dared to uncover Stalin’s Ukraine Holodomor (man-made famine) of 1932-1933. 
​
The hypotheses from Nigel Colley, researcher and grandnephew of Gareth Jones, stated that George Orwell’s renowned fable Animal Farm was inspired by Jones’ works. Orwell named the owner of Manor Farm Mr Jones and alluded to the famine and the cover-up in his novella. 

The historical thriller film Mr Jones opened the door of the rabbit hole for me. It tells the incredible story of Jones risking his career and life to reveal the truth when Western reports turn their blind eyes to Stalin’s notorious totalitarian crime in the twenties century. 

Gareth Jones was a young and intelligent welsh journalist with a righteous ardour to seek the truth. He used to be a personal advisor to former prime minister David Lloyd George for his political journalism background and language talents (fluent in Germany and Russia). 

Before he entered the Soviet Union in 1933, he had just flown with Adolf Hitler and conducted the interview foreseeing the rise of the Nazi Party. “The Europe of 1933 has seen the birth of the Hitler dictatorship in Germany. What will it see in the Soviet Union?” wrote him.  

He sneaked into the Soviet Ukraine, where he kept diaries of his first-hand witnesses to the widespread starvation, unattended death and extremely crucial cannibalism. 

​Jones was utterly shocked by the reality because it was the opposite of what his fellow western correspondents reported. He spent two months undercover investigating the truth. And called a press conference in Berlin to reveal his findings: Stalin’s agricultural collectivization campaign forced millions of peasants onto collective farms and attacked the Ukrainian language and culture to form the USSR’s national identity. 
 
However, Jones’ reports were dismissed by his peers, who knew better on judging the situation and deliberately concocted fake news for the interest groups. 

The New York Times reporter Walter Duranty, who won the Pulitzer Prize for reporting the Soviet Five Year Plan glorifying this new regime, criticized Jones in New York Times by accusing him of jumping to conclusions based on limited facts. “Conditions are bad but there is no famine,” wrote Duranty in 1933. 

Duranty also echoed Soviet propaganda by acknowledging “food shortages” due to “the novelty and mismanagement of collective farming” and shared his thoughts on the situation in Ukraine as “you can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs” to cover up the man-made mass murder of millions.

Apart from Duranty, public figures such as George Bernard Shaw and H. G. Wells also publicly denied the famine in Ukraine. During a visit to Ukraine in 1933, former French Prime Minister Édouard Herriot said that Soviet Ukraine was “like a garden in full bloom”. Gareth Jones lost all his standing and reputation for revealing the Ukraine Holodomor that contradicted his Western peers’ testimonials and reportings.

In 1935, one day before his thirtieth birthday, Jones was kidnapped and murdered while investigating in Japanese-occupied Mongolia. A suspicion has examined the connection between his death and Soviet NKVD, as revenge for his reporting damaged the reputation of the Soviet regime.  

While Jones suffered the tragic consequences of revealing the truth and was shot dead in a foreign country, Duranty, on the contrary, was greeted by ministers and governors at a dinner party in a grand hotel to celebrate the establishment of relations between the United States and the USSR. 
​
The toastmaster on the night introduced Duranty as “one of the great foreign correspondents of modern times, serving a great newspaper of this city”. Sally J. Taylor, the author of Stalin’s Apologist: Walter Duranty, also noted: “he was arguably the best-known foreign correspondent in the world.”

Despite the Holodomor being officially denied by the Kremlin for more than half a century, Ukrainians are still fighting for its recognition and understanding of this dark chapter. In recent years, the Ukrainian government opened National Holodomor Memorial in Kyiv and many Holodomor monuments worldwide to commemorate the estimated 3.3 to 5 million deaths during this tragic event. 

Looking at our society, Gareth Jones’s story and the Holodomor continually resonated with us far beyond time and space. The mainstream media in both east and west haven’t given up their agenda to serve political and economic interests, control public narrative, restrict information flow, and contribute to extreme speeches and behaviours. 

In our time where fake news is all over the media landscape, distorting our understanding of reality, it has never been more important to study historic events and recognise the deadly consequences of media manipulation and disinformation. Thanks to journalists like Gareth Jones, their efforts and bravery serve as a moral compass for us to explore truth in the current chaotic situation. 
  
I started my career in media and was taught to follow three rules to be a good journalist: passionate about journalism, fear no hardship and authority and be curious and courageous throughout my life. I regarded Oriana Fallaci and Marie Colvin as my role models for their work ethics and fighter mentality. I also admire writers like Hemingway and Orwell, who took responsibility, threw themselves into the frontline and wrote the truth in war. 

Although I lost many battles against censorship, I never surrendered and never ceased the fire to fight for human rights in freedom of expression. The good news is with the development of technology, I have more tools to seek the truth and protect myself with pseudonymity and decentralisation.

Balaji Srinivasan shares his insights on why the future lies in trusting distributed “cryptographic truth” rather than the values of centralised news organisations. More and more people join the journey in web3 to proactively challenge the mainstream narrative and focus on building sovereignty and agency to navigate complexity.
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The truth may arrive late, but it never will be absent. Gareth Jones’ name may not have been recognised in his time, but it never will be forgotten. 

P.S. I wrote a novella after watching Mr Jones in 2020, dedicated Chapter Six to media, and mentioned Jones & Duranty. Also, I chose June 8 as the date to publish my novella to pay tribute to George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, which was released on the same date in 1949.

投资公司Collaborative Fund合伙人、前《华尔街日报》专栏作家摩根·豪塞尔（Morgan Housel）最近发表了一篇长博文《How People Think》，他描述了在人类漫长的历史中，充满了无尽的想法和故事，尽管每个人都有独特的看待世界的角度和方式，但人类的行为和思维模式却充满了共性，Morgan就「人类如何思考」这一课题，总结出了最常见也最具影响力的17个方面，简单编译一下：

1. 每个人都隶属于部落，并低估了部落对其思维产生的影响。
部落无处不在，包括国家、省市、政党、公司、行业、投资风格、经济理念、宗教、家庭、学校、专业、资格证明。人们之所以喜欢加入部落，因为可以找到志同道合并且怀抱相同目标的同僚。

每个部落都有自己的规则、信仰和想法，你可能对其中的一些规则不以为然，但是却不敢公开表示否定。因为没有个体愿意冒着被部落其他成员攻击的风险去挑战既定的规则，或者质疑自己隶属于部落的身份特征。久而久之人们要么心甘情愿地对糟糕的注意点头，要么被环境腐化，成为部落忠诚的一份子。

2. 人类呈现给世界的东西只占大脑中的一小部分。
美国国会图书馆拥有300万本书，等同于25万亿字的内容。目前互联网上可获取的所有信息总量约为40万亿字节，相当于宇宙大爆炸至今140亿年天天播放高清视频的信息量。这么多的历史已经被记录下来！但是，这只是我们人类公开分享、记录和发表的内容，和实际在人脑中发生的信息相比微不足道。

就算是再高产的创作者，他们分享的经历和想法可能只占其人生故事的千分之一。所以，我们很容易被「幸存者偏差」所误导，毕竟人们分享的内容都是他们希望别人看到的，美化了技能，隐藏了缺陷，夸大了胜利，淡化了失败。

我们生活中的大多数事情都是枯燥乏味且困难的，但是当你把自己的生活和别人分享的成功相对比时，就会觉得自己缺少某项技能或者秘密武器，这也许是事实，但更加真实的一面是你并不知道别人究竟经历了什么才取得今天的成就。

3. 预测是一门关于概率的学问。但旁观者往往以二元对立的方式对预测进行评判，不看概率只看对错。
大多数人都明白一个道理，确定性是很难得的，你能做的是计算事情发生的概率是否对自己有利。聪明人也会失败，蠢蛋也会成功，这就是运气和风险出场的时刻。但是，很少有人真正在现实世界中使用概率，尤其是在评判他人的预测时，人们更关心的是，你到底是对还是错。

不同的概率存在着细微的差别和等级，但是在现实世界中，人们习惯非黑即白。如果你说某件事情会发生，并且它发生了，你就是对的；如果你说某件事会发生而没发生，你就是错的。这就是人们习惯的思考方式，并不用动什么脑子。

人们总想对未知的未来有一个确定的看法，毕竟想摆脱不确定性带来的痛苦是人之常情。如果有人告诉你有60%的概率发生经济衰退，这对消除痛苦并没有什么作用。如果有人说，今年一定会有经济衰退，你便会对未来有了预知。

4. 人类是在一个没什么极端好坏事情会发生的无限持续的世界里生活着的推断机器。
当你身处强大的趋势当中，很难想象有一种力量足以扭转乾坤。但我们往往忽略了一个规则，并不是外部力量改变了现状，而是系统内部产生的微妙副作用改变了这一强大的趋势。

当经济兴旺时，人们会变得自信，然后就会冒险，冒险后需要承担风险，导致经济出现衰退；当市场尚未崩盘时，估值就会上升，随即产生大量泡沫，市场面临崩盘；当危机出现时，人们就会产生动力，随即会疯狂地解决问题，此时危机便会结束... 我们总是在事后总结时才会发现这样屡试不爽的规律，但身处其中时却浑然不知。

当发酵过程产生的酒精浓度达到一定程度时，就会杀死最初启动发酵过程的酵母。大多数强大的趋势也会以同样的方式结束。当我们身处历史的洪流中，除了要考虑「顺势」如何影响人类，也要考虑人类会对此「势」产生哪些行动，从而终止这个趋势。

5. 人类的理智是有限度的，了解乐观主义和悲观主义两者界限的唯一方法就是在边界处再加试探。
杰里·宋飞（Jerry Seinfeld）曾经主持一档电视史上最受欢迎的节目，然后他在节目的顶峰时期宣布退出，因为他深知万事万物皆有规律，顶峰过后便是衰退，虽然他并不知道节目是否还能更火，但他却不想对此冒险。如果你想知道历史上为什么会有那么多非理性的事情发生，是因为大多数的人都没有宋飞的心态，不知道适可而止，而总想试探顶峰的边界。

世界上的大多数事情都混合着事实和情感，例如一家工厂能生产多少钢铁（事实），投资者愿意为这个产量支付多少（情感）。事实可以计算，但情感却无法用公式进行预测。比特币的价值是多少？特斯拉能涨到多高？回答这些问题需要预知人们未来的情绪：他们对此有多乐观？他们选择相信什么？以及描述这些概念的人能否讲一个充满说服力的故事？任何人也无法给出确定的答案。

所以，探索人类情绪极限的唯一方法便是不断地在边界试探，看着事情从繁荣走向衰退，回头总结时才知道，原来那就是极限。

当你回看历史疯狂的事件时，不要觉得当时的人们都疯了，也许他们只不过在理性地寻找事物的极限。

6. 人类选择性地忽视崇拜对象的弱点，当你崇拜一个人独特的一面时，他独特的另一面可能令你厌恶。
我们身边的大多数榜样人物都拥有一些极端甚至离谱的特质，你崇拜他们的理由是因为他们做了普通人不敢或者从没想过的事情。这些特质中良莠并具，当你在欣赏他们的所作所为时，很容易忽略究竟哪些特质是促使他们成功的关键。

坎耶·维斯特（Kanye West）曾经说过，如果欣赏这些疯狂的想法，疯狂的音乐，以及疯狂的思维方式，你要知道这些很有可能来自一个疯狂的人。保罗·格雷厄姆（Paul Graham）这样说道，杰出人士的杰出品质中，有一半其实都是缺点。安德鲁·威尔金森（Andrew Wilkinson）则说道，大多数成功人士只是被多产驾驭着的行走的焦虑症患者。

我们很容易去模仿一些成功人士的不良品质，因为我们相信那是促使他们成功的原因。同时，如果你嫉妒一个人的时候，你不能只看到他们成功的一面，你并不知道他们为了达成你羡慕的目标放弃了多少东西。

奥斯卡影后桑德拉·布洛克在获奖后被媒体爆出她的丈夫是一个通奸的混蛋。所以，你想做这样的交易吗？你会用巨大的事业成功换取婚姻上的不幸吗？如果你不得不花三秒钟以上的时间来思考这个问题，你绝对是疯了。

7. 人类为了实现效率最大化而牺牲容错空间，尽管容错空间是实现长远成功的最重要因素。
我们的世界充满了竞争，如果你错失了机会，你的竞争对手就会抓住机会，并将这个机会利用到极致。这样的竞争推动了世界的发展，但却有一个副作用：当所有的机会都被用尽，市场不再存在容错空间，当没有犯错的余地时，任何暴露于波动和意外中的系统最终都将走向崩溃。

我们可以理解那些总是将效率最大化挂在嘴边的首席执行官们，因为如果他们不这样做，竞争对手就会将他们赶尽杀绝。人类行为模式中有一点很是奇怪，我们总想最大限度地发挥潜力，直至摧毁自己。许多人努力追求高效的生活，不浪费任何时间。但是，当你把日程表排得满满当当，就没有时间让思想自由遨游，去探索新的事物，而放空大脑正是最高效的思维方式。

我们正面临着一个悖论，容错空间对长期生存至关重要，但以消除容错空间的方式实现效率最大化可能对短期生存至关重要。那些拥有着长远视角的人，很容易被别人看作是游手好闲或不求上进，牺牲短期利益谋取长远发展的公司也会被外界认为表现不佳，但是他们却能长久地活下去，收获最后的欢笑和最高的回报。

8. 最好的故事胜过一切。
不是最好的想法，也不是正确的答案，而是最好的故事才能吸引人类的注意力。

夏洛克·福尔摩斯曾说过说，你在世上做过哪些事并不重要，重要的是让人们相信你做过什么事情。摩根·弗里曼（Morgan Freeman）可以将一份杂货清单讲述的让人们泪流满面，而一位不善言辞的科学家在分享治愈疾病的良方时不被人注意。查尔斯·达尔文（Charles Darwin）没有发现进化论，他只是写出了第一本令人瞩目的关于进化论的书籍；安德鲁·卡内基（Andrew Carnegie）把自己的人格魅力和社交能力与商业头脑看得同等重要；埃隆·马斯克（Elon Musk）给投资者描绘愿景的能力和他的工程技能同样重要；罗里·萨瑟兰爵士（Sir Rory Sutherland）最近说过，如果不是因为圣保罗，没有人听说过耶稣。作家埃利亚斯·卡内蒂（Elias Canette）写道，人们总是会被讲故事的人所吸引，会讲故事的人所说的话会比普通人的话语在空中停留更长的时间。

能在人类历史上持久存在的叙事并不是那些最能经受住事实核查的叙事，而是能解决我们最深层次需求和欲望的故事。如果你认为我们的世界被事实和客观性所左右，如果你坚信最好的想法一定会赢，请三思。当你意识到你可以通过使用新的叙述方法去诠释旧有的概念，而无需从零做起改变世界时，你会发现事事皆有可能。

9. 我们被复杂性所左右，殊不知简洁性才是智慧和理解的真正标志。
计算机科学家埃德塞·迪克斯特拉（Edsger Dijkstra）曾写道，我们应该清楚地认识到，简洁是真理的标志，但复杂对人类有着病态的吸引力。当你为学术界的听众做了一场从头到尾都非常清晰的讲座时，听众们会觉得自己被欺骗了。令人痛心的事实是，复杂的东西更好卖。

一条推文可能比一本书更有见地，但人们宁愿花20美元买书，也绝不会花一分钱买成千上万的推文；给客户提供十句话的建议，他们会厌恶地离开，给他们一本厚实的文件阐述，他们会付你一大笔钱，并向朋友推荐你。

这是为什么呢？有几个原因。

其一是，长度往往是标志着努力和深思熟虑的唯一指标。信息消费者很少会客观地剖析一个论点，这实在是太难了。当他们阅读时，他们只想搞清楚作者是否可信。文章的长度和复杂性往往读者做出判断的唯一指标，表明了作者确实有下功夫研究这个论点。

其次是当你遇到不理解的东西时，会觉得理解这一概念的人充满了神秘感，你很难判断理解这个知识点的人在该领域的知识局限，所以更容易相信他提出的长篇大论。

第三个原因是，复杂性满足了人们的控制欲，而简洁性则让人们觉得很难与无知区分开来。你能摆弄的旋钮越多，就越觉得对情况越有掌控。只注意几个变量而忽略其他会让你你看上去略显无知，即使这才是正确的方法。如果客户问你："这个呢，这里发生了什么？"而你回答说："哦，我不知道，我不看这个指标。"在客户眼中，你看上去不知所云的几率可能会超过他认为你已经掌握了简洁真理的几率。

10. 你是否愿意相信一个预测，受到你有多希望或需要这个预测为真的影响。
「你一生中最快乐的一天是什么时候」？

纪录片《如何永生How to Live Forever》向一位百岁老人提出了这个天真的问题，老人的回答令人惊讶。

「停战日"」，她说。她指的是1918年第一次世界大战签署停战协议的日子。

「为什么呢」，制片人问道。

「因为我们知道再也不会有战争了」，她说。

结果第二次世界大战在21年后卷土重来，7500万人因此遇难。

在生活中，我们认为很多事情是真实的，是因为我们迫切希望它们是真的，无论是关系、事业、投资还是政治观点。我们每一个人都是白日梦想家，当我们觉得未来会很艰难时，就不会有动力去做事情，除非虚构一个想要的结果，给我们在充满不确定性的世界中带来慰藉。

在现代医学出现之前，几世纪以来人们利用放血疗法、饥饿疗法、在身体上挖洞以释放恶魔等医治方法极为普遍，因为这些糟糕的治疗方法可以给人们带来希望。当你迫切需要一个解决方案时，但又不知道什么才是对你有效的解决方法，那么阻力最小的途径就是主动相信某个解决方案，不仅仅是做出尝试，而是坚信它的确有效。

同样的思维方式发生在投资领域，人们热切地听从那些与猜测无异的预测信息。如果你告诉人们他们想听的东西，你就可以无限期地错下去而不用接受惩罚。
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11. 如果你没有体验过他人生活的世界，就很难对他们的信仰产生共鸣。
《华尔街日报》专栏作杰森·茨威格Jason Zweig写道，如果我在调查问卷中问你是否害怕蛇，你可能会说不害怕。如果我把一条活蛇扔到你的腿上，然后问你是否怕蛇，你可能会说害怕（前提是你还能继续和我说话）。

作为当事人和作为局外人对某事的看法和感受可能相差千里。

按理说大型战争往往相隔20-40年才会发生，因为需要一定的时间来培养没有受到上一场战争的伤害和影响的新一代的选民、政客和将军。其他政治趋势包括社会权利、经济理论、优先事项预算也遵循类似的路径。这并不代表着人类忘记了历史，而是我们的同理心和开放的思想无法真正模拟当事人面对恐惧和不确定性的感觉。

如果你能通过对手的视角来看待世界，并经历他们的生活，那么一半以上的个人、国内国际或者经济分歧都会消失。纳西姆·塔勒布（Nassim Taleb）很好地总结了这一点，他说：「如果某件事看起来不理性，而且长期以来一直如此，那么你对理性的定义很可能是错误的」。

每个人都应该问自己这些问题：

• 如果我出生在不同的国家或不同的年代，我对自己现在的哪些观点会持有异见？
• 我没有亲身经历过的哪些事情让我对其运作方式持有天真的看法？
• 哪些是我认为只会影响到其他国家/行业/职业的问题，最终却会影响到我？

上述问题并不可能完全回答出来。每个人的世界观都存在着盲点。当我们与别人产生分歧时，其实只是揭示了自己不具备相关的经验。

12. 人类之所以无辜地否认自我缺陷是因为我们在脑中会对自己的错误进行辩解，而对待他人的错误却无法一视同仁。
乔治·卡林（George Carlin）曾经开玩笑地指出发现蠢人是多么的容易，「随身携带纸和笔，一天结束时，你会得到三四十个名字。发现其中的蠢人并不需要很长时间，不是吗？大约需要8秒钟」。 

但丹尼尔·卡尼曼在《思考快与慢》一书中提到了一个更重要的事实：识别他人的错误比识别自己的错误更加容易。而我的理论是：把他人的错误归咎于愚蠢和贪婪比怪罪自己更加容易。

这是因为当他人犯错时，我只会根据我看到的情况来判断，又快又容易。但当自己犯错时，我的脑海里会出现一段又长又有说服力的独白，为自己的错误进行辩解，并增加了其他人看不到的重要背景。

每个人都是如此，这很正常。

我的姐夫是一名社工，他最近告诉我，「只要有足够的信息，所有的行为都是有意义的」。 这是一个很好的观点。你看到有人在做一些疯狂的事情，然后想，你到底为什么要这样做？当你和他们坐下来，听听他们的生活，过了一会儿你会意识到，啊，我现在有点明白了。

每个人都是自己生活经历的产物，其他人很少能看到我们生活的全景。对我来说有意义的东西对你来说可能没有意义，因为你并不知道什么样的经历塑造了我，反之亦然。

对于「你为什么不同意我的观点」这个问题可以有无限的答案。有时答案是因为对方是自私、愚蠢、盲目或不知情的。但通常更好的问题是「你有什么经历是我不曾体验过的，导致你相信你所做的事情？如果我经历了你所经历的事情，我会像你一样看待这个世界吗」？

这是一个很难回答的问题，当你想到没有经历过的事情可能会改变你的信仰，这让自己感觉很不舒服，这是承认自己的无知。没有考虑对方的经历和立场就妄下定论是人之常情，也导致了世上的很多分歧。

13. 人类对小事通过复利进化成为非同寻常的大事的认知不足。
宇宙中最令人震惊的力量显而易见，那就是进化。它引领着单细胞生物变成了可以在500G存储空间的iPhone上阅读这篇文章的人类，给了我们20/20的裸眼视力，给了鸟飞行的能力，也为生物带来了免疫系统。在科学领域，没有什么比进化所取得的成就更能让你大吃一惊。

生物学家莱斯利·奥格尔（Leslie Orgel）曾说过，「进化比你更聪明」，因为每当有批评者说「进化不可能做到这一点」时，他们通常只是缺乏想象力。进化的超能力不只是选择有利的特征，这样的话就太乏味了。毕竟大多数物种千年以来的变化都如此微小，甚至无法察觉。

进化的真正魔力在于它在38亿年里一直在选择性状。时间，而不是微小的变化，才是进化的关键，将微不足道的变化与38亿年的时间相加，你得到的结果便与魔法无异。这就是进化真正教给我们的一课。

物理学家阿尔伯特·巴特利特（Albert Bartlett）曾经说过，「人类最大的缺点是无法理解指数函数」。世界上的很多事情都是依靠该函数运作。很多人都听说过复利的力量，或是读过那些关于在20多岁开始储蓄比30多岁开始储蓄会多多少退休金的故事。但很少有人真正去做，因为得出的结果有悖直觉，线性思维比指数思维要直观得多。迈克尔·巴特尼克（Michael Batnick）曾经解释过。如果我让你在脑海中计算8+8+8+8+8+8+8，你可以在几秒钟内完成（是72）；如果我让你计算8x8x8x8x8x8x8x8，你的脑袋就会爆炸（答案是134,217,728）。

我们在投资领域经常可以看到不重视复利的故事。霍华德·马克斯（Howard Marks）曾经谈到一个投资者，他的年度业绩从未排在前四分之一，但如果看过去14年总业绩，他则排到了所有投资人的前4%，如果他将这些平庸的年回报再保持10年，他可能会进入同行业前1%，尽管他的年度业绩不值得一提，但是平庸的复利也能在时间的加持下让你出人头地。

如果你了解复利背后的数学，你会意识到最重要的问题不是 「我怎样才能获得最高的回报」 而是 「我可以长期维持的最佳回报是什么？」这就是复利教给我们的重大一课，少关注变化，多关注指数。

14. 知道该做什么事情和真正去做这件事情之间有着天壤之别。
我曾经问过一位医生，「你工作中最困难的部分是什么？」她说，「让病人做我要求他们做的事」。一开始我还不明白，但经过她的解释，我恍然大悟。

「你和病人说，我需要你做这个检验、看这个专家、拿这个药。而他们一个月后回来，却什么都没做」。 她解释说，「一名好医生意味着花更多地时间管理病人，而不是医治疾病」。医学专家知道所有教科书上的正确答案，可以精确地做出诊断，并掌握所有最新的治疗方法；但是从病人的角度来看，看病昂贵又费时，又让人心生恐惧。即使医生给出一个完美的治疗方案，病人丝毫不去遵循也等于是白费功夫。

生活中的许多事情包括投资、关系、健康、职业都是如此，我们知道自己应该做什么，但却没有真正去做。在许多情况下，我们都希望不用付出代价就能通过投机取巧的方式得到想要的东西。病人不想吃得更好，也不想运动，只想要一种药丸来解决一切；投资人没有耐心等上十年，他们只想要一个下周就能翻倍的股票。

我们生活在一个拥有大量简单的解决方案，但人们却懒得去遵循简单建议的世界中。伊萨克·阿西莫夫（Issac Asimov）曾说过，「科学收集知识的速度比社会收集智慧的速度快多了」，这句话很好地总结了大多事情。

15. 人类不擅长设想改变带来的感受，因为做梦时无需背景设定。
当事情进展顺利时，每个人都认为自己有很高的风险承受能力，一旦事情出现恶化，人们就会说，「啊，你知道吗，实际上，这比我想象的要痛苦」。

人们往往会孤立地思考未来的风险，比如说，当我想到市场下跌了40%，我会觉得世上所有东西都没什么变化，除了股票便宜了40%。但股票便宜40%的原因可能是人们认为世界正处于崩溃的边缘，比如经济衰退、大流行病、政治崩溃等等。同样的事情也发生在我们幻想成功之时。

我还没遇到过或知道有谁在取得巨大的成功后，获得了外人期望的那种超高的幸福感。这并不意味着成功不会带来自豪感、满足感或独立性，但这些却和你在实现成功之前想象的很不一样。

吉姆·凯瑞（Jim Carrey）曾经说过，「我认为每个人都应该实现名利双收，做他们曾经梦想的一切，这样他们就会知道，这并不是人生的答案」。我认为部分原因是因为人类很难预测损失：我们很难想象完整的愿景。

如果你幻想未来的自己住在一所全新的豪宅里，周围的一切都是那么美妙。但我们我们很容易忘记的是，住在豪宅里的人可能会得流感、患牛皮癣、卷入诉讼、与配偶争吵、被不安全感所困扰，被政治家所烦扰。在任何特定的时刻，这些琐事都可能取代物质成功带来的快乐。未来的财富是在真空中想象出来的，但现实情况则是好坏交织。

16. 人类对罕见事件的理解不足，导致对世界的脆弱程度视而不见。
约翰·利特尔伍德（John Littlewood ）是一位数学家，他试图驳斥奇迹只是简单的统计数字的想法。物理学家弗里曼·戴森（Freeman Dyson）解释说，利特尔伍德的奇迹定律指出，在任何正常人的生活过程中，奇迹发生的概率大约为每月一次。

证明该定律十分简单。我们每天清醒并积极参与生活的时间大约有8小时。按照我们看到和听到的事情以每秒发生一个的速度计算，发生在我们身上的事件总数约为每天3万件，或每月100万件。除了少数例外，奇迹发生的机会大约是每百万分之一，因此我们应该期待平均每个月有一个奇迹发生。

再来看我们称之为百年不遇的灾难，像是洪水、飓风、地震、金融危机、大流行病、政治崩溃、经济衰退等等。这些百年事件并不意味着每100年就会发生一次，而是意味着在任何一年有大约1%的机会发生。看上去概率很低，但是世界上存在着数百个独立的百年事件，其中任何一个在某年发生的概率是多少呢？

如果明年有1%的概率发生新的全球流行病，1%的概率发生严重的经济萧条，1%的概率发生灾难性的洪水，1%的概率发生政治崩溃等等，那么明年或任何一年发生坏事的概率是......令人不适的高。利特尔伍德定律告诉我们，我们可以每月期待一个奇迹。反之亦然，我们也可以预期灾难。这就是历史给予我们的教训，不是吗？

阿诺德·汤因比（Arnold Toynbee）说，历史是 「一个接一个的该死事情」。即使在我们记忆中的繁荣时期，如20世纪50年代和90年代，也有一连串的悲剧发生。1958年经济衰退和1998年的金融市场几近崩溃。世界平均每十年就会发生一次重大的崩盘事件，这是利特尔伍德定律在起作用。世上有无数种不同的灾难，在任意特定的时刻发生任意一个灾难都会对世界造成破坏。

17. 人类无法忍受狗屁事件，导致丧失对世界运行规律的认知。
史蒂芬·普雷斯菲尔德（Steven Pressfield ）写了30年才出版了《巴格·万斯传奇The Legend of Bagger Vance》。在那之前，他的职业生涯暗淡无光，甚至住在中途之家（halfway house，又称为「重返社会训练所」或者「社区矫正中心」）只因为那里的租金便宜。

普雷斯菲尔德曾经谈到他在那里遇到的人，「我们经常在厨房里闲逛，彻夜长谈，那里的人是我见过的最聪明也是最有趣的人群之一。在与他们一起共处时我得出了结论，他们一点都不疯狂，他们实际上是看穿了狗屁事件（bullshit）的聪明人。正因为如此，他们无法在这个世界上正常生活。他们无法在企业机构中工作，因为无法忍受那些屁话连篇的没意义的东西，这就是他们的结局。社会认为他们是局外人，但他们却是真正看透了一切的人」。

如果你察觉到狗屁事件无处不在，那是因为狗屁事件确实是无处不在。问题并不是「我怎样才能避免所有的乱七八糟的狗屁事件」而是「我对这些东西的容忍度究竟有多大，可以让我仍然在这个混乱和不完美的世界中继续生活下去」？

如果你对意见分歧、个人动机、情绪效率低下、沟通不畅等问题的容忍度为零，那你就无法继续在这个世界上好好生活。很多人其实都欠缺对狗屁事件的容忍度，他们的期望和世界运作的现实之间存在着距离。

一家杂货店可以通过对每个离开商店的顾客进行脱衣搜身来防患偷窃行为，但那样的话，就不会有人再去那里购物了。你必须接受这一事实，我们无法将防盗基线降为零。人类对于这些烦心狗屁事件的容忍度，是一项被低估的才能。

富兰克林·罗斯福（Franklin Roosevelt）曾经说过，「当你瘫痪在床时，你想喝橙汁，别人却给你送来了牛奶，你要学会说，没关系，然后喝下去」。这种心态值得学习。

Imagine a guy who runs more than 80 Twitter accounts. Each account represents a person with a different personality, covering various content from poetry, philosophy to horoscopes and policy in different languages. Would it be possible? 

Imagine that didn’t happen on Twitter but in real life. Would that sound even crazier?

Let’s hop on board a time machine, travel back to twentieth-century Lisbon and meet the guy who made that mission impossible into a mission achievable.

Fernando Pessoa, a trilingual writer, poet, translator, publisher, and philosopher, was one of the most underrated historical figures in literature. If he had Twitter, he would have the most followers in total with his 80+ pseudonyms (more accurately called heteronyms). He would update his 25,000+ manuscripts of poetry, prose, philosophy, criticism, political writings, horoscopes and various other texts in English, French and Portuguese non-stop.

Fernando Pessoa’s acquaintances described him as a delightful man, full of charm and British humour. Still, at the same time, he deliberately kept his distance from the crowd to avoid the potential interference of his daily routine. One man who knew Pessoa in later years recalled, “Never, when I bade him goodbye, did I dare to turn back and look at him; I was afraid I would see him vanish, dissolved in the air.”

Fernando Pessoa didn’t travel much in his short life, but created more than 80 heteronyms that explore the whole universe on his behalf. Pessoa explained the conceptual distinction between pseudonyms and heteronyms: the former is by the author in his own person, except in the name he signs; but the latter is outside the author’s own person with different backgrounds and personalities. 

Pessoa’s famous heteronyms included Alberto Caeiro, a self-claimed the greatest poet in the world; Alvaro de Campos, a bisexual writer who has a similar style and substance to the work of Walt Whitman; Ricardo Reis, a classicist and physician whose works focus on fate and destiny. Most of his heteronyms interactions with each other, exchanging letters and literature critics. Rarely has anyone known those identities are not real until the public discovered this fact after Pessoa’s death. 

As one of my favourites writer Jorge Luis Borges once said:

Pessoa was a perfect example of the second kind. He constantly examined human existence through observation and reflection, ignored the limitations of time and space, and freed himself from the prison of physical form to create something from nothingness. It sounds like a guy who lived in Metaverse rather than one hundred years ago, doesn’t it?

In The Book of Disquiet, one of the greatest works of the twentieth century, the writer Bernardo Soares (Pessoa’s semi-heteronyms of) wrote down:

Pessoa never bound himself with one identity, and he’d rather be nobody and live a life of obscurity. People in his generation probably had zero clue about his motivation in creating numerous identities. However, our generation has a better understanding of his pioneered pseudonymous identities. And his thought and behaviours couldn’t be more applicable in today’s media environment. 

Three days ago, I lost my access to Weibo with 150,000+ followers because I wrote some articles that might trigger the censorship mechanism. 

Luckily enough, I never used my real name and avatar on social media platforms, and I’ve already built my decentralised website and community in advance. Although I’ve been de-platformed by Weibo, I still feel safe and have my channel to interact with friends and readers worldwide. Moreover, my earning name (especially in web3) is not tied with my social media names, so I wouldn’t starve because of being cancelled by the most influential social network in China.

As Balaji Srinivasan mentioned, pseudonymity is where society is going. You can reboot under a new name when your statues are unfairly set to zero by the cancellation. Under the influence of Fernando Pessoa, I published hundreds of articles every year in English and Chinese. My works cover a wide range of topics, mediums and voices, which represent different masks I’m wearing on different occasions. Sometimes, I’m a marketing professional who works for a government agency; sometimes, I’m a rock n roll star who tours with music bands; sometimes, I’m a mystery writer who writes unclassifiable stories; and sometimes, I’m an enthusiastic sports fan who play Fantasy online games… 

My friends like to call me chameleon because I change my identities based on the environment. David Bowie had a famous quote to reply back about this tag, “for me a chameleon is something that disguises itself to look as much like its environment as possible. I always thought I did exactly the opposite of that.” I’m not trying to disguise myself into the world (otherwise, I’ll use anonymous names) but choosing to have multiple pseudonyms/heteronyms to navigate the multiple dimensions of my life. 

Balaji advocates the “Pseudonymous Economy” because financial independence is the bottom requirement for being a sovereign individual. With web3 technology, we’ll be able to move wealth and reputation into pseudonymity. While the pseudonymous identities offer self-exploration to Fernando Pessoa, it provides me with the protection to combat discrimination and cancellation and earning ability under pseudonymous identities. LFG! 

P.S. Here is a video clip of how I introduced Fernando Pessoa to Balaji at his 1729 VR Lecture room haha!

• Pseudonymity 101
• The importance of pseudonymous identities and how to create one
• Balaji's Vision of the Future: The Pseudonymous Economy
• When we design our identities from scratch
• Pre-order Balaji's new book: The Network State
• My presentation slides about Fernando Pessoa

首先悼念一下陪伴了我12年的微博@翊瑄Camellia），因某些不可名状的原因现在被禁止登陆了。虽然我从前年开始逐渐退出中心化的媒体频道（删了知乎、IG、荔枝和喜马），本打算今年年底再退出微博，结果计划没变化快，提前完成了指标。也不知道这个公众号还能存留多久，所以大家且看且珍惜吧哈哈！和我保持联系或者阅读我的内容的最好方式还是登陆我的个人网站，订阅Chiwi Journal，或者加入CY Circle。

为什么要退出中心化的平台呢？线上导师Balaji和「创作者经济」都提倡创作者建立去中心化的平台，将价值和控制权重新交还给用户，而不是赋权于中心化的组织机构。这样创作者可以不受平台限制，自由无畏地创作自己感兴趣同时也能为读者听众带来价值的内容，而内容消费者也可以直接和创作者建立联系，支持自己喜欢的作品。在censorship和cancel culture横行的当下，创作者尽早搭建属于自己的去中心化平台，越能享受创作的自由和作为早期适应者的红利。

此时想起乔治·奥威尔的《1984》。小时候阅读韩寒时，便听闻了奥威尔的大名，村上春树曾写了《1Q84》向他致敬，后来，我在撰写第一本英文小说时，也以奥威尔为线索，向这位深深影响我的作者致意。

是什么原因让奥威尔可以如此准确的预见小说出版二三十年后，或者说当今社会的形态？都说作家的早期经历决定日后的写作动机，而生活的时代决定了写作主题。乔治·奥威尔生活在战争频发的年代，他的童年则是在充满了阶级和极权的社会中消磨，参与西班牙内战时，更是亲身体会到DC者的嘴脸，也为他日后的作品定下了立意和题材--- 揭露和批判极权社会。

《1984》中最让人感到脊背发凉的一段就是当权者可以让一个人彻底消失，亦或是创造一个让人信服的却从未在世上真实存在的假想人物。近代的东西方主流媒体均逃不出政治和经济利益集团的控制，于是导致了现在媒体公信力丧失，言论无自由，信息无流动，极端言行频发。看看现在假新闻横行的当下，我们的历史又有多少真实性呢？

乌云背后总会有光明，好在当前的科技发展加速了信息的传播，部分人已经意识到大众传媒的弊端，并主动寻求打破信息壁垒，挑战单一且有导向性的传统叙事模式。也许在2084来临之际，我们每个人都可以实现「自由之思想，独立之人格」的念想，成为「主权个体」实现多时区、多地区开拓收入来源，合理规避地缘政治的风险，享受人生而拥有的自由。

这周临时起意，再次前往利物浦感受下音乐之都的魅力，参观了British Music Experience（BME）和The Beatles Story两个音乐主题的博物馆，亲身上阵玩了玩贝斯和架子鼓，在英伦摇滚和流行乐的陪伴下度过完美的一天。

BME展出了包括披头士、滚石、皇后、大卫·鲍伊、辣妹、绿洲、平克·弗洛伊德、山羊皮、电台司令、阿黛尔、艾米·怀恩豪斯等耳熟能详的英伦歌手的600余件展品，包括舞台服装、乐器、手稿、雕像等等，每半小时还有3D成像音乐人的「现场演唱会」。英伦摇滚充斥着狂放不羁、妖艳迷离，有时又内敛销魂，孤独阴郁，展厅内放映的歌曲，我基本都能跟着旋律哼唱一段。

巧合的是，我刚进展厅便看到乔治男孩(Boy George)的3D虚拟人像在表演《Karma Chameleon》。我的很多洋人朋友都觉得我的名字Camellia Yang和英文单词Chameleon（变色龙）读音相似，也把这首歌当做我的主题曲（看见我就唱...）。想起大卫·鲍伊曾经说过，「我经常被人叫做变色龙，但是变色龙变色是为了融入环境，这和我却截然相反」。宝爷虽然早已仙逝，但他的影响力却时时刻刻笼罩在我和音乐人朋友们的身上，向宝爷学习，多多尝试不同的生活方式和人生轨迹，在不断试错中最终找到适合自己的路子！

前一阵儿花了八小时刷完Peter Jackson指导的披头士乐队纪录片《The Beatles: Get Back》，最大的感受便是世事无常，计划永远没有变化快，没人真正知道自己究竟在干什么，但很多事情就是在追随直觉的「玩耍状态」中搞定了。比如纪录片中Paul McCartney爵士坐在那默默地抚琴，随便弹一弹不一会儿功夫就诞生了一首经典名曲；当年披头士完全不按常理出牌的伦敦街头屋顶演唱会也是计划没变化大的产物，哪知道成为了乐迷心中津津乐道的经典。

我在参观披头士乐队博物馆时眼眶湿润了好几次，看着这四个来自利物浦的年轻小伙子如何从贫穷的音乐爱好者，成长为世界乐坛的巨星，沉浸式的参观旅程带着我穿越时空，来到60年代的卡斯巴（Casbah）、马修街（Mathew Street）、艾比路（Abbey Road）录音室和洞穴（The Cavern）酒吧，接着跟随他们去美国巡回演出，在印度冥想修行...来到约翰·列侬的白色房间时，耳边想起熟悉的《想象Imagine》旋律，在当前混乱的世界局势下，希望他的愿景能在我们这一代实现。

1. 重读济慈的诗歌时，想起了他提倡的培养「客体感受能力negative capability」。人类很少承认自己的无知，总觉得自己有能力知晓一切答案，总想快速地得到解决方案。但是，我们的想法受限于社会环境和周遭人士的影响，由此得到的现实也基于如此，人类看待问题时总会存有偏差，而现实世界中也充满着未知和不被人类理解的事情。我们需要培养自己经得起不安、迷惘和怀疑的能力，耐心地去理解现实，而不是以为不耐烦地获取答案。

2. 英国皇室的藏品中有一幅京巴犬的名画。这只名叫「Looty掠夺品」的京巴犬曾经属于清朝皇室，八国联军火烧圆明园之时，这只小狗也成了侵略军的战利品，跟着成千上万的宝贝一起被运往欧洲，随机被赠送给当时的英国女皇维多利亚。可怜的小家伙在异国他乡顽强地生活了11年最后病逝，不知道当前大英有多少京巴和她有血缘关系？

3. Amor fati (Love Of Fate，热爱命运)
作家博尔赫斯曾经说过，发生在人身上的每一件事情都是一种资源。你所经历的一切都有目的。尤其作为作家和艺术家，必须更强烈地认识到这一点。发生在我们身上的一切，包括我们的屈辱、不幸、尴尬，都可以作为艺术创作的原材料。

我们要学会从发生在自身上的每一件事情中找到快乐。我们必须明白很多事情的发生虽不受控制，但我们却可以利用这一切。不幸生病久卧病榻，可以成为我们反思人生方向的一个机会；在工作中遇到棘手问题，可以激励我们发明新产品和新解决方式。

罗马皇帝马可·奥勒留说过，熊熊烈火能使投入其中的一切产生火焰和光明。这就是我们想要成为的样子。我们要成为能将痛苦、挫折甚至屈辱转化为美的艺术家。我们要成为将自己苦难经历转换为人生哲理供他人参考借鉴的人。

爱你命运中发生的一切事情，因为你可以享用它提供的一切。

4. 最后推荐一下Balaji Srinivasan这周出版的新书《The Network State》！在过去的18周内，我一直在上Balaji的相关主题VR网课，而这本书就是通过集结网课的反馈而诞生出的知识精华。Balaji反复提到「云端先行，土地次之」的「创业城市 Startup City」和「网络国家Network State」的雏形，通过利用新技术先搭建去中心化的网络社区，最终实现众包叙事模式+ 数字货币激励机制的新国家形态：自发形成的守则规范、风俗文化和治理模式。

Twenty-three years ago, my dad bought me a PC, which opened a whole new world for me. 

Eighteen years ago, I created my first blog on MySpace and started my online writing journey. 

Ever since connecting on the internet, I was like a kid with a Disneyland VIP ticket that played around freely and happily. I didn’t realise I was indulging myself in the fairy tales of free internet and freedom of speech until one day, I encountered censorship. 

In 2008, while the whole Chinese nation was in such a high spirit of preparing for the Olympic Games, I was in a low mood fighting against Sina Blog because they took off my content that mentioned Twitter. 

I was pissed off as a hot-blood teenage girl and published more writings to attack the system. It was like a battle between David and Goliath. However, in my case, the Goliath was too strong to beat up, and I lost. They deleted my account and all my articles involving 3Ts and other censored topics. 

Like many other Chinese bloggers, I learned my lessons and started to play with words to avoid censorship or self-censored when publishing something on Weibo and WeChat. 

​The most iconic example of censorship is described as being “harmonised (和谐 he xie)”. Since “he xie” has a similar sound as river crab (河蟹), if you see an image of a river crab on the internet in China, it’s likely to refer to something being censored.

Weibo launched another strategy to censor content in recent years. Bloggers who trigger the censorship words can still see their content (instead of being deleted straight away). However, we can only see what we posted, not our readers. We call it “traffic control （限流xian liu）”. It’s a gentle way to warn us not to post something against government content guidelines. The next level is either getting our content or account deleted based on the social media credit system. 

Another interesting example is the ban of Winnie the Pooh. When the Chinese resident Xi Jinping had gone to the United States for an official visit, he returned with this nickname. Soon after he met with Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, the nickname meme grew and spread online. Then the censors began erasing and blocking the images of Pooh on social media sites, and poor Pooh was cancelled in China. ​​

Apart from that, nationalism in China has been on the rise for the past few years. Individuals and western brands who embrace diverse values or hold hostility against China and influencers/celebrities and companies accused of being unpatriotic fell victim one after another to be cancelled online. From well-known fashion brand Dolce & Gabbana to billionaire actress Zhao Wei, from tech tycoon Jack Ma to many influencers who publicly support Ukraine. 
​

The tedious and troublesome writing journey killed my inspiration and drained my energy to a large extent. Therefore, I built up my own website and gradually exited many centralised platforms to establish my sovereignty. 

In 2020, 10 years since I lived in English-speaking countries, I had a light-bulb moment when my online mentor James Altucher initiated a 30 Days Writing Challenge, which empowered me to finish my first English novel. I realised I could actually write in Chinese and English and become a bilingual writer. 

Nowadays, I publish newsletters, podcasts and stories on a regular basis in two languages and gained 160,000+ followers from all over the world. With the censorship and cancel-culture spread across the globe, it’s essential for people who can speak and write more than one language to cultivate digital footprints on different platforms or build up their own decentralised media channel to avoid losing freedom of speech.

I’d like to share my experience and thoughts to guide you through the journey. ​

English serves as the world’s favourite lingua franca - the language people are most likely to turn to when they don’t share the same first language. Apart from Pieter Levels’ saying that writing in English can help us reach over a billion people, there are another two advantages:

1. It helped me approach my mind without carrying many burdens from my native cultures. Writing in English provides me with an opportunity to see through the world from a different lens. I have to reassess my knowledge in my native language and cultures and sort through words and ideas to recombine them in a form those who speak English can understand. Take this article on Chinese Netizens' reactions towards Ukraine/Russia crisis as an example; It creates a chance for me to do research from both perspectives and jump out of my own narratives to report neutral truth. 
​
 2. It helped me gain confidence and not take myself too seriously. Everybody makes mistakes, so do writers who speak English as their first language. Therefore, I can use “English is not my mother tongue” as an ‘excuse’ to publish my works in English to overcome perfectionism. As long as I can communicate my ideas and thoughts correctly, I don’t need to worry about my imperfect grammar and vocabulary too much. Even though I made mistakes, I could entertain my English readers and learn from practising. 

Since I was in primary school, I’ve been writing in Chinese from notebook to online platform, twenties years non-stop. I’m a prolific Chinese writer with confidence.

After moving to New Zealand in 2010, I had to learn English to make a living. Back then, I was too embarrassed to speak broken English, not to mention writing fluent essays or articles, which led to my extremely low self-esteem in using English, especially in the writing part. It took me almost a decade to overcome my inner demon - sabotaging myself by saying, you suck! Thankfully, three significant elements set me free:

• Fernando Pessoa, Elif Safak and Ayn Rand are non-native English-speaking writers. They set up a role model for people like me. By reading their stories and their works, I understand writing in English is a mission achievable. What I need to do is simple - according to Ernest Hemingway, “there is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed” - In my case, I only need to sit in front of my MacBook and let the blood flow washing over the keyboard. 

• Online writing mentors like David Perrell, who created writing courses (I’m the alumni of Write of Passage Cohort 7) to guide me through the journey and make friends with other emerging writers to support each other. The same thing happened in the 1729 community where Grant and Matt initiated the writing challenge to publish technologically progressive topics. 

• My English speaking friends (online & IRL) and colleagues are so kind and patient with my English and encourage me to speak and write more. My readers also provide me with constructive feedback and support me with positive engagement. I’ve always appreciated the love I gained on my writing journey. THANK YOU! 

Although I could stay in my comfort zone to speak and write in Chinese, I would miss the opportunity to meet new friends and readers and explore the other side of the world. 

Writing in both languages take time, but the rewarding is enormous. As Bruce Nauman said, “if you want to do it, you do it. There are no excuses”. What I need to do is to build a system and form a good habit to support my writing routine. Trust the process, make the commitment, and you can achieve more than you’d expect. 

Serve the person you once were.

I used to be an international student and a new migrant in New Zealand. So I shared my overseas studying and job hunting experiences with those on the same boat or about to join the same journey to gain my follower base.

My friends Ellen and Summer, who spent years at fitness training and devoted their time to nutrition research, also share their learnings and lessons along the way. Now they build a large online healthy lifestyle community with hundreds and thousands of girls who read their articles, watch videos and try products.

Before, I spent loads of time on WeChat, Weibo and other Chinese social media channels to serve Chinese international students. Ever since I became a digital nomad, I started to produce more English content to make friends and knock doors to career opportunities. 

For instance, I leverage my podcast channel to approach people I admire on Twitter by inviting them to chat and build connections on my show. I also write a monthly newsletter, publishing consistent content to showcase my digital transformation journey and topics I care about (philosophy and history) to attract like-minded people (1,200+ readers in half a year). By consistently publishing content in English and Chinese, I gather along with readers from the globe and never feel lonely like I used to be.

Being a bilingual writer provides a double chance for us to reach more readers and leave our digital footprints online. It’s also essential to learn from Balaji’s pseudonymous economy, lessen our actual identity usage, and build decentralised channels and communities. The ultimate goal is to see truth, health and wealth and create the Network State protocol where people don’t need to overcome so many barriers like what we encountered in the current media environment.

​May we all have the right to express ourselves freely in the upcoming future. 

最近一直在读听读Robert Breedlove的内容，他最新的一篇博文《God and Free Exchange》给予了我很大的启发，简单翻译总结一下：

​当人们提起「上帝/老天爷/神明GOD」这个词汇时，脑海中一般会冒出一个住在天上的白胡子老头的形象，这无疑是受到中世纪教会的影响。在那个知识垄断的时代，教会利用人们的无知去宣传可以为自己谋利的故事，把神明描述为高高在上的父权形象，借此树立权威并依靠贩卖赎罪劵敛钱。

如果我们想了解「GOD」这个词的真正意思和起源，可以追溯到公元5000年前的原始印欧语系（Proto-Indo-European）。梵语是最早被证实的原始印欧语系语言之一，并且保留着数量最多的古代文献。通过研究词源学，「GOD」这个词的词源是梵文的「GHUT」，表示「以物换物，交换交易」。

以物换物代表着涉事双方不通过货币手段自由地选择参与交换价值的过程。纵观人类历史，永恒的道德准则从来都是建立在双方自由平等的交换价值，而诸如撒谎、偷窃和谋杀等遭到道德谴责的事情，都显示出涉事双方有一方的利益被无情剥夺，无法实现自由地交换选择。

热力学的第一定律是能量守恒，它指出在一个孤立的系统内总能量是恒定不变的，但能量可以从一种形式转化为另一种形式。整个宇宙其实就是由无数的交换过程所组成，亚原子粒子不断交换结合，人类文化不断融合，经济贸易相互连接... 我们的宇宙已经在自身内部进行了137亿年的能量交换过程。在这百亿年的交换过程中，甚至诞生出了让人类还无法完全理解的「意识」。我们每个个体就是宇宙的自我反思，我们彼此之间通过价值交换获得自由和意义。

当我们把目光转向影响了西方文明几千年的《圣经Bible》当中，在没有被教会玷污概念之前的神，是否指代的就是交换的过程？而我们是否应该重读此书体会其背后的象征意义？是不是只有通过自由交换才能实现「神的国度」，才能获得自由、真理和爱？拥抱「GOD」就将蓬勃发展；背弃「GOD」就将陷入困境。

“Jesus said, "If those who lead you say to you, 'See, the kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty.” 1

― Gospel of Thomas

这周刷完了《我的天才女友》第三季，最后一集的最后一分钟看得我泪流满面。希望未来的我看到现在的我也能露出欣慰的笑容，就像现在的我如果看到过去某些时刻的我，肯定会抱抱她然后说一句，一切都会好起来的！

再次推荐原著《那不勒斯四部曲》！很少有文学作品将女性的友谊刻画地如此细腻和真实：我爱你，但我也恨你，我会在危急时刻站在你这一边，但也会在暗中和你较劲儿希望自己超越你。埃莱娜·费兰特的四部曲以小镇姑娘的视角去描写那跨越不了的阶级，两代人之间的矛盾，女性受到的不平等对待，女性之间复杂的情感关系，还有大院儿孩子们的情愫和冲突.. . 好的作者就是会把你无法用语言形容的感觉描述出来，她讲她的故事，你在其中找到共鸣。

现存的历史叙述大多来自于精英视角，而费兰特的这部小说则是通过一位边缘人物的叙述，向我们展示了在文学和现实生活中对于精英叙事模式的反抗。任何阶级和种族都有广博的文化和历史故事，都值得被听到，而不应该被主流叙事模式所限制而在历史洪流消失殆尽。想起自己写的第一部英文小说《The Invisible Third Cultural Adult》，正是透过边缘女性视角来讲述中国现代女留学生的故事，可以说也是受到了埃莱娜·费兰特的启发。

回想以前的友情中多多少少都会有嫉妒的成分，我们互为镜面，互相攀比，一起较劲儿成长，又彼此依恋，但也因为爱之深而生恨，甚至彼此疏远，互相逃离。感觉长大成人后才可以真正理解独特的同性友情，并且与友人达成和解，引用作者在结尾的话就是，「我希望她在场，这也是我写作的目的。我希望她来删除，来补充，我想和她一起投入地写我们的故事，按照她的灵感，她知道的、她说的，或者想的来写」。

1. 这周的观影任务聚焦纪录片《内马尔：完美乱局》和《一级方程式：疾速争胜》第四季。

看内少的纪录片有三个哭点：
- MSN回忆杀
- 疫情下球队赢得关键比赛，球员隔着外墙和场外球迷共庆（利兹联的纪录片也有类似的一段可把我哭惨了）
- 巴西被虐惨遭出局，画面切到捧杯爷爷那一霎那（RIP）

话说内马尔的爸爸很有长远的眼光，他深知足球运动员生命期的短暂，所以极力打造内马尔的品牌效应，等到儿子退役后，也完全不用为生计发愁。在这样目标的影响下，便形成了爸爸对于儿子7/24的控制，以及无时无刻不在的压力。

内马尔从出道开始被视为下一个贝利，在这样高期望之下，一旦出现任何不尽人意的表现或者负面新闻，大家都会立马把你拉下神坛踩到脚底。贝克汉姆在接受采访时还用个人经历支持内马尔的发展路径，毕竟时代不同了，球员不再是单纯踢球的运动员，而是可以全方位发展的名人，有时候场外的影响力甚至比场内更大。

《一级方程式：疾速争胜》第四季剪辑混乱重复度高，但丝毫不影响作为F1新赛季开赛前的复习资料，今年也首次尝试玩玩Fantacy F1，期待我支持的车手和车队再创佳绩！顺便推荐两部我刚刷完以及正在刷的剧集：《继承之战》和《超蓬勃：优步之战》！节奏快台词犀利，完全符合媒体从业人士和创业者的口味！


2. 我很喜欢的博主Mark Manson最近将其畅销书《The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck》的金句做成了NFT，并在BookCoin网站发行。

BookCoin旨在成为全网第一家聚焦图书NFT的网站，这次和Mark Manson合作发行了1111个NFT，拥有者可以解锁图书未发行的章节，加入独家俱乐部和课程等（感谢CY Circle小伙伴的赠送）。

试水畅销作者的NFT项目之后，BookCoin也致力于打造元宇宙图书馆，现在开放了白名单申请，届时会有发币$BKCN空投活动。暂时来看BookCoin的套路和其他NFT发行方别无二致，但看到Mark Manson作为顾问和参与方，感觉可以观望一下。

顺便再推荐一下Mark的这本畅销书！通常来讲，「自我帮助」类图书经常会教授你如何时刻保持积极的态度，追寻幸福和快乐，灌给你大量的鸡汤让你生活在一个自己编织的美好世界中。Mark Manson则用直白的语言告诉你，恒久的幸福和快乐只在童话中存在，我们需要直面问题和痛苦，并接受生活本就是一场苦旅的事实。

人需要对自己的局限性和弱点有良好的认知，这样才能在逆境来临之时知道拿什么去面对，而不是逃避或者强迫自己保持乐观。人有有限的时间和精力，所以更需要决定自己生命的优先权，对自己在乎的事情说Yes，对那些无关紧要的事情和人说一句「Fuck off」。

In life, we have a limited amount of f*cks to give. So you must choose your f*cks wisely.
- Mark Manson

3. 这周陆续给完成「30天发现真我写作活动」的小伙伴们发送了POAP，感谢大家的反馈！除非从繁忙的生活中抽出时间反思自我，不然你永远不知道什么才能让自己达到真正满足的状态。仅仅实现了当下的冲动和渴望，只会带来一时的快乐而不能为人们带来长远的幸福生活。独处和记日记便是一种投资回报比很高的反思生活的方法。今年还会陆续组织一些「自我认知」相关的活动，欢迎新朋友加入Discord一起来玩！

4. 在伦敦的时候和「大小荧屏」的主播@复洛荔思 一起录制了一期特别的播客节目，两个人一边喝着梅子酒和葡萄酒，一边畅聊我们在英语国家生活的经历。

播客讨论了：
- 80/90后受英美文化的影响
- 我们在伦敦的生活点滴和文化观察（阶级、种族、约会）
- 英美剧集和电影的相似和不同
- 跨文化交际的挑战
- 30岁教会我们的那些事儿

欢迎在各大播客平台搜索Chiwi Journal收听！

As a Chinese living in a western country working in the media industry, I found myself constantly in a dilemma to pick up my standing ground. 

Growing up and attending schools in China made me aware that state-owned media might brainwash me. I dreamed that I would go overseas and be a responsible journalist with free speech one day. However, when I stepped up in the western world and worked in journalism and public relation, I noticed that western legacy media has no less different than a propaganda machine. 

Since I consume both English and Chinese content and have first-hand experience living in the east and west, I struggle to find TRUTH because there are so many conflicting ‘facts’ and opinions towards one event. 

Take Russia and Ukraine crisis as an example. While Twitter’s sentiments are pro-Ukraine, Weibo’s sentiments are pro-Russia. Based on my observation and limited knowledge, here are a few reasons to explain Chinese netizens’ sentiments towards this crisis. 

1> China’s historical connection with the Soviet Union, especially among people from Northern China, who have a particular emotion towards Russia from personal or business relationships.

2> Geographically speaking, if Russia lost this war, it would put China into a dangerous status for lacking a powerful ally fighting against the potential threats from NATO (remember United States bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade in 1999?) 

3> The importance of the One Belt and One Road initiatives where China and Russia have established the strategic partnership on international trading (gas and mines) and agreed on One China Policy. 

4> Since Taiwan has been brought up on the table, Chinese netizens feel like the war between Russia and Ukraine is similar to China and Taiwan's situation. Therefore, it's essential to support Russia's win to showcase they have faith in China's takeover of Taiwan in the future. (Although I didn't see the logic here, we’ll save the space from discussing Taiwan in the future). 

5> Weibo has been busy deleting people’s emphatic comments towards Ukraine. Many verified accounts with millions of followers on Weibo post content to show Russia’s strong military forces and how the Ukraine government badly treated Chinese citizens in their country. In addition to that, they also shared Twitter screenshots from Indian netizens, who joined the conversation to criticise the US and Western countries' hypocrisy for their full support of Ukraine while keeping silent to the deaths caused by themselves and NATO around the rest of the world. 

6> With theTwo Sessions (NPC & CPPCC National Committee annual sessions) happening now, the Chinese media's frontline news and trending topics have shifted from covering international crises to domestic news. Economic stability is China’s top priority in 2022 based on the government report submitted to the Two Sessions. (In the following days, the state media probably direct the public’s attention to domestic issues. The CCP won’t take the financial risk to lean towards either side since Russia, Ukraine, and the EU play a vital role in the One Belt One Road initiatives). 

Let’s look at the western world.

Walking past the Consular Section of the Russian Embassy in London this week, I saw the exterior wall painted with pro-Ukrainian slogans. The entrance was heavily guarded and fenced off. Across the street, many elders were gathering together to protest Russia’s invasion and holding the signs cursing Putin. 

Browsing through the Twitter feeds, numerous ‘military experts’ start to make simple comments against Russia. They might be the same ‘medical experts’ when Covid happened. Ukraine flag emojis started to appear on people’s social media profiles, especially among non-Ukrainians. Those who have done that might have posted the black picture on their social media channels during the #BlackLiveMatters movement. 

If we look at the power battle behind this crisis, the United States and NATO are behind Ukraine’s back, and China is the strategic partner of Russia. Western legacy media and Chinese state-owned media are trying to manipulate the public’s opinion because they have the interest group to serve. Different ideologies and long-term media propaganda shape different world views. No wonder the sentiments are relevantly different on the two most representable social media channels from east and west. 

With the deteriorating of the current media environment, our news feeds are filled with unverified, biased and fake news. As a result, we no longer understand what is happening around us, and we lose the ability to make sense of our world. The hate speech, the racial tension, the religious conflict, the divided world … In today’s context, do we REALLY understand what’s going on between Russia and Ukraine? 

Nation-states and passport are very recent concepts compared to the long history of humankind. How many years do we need to trace back in history to define a country's border and agree on its independence? How much hatred is based upon miscommunications and misleading information? What shall we do as ordinary people navigate complexity?

It’s important to be an informed and engaged citizen to build a democratic society. Whether we want to participate in political talking or gain an accurate sense of the world, without media literacy, we are vulnerable to manipulation and exclusion, either directly receiving the one side story from our favourite (echo chambers) media outlets or indirectly through viral clickbait and powerful algorithm. 

A critical media literacy education is required to prevent the widespread disempowerment of people. Here are a few tips based on my journalism background and personal experiences to cultivate media literacy:

1> Understand the basic technical knowledge on how digital device and media channels work to “hack” the algorithm to meet our specific needs, such as modifying device and app/software settings for individual uses, personal security and overall well-being.

2> Review media consumption on a regular basis and exercise due diligence on information sources and platforms. Be aware of corporate journalists, social media trolls, language politics and logical fallacies.

3> Leverage the internet to access information from multiple trustworthy sources (even those reputable channels and individuals outside your country with different languages). Pay attention to cultural and historical contexts. 

4> Build up a decentralised media presence for yourself and produce and distribute the content of all types. Be a responsible curator and creator and make yourself non-cancelable. 

5> Further readings:

• Amazon Best Sellers in Media 
• Balaji’s most recommended books
• How to Gradually Exit Twitter
• Media literacy and new humanism

We pay so much attention to consuming media on a daily basis, and media literacy should be taken as a priority if we want to be responsible global citizens. I hope this article has provided your knowledge on the other side of the story and prepared you to evaluate any media you come across in the future critically. 

​

二月初在Discord上启动的「30天发现真我写作活动」即将迎来尾声。过去的30天和来自五湖四海的小伙伴们每天回答以下三个问题并分享打卡。

1. 今天让你感到兴奋的事情是什么？
2. 今天让你感到能量被消耗的事情是什么？
3. 今天学到的最重要的一课是什么？

在最后一天结业时，将「今天」换成「本月」，回顾过去30天的记录，用更长的篇幅来回答这三个问题，看看自己的能量来源和损耗点究竟在哪里，并总结这个月学到的最重要的一课。下面就来分享一下我这个月的心得体会。

1. 本月让你感到兴奋的事情是什么？
和我喜欢的朋友们一起在大自然中漫步谈心，或是一边享受美食一边聊有趣的话题；生活中发生的意想不到的种种巧合和惊喜；沉浸在写作和音乐中忘记了时间实现了心流状态。

2. 本月让你感到能量被消耗的事情是什么？
听到朋友遭遇一些我无法为之提供帮助的事情；吃太多淀粉喝太多酒没睡好觉。

3. 本月你学到的最重要的一课是什么？
勇气和自由是我最崇尚的美德，不要让面对未知时的「害怕」和「恐惧」阻止我们成为想成为的人。发现自己擅长什么又热爱什么，将自己的技能和世界需要但尚未得到的东西结合在一起，为他人和社会造福，并从中实现自我价值。尽可能地释放自己的天性，踏上未知的旅程去追求truth & beatuy。

再次感谢所有读者朋友们的参与，如果你圆满完成了30天的写作打卡任务，别忘了在Discord私信我来领取此次活动的POAP！CY Circle的付费用户还可以凭借之前发布的POAP NFT换取一对一的咨询和答疑。今年还会陆续组织一些「自我认知」相关的活动，欢迎新朋友一起来玩！点击加入！

这周正式和1729社群的小伙伴们展开为期六周的写作挑战计划！我的第一篇文章聚焦如何成为「主权个体（The Sovereign Individual）」，欢迎阅读：

20多年前，一本名为《The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age》的畅销书，为我们目前的数字生活时代定下了基调。书中首次提出了「主权个体（The Sovereign Individual）」的概念，强调随着信息技术的发展，我们所处的社会阶层也将发生变化，而主权个体就是一个新的社会阶层。

简单来讲，主权个体是可以摆脱地理位置的限制，在数字时代随时随地创造营收的一个群体。大多数人每天都过着一成不变的生活，在常规和习惯的作用下周而复始的过着每一天。但纵观历史你会发现，生活永远都是处于变动当中的，在不经意间缓慢地变化着，然后突然有一天产生了让我们大吃一惊的改变（gradually and then suddenly）。

这些变化之所以很难被注意到，部分原因是因为主流媒体仍然引领着大众舆论，导致了单一且有导向性的叙事模式。但是互联网的诞生加速了信息的传播，部分人已经意识到大众传媒的弊端，他们主动打破信息和技术的壁垒，并因此从中受益，成为拥有自主权的个体。

主权个体认为，勇于承担个人责任是通往自由和财富的道路。我们曾经处于一个标准化的社会，接受统一的教育，随大流高考/考研，进入大家公认的好单位，找到和你人生路基本相似的人，结婚生子，孩子继续重复这条道路... 这种标准化的生活方式让我们产生了依赖感，给了我们确定的道路和方向。但主权个体却不想将自己限制在这条看似为康庄大路的旅途上，他们通过主动寻求和筛选信息，跳出标准化的生活圈子，打造自己的游戏规则并建立杠杆，来实现财福双全的生活。

他们不受民族和国家主义等意识形态的影响，而是名副其实的全球主义者。现在越来越多的工作可以在世界任何一个角落通过电脑来完成，对于主权个体来说，世界就是他们的游乐场，可以选择任何一个有利于他们发展的国家和地区，并打造多种收入来源，摆脱朝九晚五的限制。

互联网本身已经形成了一个强大的经济体，并提供越来越多的沉浸式体验。主权个体可以利用互联网找到志同道合的人，不受地理位置限制联手合作开展项目（DAO），在数字环境中依靠智能合约达成协议，而不需要依靠当地政府的政策，从而实现多时区、多地区开拓收入来源，合理规避地缘政治的风险。

最关键的一点是主权个体了解到不必再通过出卖时间来获得收入，也不必受困于地点而错过机会（数字游民）。这一范式转移将使更多人摆脱朝九晚五的办公室生活，实现远程和异步工作模式。如果你想对主权个体和数字游民的概念进行深入了解的话，可以听听我的相关采访：

- 在葡萄牙数字游民小岛偶遇「煽风点火」播客主播Allison Wang，一起录制了一期可以听到大西洋海浪声音的播客
- 采访「数字游民+创建狂人」Pieter Levels
- 采访The Sovereign Individual Weekly 邮件订阅作者Doug Antin

各大泛播客平台搜索CHIWI JOURNAL即可。

1. 这两天一直担心我在俄罗斯的一位朋友，刚收到他的消息已经安全离开俄罗斯了，也算是放心了心底的一块大石。

在这动荡的时期，普通人能做的就是尽可能地帮助普通人，无论是提供精神还是物质上的支持。作为数字游民不停走南闯北的我，这几年有幸认识了很多来自世界各地的朋友，无论是组织线下见面会，或者牵线让他们彼此相识，对我来说是举手之劳的事，没想到促成了不少跨国友谊和商业合作机会。

再次体会到当你把自己的专长和社会需要的东西结合在一起，就可以和宇宙实现同频共振，造福自己也造福他人。

愿世界和平，我的朋友们都平安顺利。

2. 之前推荐过线上导师James Altucher的新书《SKIP THE LINE》（可以暂译为《插队的艺术》）。最近他把书中提到的的第八条建议「每天写下10个想法，锻炼自己的创意肌肉」做成了网站，快加入我和世界各地的小伙伴们一起来交流观点，思想碰撞吧哈哈哈！

3. 1932年，美国《纽约时报》记者沃特·杜兰蒂（Walter Duranty）凭借一系列「歌颂」苏联新政权的报道，荣获包括普利策在内的多项新闻奖项。与此同时，另一位几乎被历史埋没的记者加雷斯·琼斯（Gareth Jones），却因为深入乌克兰报道真实的饥荒问题，和杜兰蒂的报道唱反调，最终惨被暗杀。

电影《琼斯先生Mr Jones》可以作为了解这段历史往事的入门级材料，让我们了解到「没有永恒的真相，只有永恒的利益」。在杜兰蒂报道的影响下，没有人可怜那数百万被饿死的乌克兰人，因为没有人相信饥荒真正发生过。反观今天的舆论环境，传统媒体又在玩着什么样的把戏呢？

电影中的琼斯先生影响了乔治·奥威尔，并启发后者写下了著名的《动物庄园》和《1984》（真实性代考）。而这段历史也被我写进了小说，写出了女主角Nora对于媒体现状的失望和不满。当下社交媒体上假新闻横行，那回顾历史，又有多少可信度呢？

p.s. 现在有一个网站，专门列举了《纽约时报》所有的不实报道，呼吁大家屏蔽写这些虚假新闻的记者，还能mint一个BlockNYT NFT... 感兴趣自己搜搜看。

4. ℚ?????? ????? ?????? ??????? ?????? ??????????
(What Is Rightly Done, However Humble, Is Noble)
(凡是做的对的，无论多么卑微，都是高尚的)

亨利·莱斯爵士的父亲在他9岁时过世，他为了减轻家庭的经济负担小小年纪就开始工作。他卖过报纸、送过电报、修过路灯。21岁时，他成立了公司制造电器配件；26岁时，他的兴趣转向了新兴的汽车工业。不久后，便创办了劳斯莱斯汽车公司。

莱斯爵士生命前20年做的那些杂工看似毫不起眼，但实际上，他在艰辛的体力劳作中培养了对于卓越的理解。后来，他还在自家壁炉上方的墙壁上刻下了这句拉丁名言：Quidvis recte factum quamvis humble praeclarum。

世间没有什么工作或任务是卑微的。我们如何做一件事，也代表我们如何做任何事。态度决定一切，付出会有回报。

5. 2022年3月6日，第187届曼彻斯特德比在阿提哈德球场拉开帷幕，我也迎来了我人生第一场现场版的曼市德比！最终曼城4:1曼联，继续领跑英超联赛！

全场5.5万人齐声呐喊歌唱的气氛无与伦比，football chanting简直是一种堪比宗教体验的仪式（有没有学音乐的写写这个主题的论文？）！从鲁能到巴萨再到曼城，队歌总能给我带来巨大的能量！插播一则有趣的消息，上半场踢到一半，一个曼联球迷混到曼城球迷区来挑衅，然后就被追着打跑了... 亲眼见识一下英国的足球流氓！
5

More than 20 years ago, a best-selling book, The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age, introduced the concept of ‘The Sovereign Individual’ --- a group of people free from the constraints of geography and can generate revenue anywhere, anytime in the digital age.

Throughout history, our society is constantly changing, gradually and then suddenly. These changes might be hard to notice, partly because the mainstream media leads public opinion, resulting in a single and manipulated narrative. But the birth of the Internet has accelerated the spread of information. Many people have benefited from the flow of information and take personal responsibility to achieve sovereignty.

Here I am, looking out at the vast Atlantic Ocean in front of me, breathing the fresh air from early spring Lisbon, feeling the energetic vibes at a local cafe, hearing more than three different languages playing back in the background. I put my headphone on and glance down at my laptop to greet my client from the other side of the world. Looking at the beautiful scenery of New Zealand in her background, I could almost smell the homey aroma of the flat white in her hand.  
 
It’s the fourth year since I escaped the 9 to 5 corporate trap and lived as a digital nomad, working and collaborating with other like-minded people in an asynchronous way. According to the research, digital nomads rose from 7.3 million in 2019 to 10.9 million in 2020 (+49%). Pieter Levels, founder of Nomad List, predicted that by 2035 there will be 1 billion digital nomads who can enjoy the life of living and working anywhere in the world. 

As the technology and digital economy evolve, standardised paths and pace (obey school rules, follow the crowd to university or graduate school, join well-known companies or organisations, find someone who had a similar path, get married, and have children) are becoming less appealing. Instead, those who take the unusual approach or find a niche are more likely to succeed. Sovereign individuals represent the latter, actively seeking and filtering information, stepping outside the usual circle of life, creating their own rules of the game and building leverage.

With the pandemic accelerated digital transformation, the world will be a playground for sovereign individuals who can travel without restriction and earn multiple sources of income at the same time. Here is the list that helped me build a fundamental understanding of being a sovereign individual and paved my way to adopt a new way of living.

Lauren is an early adopter of remote work and has lived as a digital nomad since 2013. When I searched the history of digital nomads, her tweetstorm popped up and helped me understand the origin of  this concept. 

Her newsletter Counterflows focused on borderless living and featured the six best links on the topics to enhance people’s knowledge of digital nomads every week. Apart from that, Lauren is working on her new book Global Natives: The New Frontiers of Work, Travel, and Innovation which documents her insights from living and working across 40+ countries.

It’s the starting point to gain the general idea of digital nomads and prepare your mind to digest this concept. I’ve scheduled the interview with Lauren in April, and stay tuned for a deep dive into her works :)  

Doug is on a mission to provide people with the facts and tools necessary to successfully navigate an increasingly digital life. His weekly newsletter Sovereign Individual covered personal sovereignty, geopolitics, finance, crypto, digital transformation and all things in between. 

If you are not familiar with the concept of the Sovereign Individual, this most popular essay on his site covered the core principles of the emergent Sovereign Individual class as it stands today. 

I interviewed Doug at my podcast Chiwi Journal, and we discussed some actionable insights into the emerging opportunities and trends of the current digital transformation.

Pieter is the guy behind many products and projects. His brain baby Nomad List (1,350+ cities in almost 200 countries) and RemoteOK (5,018 jobs posted in the last 12 months) are two of my favourite sites to navigate my digital nomad life.

Do you want to know what nomads do for work? What are the fastest growing and highest paying remote jobs now? Pieter gathered the data from members and published The 2022 State of Digital Nomads and Remote Work Statistics 2022. You’ll find detailed data, including age group, nationality, hobbies and many more categories. 

Balaji has been regarded as Cassandra, a Greek mythology figure who has the gift of prophecy. He predicted the severity of the global pandemic in January 2020. He expressed his views on the future of Bitcoin and Ethereum, Network State, Startup Cities and personal freedom and wealth in a new digital world. 
 
His flagship website 1729.com used to be the first newsletter that pays you to learn technological progressives. That means people who are into cryptocurrencies, startup cities, mathematics, transhumanism, space travel, reversing ageing, and other ‘crazy’ ideas will have the space to learn and earn money at the same time. 
 
Last year, 1729 turned out to be a lecture series in virtual reality on The Network State. The goal is not limited to describing what a network state looks like but to actually BUILD the first one. I’ve attended at least five lectures and met 1729ers IRL. Applying here. ​
​
UPDATE: Balaji's new book is open to pre-order now. Make sure to get your copy! 

I usually listen to podcasts while walking or running chores. However, What's Money? show required me to sit down and make notes because it engaged in diverse deep conversations about freedom and money with deep thinkers from different walks of life that triggered my significant interests. 
 ​
As Robert mentioned, "What is Money?" is the rabbit that leads us down the proverbial rabbit hole. There are many binge-listening style series that focuses on the philosophical implications behind Bitcoin and use the first principle approach to explain the truth about money. 
 
I love the Mike Hill Series the most, focusing on moral relativism, the nature of subject-object duality, good vs evil, science vs religion, the importance of freedom, and the foundation of value and quality among human beings. 
​
The newly released The Balaji Series is also worth listening to if you are into topics like sovereignty in The Digital Age, geopolitical game theory, the future of statism, and how Bitcoin/crypto fits into the picture.

If there is one podcast I want to download and listen to EVERY episode, it is the Founders Podcast. The host David reads a biography of an entrepreneur every week and distils the essential anecdotes and themes from those remarkable people’s life, so you can find a formula or summarise the pattern and apply it to your own path.

Past episodes including Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, John D. Rockefeller, Coco Chanel, Andrew Carnegie, Enzo Ferrari, Estee Lauder, Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, Phil Knight, Joseph Pulitzer, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Henry Ford, Walter Chrysler, Thomas Edison, David Ogilvy and so many more!

Those high-performance people went through a trial and error journey throughout history, inventing and building businesses and technologies to advance human civilisation. Nothing can compare with the ROI of spending a few hours learning their lifelong lessons and applying the wisdom to create and build in the Network State.

Listening to my interview with David here. 

• The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss and The Sovereign Individual by James Dale Davidson

The digital nomad bible empowered us to know the possibility of living and working with just a laptop and a passport and achieve sovereignty. 

• The Art of Non-Conformity by Chris Guillebeau and Vagabonding by Rolf Potts

Real-life examples of self-employed travel around the world lifestyle to showcase how to turn your dream into a reality.

• Atomic Habits by James Clear and The Art of Impossible: A Peak Performance Primer by Steven Kotler

Build a good habit system to support your unsettled digital nomad life and achieve flow-state productivity. 

• Silence by Erling Kagge and Tribe by Sebastian Junger

Sometimes, digital nomad life is a solitary journey. We have to get along with solitude to refocus on prospective decision-making, rather than just reacting to problems as they arise; The other times, digital nomads need to foster a sense of belonging in a community to maintain mental health. 
​

• Balaji Srinivasan Book Recommendations

A list of books that Balaji publicly mentioned and recommended. 

READ MORE

• Review: How to Start a New Country
• Book Review: Indistractable by Nir Eyal
• Startup Cities: Will Auckland Take the Lead? (web version: https://auckland.carrd.co)

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在创作者经济蓬勃发展的当下，如何训练自己成为一名多产的创作者呢？这周读到一篇关于「创作者技艺养成」的文章，简单总结一下：

- 创作者需要将自己看作手工艺人，在自己力所能及的范围内精益求精，注重质量而非产量，并在每一次创作时立下承诺，全身心地投入到创作的过程中。

- 幸福是一种可以自由地投入到磨炼技艺并享受整个过程的流动状态。创作者在不断打磨技艺的过程中，克服重重挑战，并实现自我潜能。

- 创作者需要将自己曝光在大众视野之下，通过收集市场的反馈，随之调整自己的策略，将技能和世界所需要的东西结合在一起。

- 创作者的第一首歌，第一份稿子，第一部电影很可能像垃圾一样，但这并不重要。重要的是不断迭代产品，而不是受限于完美主义，让自己停滞不前。

- 创作者需要缩小创作范围，给大脑一个明确的指示，而不是空泛的想写一本书或者拍一部电影。刚开始创作时，最重要的是沿着你的兴趣点不断深耕，不要坐等灵感来袭，妄想一下子就能创作出惊世骇俗的作品。而是以生命为单位，在终其一生的创作的过程中完成迭代。

- 创作者需要构建一个可以支持创作的系统。首先从模仿开始，看看所属领域的排行榜（例如音乐排行榜或者推特热门转发推文），然后总结这些人之所以成功或者失败的共性。在下次创作时取其精华，去其糟粕，并收集反馈。不断重复这一过程，直到找到自己的创作风格。

- 迭代的具体操作方式是重混不同的想法，像做试验一样将各个元素混合在一起然后拿到市场上去测试。一万小时定律更应该理解为一万小时的迭代过程，在不断重复、重混、实验的过程中磨练技艺。自我设限是迭代的最大敌人，相信一切皆有可能，相信可以尝试一切。

- 世上很少有真正的原创，一切都是建立在模仿前人的基础之上。与其追求原创，不如从模仿开始，然后建立一套高频次运转的迭代系统，从而支持自己的创作过程。世上有一些亘古不变的真善美的主题，那就是我们创作的源泉，也是可以打动观众的秘方。

- 从创作者奔向手工艺人的四要素：不惧怕第一稿有多垃圾相信迭代的力量，起初根据兴趣走然后缩小创作范围，设计维持创作过程的迭代系统，试验试验再试验并享受创作的过程。

Tim Ferriss Show最新一期播客采访了加拿大国宝级作家玛格丽特·阿特伍德，老太太幽默风趣精神抖擞，全程听下来我的心情都变得轻松愉悦，简单总结一下这期内容：

- 玛格丽特·阿特伍德是斩获无数大奖的电视连续剧《使女的故事》的作者，她出版了50多本小说、诗歌、散文和连环画。她的作品被翻译成多种语言并在45个国家出版。这期播客聚焦于她的创作过程和世界观，以及她发起的「实用乌托邦 Practical Utopias」的课程。

- 玛格丽特从小在森林中的木屋长大，下雨天的时候没事情做，她就读书、写作或者画画。从来没有人教过阿特伍德如何写作，她自己在7岁时就写了一篇关于蚂蚁的小说，后来既写诗歌又写散文。阿特伍德认为写诗需要灵感，需要在情感迸发的最高点抓住时机记录感受；但是写小说是一项长期需要毅力坚持的工作。诗人常常被认作是疯子，因为他们需要强烈且刺激的体验；而小说家则依靠细水长流般地积攒生活经验。

- 今年82岁的玛格丽特依然精力充沛，她表示自己的能量来源一方面来自父母遗传（长寿又充满好奇心），一方面是因为她的星座。玛格丽特在上大学的时候接触了占星学，因为文艺复兴时期的大量艺术和文学作品中都有占星术的符号，如果想要分析那时候的作品，必须要学会该领域的知识。如果你不了解塔罗牌的内涵，那也无法理解T.S.艾略特的《荒原》。

- 玛格丽特从小就很喜欢阅读，她还记得在青少年时期，正逢乔治·奥威尔出版了《1984》。那时候的平装版封面是一个有着巨大乳沟的女人，玛格丽特差点因为这是一本垃圾书而错过了阅读这本经典巨作。玛格丽特认为她小时候读的书，对之后的写作风格有很大的影响，她一直想写一本偏向于《1984》风格的书，但是主角必须是女性。

- 玛格丽特的家庭很注重故事的重要性，大家在一起聚会时总会分享家族和个人的故事。玛格丽特之所以成为作家，是因为没有意识到自己的写作水平到底有多么烂，而周围也没有人告诉她，其实她写的很差劲，她只记得那时候每次写完文章都很开心，就这样写了16年，她的作品才逐渐被人认可，她也实现了可以依靠写作养活自己的梦想。

- 玛格丽特不喜欢别人给她贴上女性作家的标签，她认为自己远远大于这两项标签。我们当前的社会很喜欢给自己和别人贴标签，然后为了捍卫标签而互相攻击。我们的生活既广阔又充满多样性，人类不应该懒惰地把别人放在既定的框架中，而应该探索一切可能性，发现自己的无限潜能。

- 玛格丽特现在正在研究3D打印房屋，蘑菇制作的砖头和棺材，并将在不久发布NFT。让好奇心为自己领路，年龄只是一个数字，活到老学到老。

1. 和CY Circle的小伙伴聊天，他问我目前为止最满意的文章是哪一篇？第一反应是学习某足球大师曾经用过的伎俩，抖机灵地答「下一篇」。三思之后，告诉他是「Flowism: My way of living」
这也是目前为止唯一一篇做成NFT的文章，写清楚了我的处世哲学，以及「我」究竟是怎么成为了现在的我（自己意识到部分）。
之前推荐大家利用「龙虾教授」Jordan B. Peterson团队开发的self-authoring 书写自己的人生，具体执行方法在教授的新书中也有介绍，中文版马上就要出本啦！敬请期待! 未经审视的人生不值得过活，知己才是解决问题的根源。

2. 在葡萄牙时经常会发生如下对话：
同事：She works very well now!
我：Who?
同事：The printer.

酒吧员工: Isn't she pretty and taste good?
我：Who?
酒吧员工指着一瓶啤酒。

有阴阳区分的语言真是太有意思了！尤其是欧洲人讲英文的时候，会用he/she来代替那些阴阳名词，在我听来就是把器物拟人化，在使用它们的时候都多了一分尊重。此时想起日本收纳大师Marie Kondo说过的，她在整理东西叠衣服时都会小心翼翼并心怀感激，扔掉不用的东西时也会说一声「谢谢你」。器物如人，格物致知，也许简单地从轻拿轻放东西开始，也能培养我们对这个世界的同理心吧。

3. 每个人对世界的认知都残缺不全，但却形成了我们全部的世界观。
「我不知道」是比「我相信」更好的回答。

4. 如果可以穿越时空回到过去，但只能旁观不能改变，你还会选择回去吗？

5. 小小的阿威罗也像个联合国。这几天和来自哥伦比亚、意大利、立陶宛、塞尔维亚、阿根廷以及当地的葡萄牙朋友们送行趴体，还收到了他们亲手创作的礼物！葡萄牙待我不错，期待能早日再回来！

​I’m writing this newsletter on a flight from Lisbon to London. Time to get back to the Premier League stadiums and enjoy the upcoming Manchester Derby!

During the past six months, I toured around Portugal as a digital nomad and spent most of the time between Lisbon and Aveiro. Goodbye always makes my throat hurt, but I surrender to what fate leads me to the path I truly belong to. Thanks to everyone I met in Portugal for your lovely companionship and performance at those wild festivals, parties, daily encounters, and hangouts!
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On a side note, I conducted my first poem reading performance at Lovecraft Beer Lounge Aveiro with a local musician João Grillo this month. So glad to go back to the stage that I’ve been missing for so long. As a child singer, I have enjoyed stage performance since I was little and found joy in entertaining others with my talent. Stay tuned for my future appearance!
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Now, let’s get into this month’s content.

​Speaking of surrender, this month I finished The Surrender Experiment: My Journey into Life’s Perfection by Michael Alan Singer. Michael shared the miraculous story of what happened when he let go of the control of his life. He evolved from a lonely recluse to a spiritual guru of a meditation centre with 600 acres of land, developed advanced medical management software that changed the market landscape, and became the CEO of a multi-billion dollar public company.

Reflecting on my life, every time I tried so hard to get what I wanted, I always had painful experiences either in my career or relationship. Too much pain forced me to give up my plan, so I let fate guide me. And then the universe just provides me with what is really good to me, such as PR, jobs, creator path and love.

At this point last year, I certainly didn’t expect I’d be living in Portugal this year, let alone performing with a Portuguese musician and being involved with art projects that I dreamt of. While I use my rational brain to follow the conventional wisdom and force things to happen, my sensual (spiritual) brain always finds a way to remind me that I should listen more to my body and intuition and feel the signals that the universe sends.

Now I am no longer afraid of events that are difficult to explain with current science because I notice that more and more people accept this holistic worldview. I’m not special, and my experience is not unique. What I need to do is synthetic with the universal flow and be “Wu Wei (effortless action)”. The universe has a much better plan for everyone than our own short-sighted vision, so feel free to experience life and surrender to the power of the universe. Everything will come at a right time.

​One of the most rewarding things I did this month was recording a podcast with my parents.
When I was a kid, I was very close to my dad. We watched football games, played cards and games together, and travelled around the world during the summer holiday. However, after I went overseas to study, I slowly drifted away from him, thinking his generation was outdated and wouldn’t understand my ideas and thoughts. I talked with him less and less in frequency. Though I deeply love him, I don’t know what to say. 

My friend Steve launched an initiative, “Ask Dad 10 Questions,” during Chinese New Year. The purpose is to record a deep and honest conversation with Chinese dads because, in general, Chinese dads are hardly open-up, not to mention to show their feelings and vulnerability. It’s a great way to keep a family record and build a healthy father-daughter relationship. 

I never thought my dad would agree to do so, but to my surprise, he agreed immediately and contributed hours-long conversation that made me laugh and cry so much. I realised that my dad knew me very well, and it was me who shut the door and didn’t give him a chance to talk with me. He followed my writings and social media channels and tried his best to keep up with my life. I was too stupid to put my dad in the conventional Chinese father stereotype and ‘imagined’ his life and behaviours. This conversation has shown me that the fading relationship can be repaired and rebuilt as long as I drop out of my arrogance and leave the door open. 

Though everyone in my family is hype-independent and doesn’t want to interfere with each other’s life choices, it doesn’t mean we don’t need to talk and share our love through oral communication. It’s been more than three years since the last time I visited my parents in person (f***ing lockdown policy in China/NZ). A crucial fact is there are less than 40 times for me to spend time with them in person based on the current situation. I commit to every second I talk or see him, I’ll be fully presented with all my attention. Do that before my parents are still alive. That’s all I need to do.
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Here is the podcast clip I did with my dad. He never said ‘I love you’ to me, but he told me in this podcast. In the end, my mum overheard the conversation that I mentioned I used to fight with her in my teenage years. She expressed her feelings of those hard times and shared her understanding and love with me. How lucky I have them as my parents! I highly encourage you to do something similar if possible. The reward is beyond expectations. 

​Rarely has a drama portrayed female friendship with such subtlety and authenticity — I love you, but I also hate you; I will stand by you in times of crisis, but I will secretly compete with you in the hope that I’m better than you. The TV show My Brilliant Friend is adapted from one of my favourite novel collections, Neapolitan Novels, telling a woman recounts the lifelong friendship and conflicts with a girl she met at primary school in Naples in the early 1950s. 

The mysterious author, Elena Ferrante, rebels against the elite male narrative model in literature and shares the story through the narrative of a marginalised female character. She portrays the unbridgeable classes, the conflicts between generations, the unequal treatment of women, the complex emotions in friendships, and the unique Italian histories from the perspective of a Neapolitan girl… 

All classes and races deserve to be heard, and it’s our responsibility to share and keep the record of each other’s stories. The Invisible Third Culture Adult, a novel I wrote during the pandemic, tells the story from a modern Chinese international student and immigrant perspective and is arguably inspired by Elena Ferrante.

The girls ‘ hostility towards their mothers touched me most from this drama. When I was a child, I did not get along well with my mum and often blamed her for her absence. Only until I grew up and became aware of feminism did I understand motherhood’s difficulties and abandon the unequal definition of 'mother’ given by society, which led to the reconciliation of our relationship. 
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A good author can describe what you can’t put into words – she tells her story, and you find deep resonance in it.

​The Indie Hackers editorial team approached me to share a personal story as a $1,000+ Stripe-verified MRR founder.

Here is the link to my ‘not your average how-to guide but an honest journey ’ story. Enjoy!

​As a long time listener of Rebel Wisdom podcast, I benefit a lot from their in-depth and engaging conversations. This month I signed up for their 8 weeks Sensemaking 101 course to increase my skills on navigating complexity and develop my presence and discernment.
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Three weeks into the course, I enjoyed the weekly live lecturing session with thoughtful leaders and pod discussion with strangers. Here is my homework page if you are interested in my learning process.

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Answer:

I used to subscribe to Stories (《故事会》) for more than a decade. I vividly remembered one story that I read in primary school.

An old couple found a monkey’s paw in a second-hand shop. According to the description, you’d be granted three wishes with some consequences. The old guy thought it was interesting, so he wished to get two hundred dollars. That afternoon, this old couple received a notice from the factory their son was working. Unfortunately, the son died from an accident, and the compensation was precisely two hundred dollars.

The old couple were devastated and cried to the late night. At midnight, desperate, the old lady wished to bring her son back from the dead. Not long they heard a knock on the door. The old guy saw a broken and bloody man knocking on the door through the window. Just as the old lady was rushed into the door to welcome her son, the old guy immediately took the monkey’s paw and said something, at which point the door opened, and there was nothing outside but a gust of wind.

As a child, I was frightened by this somewhat macabre story and learned a lesson that be careful of what I wish for. While my wish comes true, I am likely to face unintended consequences. If I want total freedom, I have to face countless uncertainties and even say goodbye to my beloved cities and people; if I want to be a writer, I have to work hard practise my craft in solitude… 

- There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch. 
- Life never gives anything for nothing, and that a price is always exacted for what fate bestows.

You don’t know what prices others trade-off when they have something you’d envy for. So, don’t compare but focus on your own path.  

天下无不散的筵席。这周是我在VIC Aveiro Art House的最后一周，月底将暂别葡萄牙，重回英国看看球赛，he老友们相聚，曼市德比我来啦！

命运将我带到了阿威罗这个陌生的城市，而现在的我已然爱上这座有着「盐城」和「葡萄牙威尼斯」之称的小城了。记得刚来阿威罗的时候，当地朋友就告诉我，这里虽然不如里斯本和波尔图名声响亮，但却有一股独特的吸引力，凡是在阿威罗住过的人，兜兜转转总会再回到这里，尤其是会回到VIC Art House。

在这里，我和其他艺术家们一起策划了葡萄牙首届无法被定义的音乐节VAGA FESTIVAL；一起打造总在尝试新风格的先锋唱片公司VIC NIC；一起在平安夜的大雨中寻找还开门营业的酒吧，用假身份和不同的人搭话；一起在深山老林里从黄昏打碟到黎明，拿一把吉他弹唱披头士、老鹰、涅槃和枪花；一起在跨年当天带着香槟走街串巷16个小时不停歇的跳舞歌唱；一起在朋友他外婆送给外公的神秘地下影院庆祝我在葡萄牙的第一个生日；一起受邀表演节目，一起游船看落日，一起疯、玩、闹...

在这里，走在大街小巷很容易遇到熟人，然后一起挑个咖啡馆一坐就是一下午，互相交流下最近写的诗歌，八卦八卦彼此的感情生活，再聊聊哲学和历史。有时在路上偶遇音乐人朋友，当街拥抱问好后，就立马唱跳起来，引来路人一阵儿围观。我可以保证的是阿威罗的大部分市民肯定会记得那个葡语乱七八糟没事儿就爱傻乐的粉发中国女孩了。

阿威罗有着威尼斯的市景和热带岛屿的海景，有葡萄牙最地道的蛋黄甜点和鳕鱼佳肴，更重要的是有一群创意十足的音乐人和艺术家，和他们日夜相处总能在思想上碰撞出新奇有趣的火花，然后互相支持将点子们在实践中发扬光大！去年本打算做完音乐节就回里斯本过大城市的生活，没想到在我这一待就是五个月，而这五个月对我造成的影响和改变，也让我始料未及，但又顺理成章，就像上次和老爸的对话中他提醒我的那样，我从小就多才多艺，理应让这份天赋发扬光大，而不是跟随世俗的脚步压抑自己的个性。

疫情隔离期间沉浸在web3的世界中太久，甚至让我忘记了线下生活的美妙，那些真真切切能触及的到的东西，才更加真实可靠又难能可贵吧！最后再分享一则发生在VIC的小故事，不仅给我好好地上了一课，也让我再次体会到人类是有无限的潜力和勇气去面对生活的苦难，我们要相信一切都会过去的，时间可以治愈一切，活着就可以重建一切。

这周VIC新来了一个女孩，房东大叔说她两年前在VIC实习过，是个很好相处的女孩子。结果刚见面的时候她对我冷冰冰的，而且也不怎么讲话，但是和房东大叔却是异常熟络，我心想，也别热脸贴冷屁股了呀，人家不爱理我就算了呗。

今早在路上锻炼，正好碰到了在散步的她，我出于礼貌约她一起去喝个咖啡，没想到她还答应了，我约莫着估计是一场蛮尴尬的咖啡约会了，结果却是一场交心的四小时谈话。

起初刚就坐确实是有点不自在，毕竟我心里有了防御，已经把她归类到「她不喜欢我和她交谈会很费劲儿」一栏，于是没精打采地没话找话谈天气和食物，心想赶紧喝完咖啡我找个理由就跑了。也许是今天的好天气温暖了她，也许是我问的哪个问题触动了她，没想到她竟然打开了话匣子，然后我才知道她到底经历了什么，让她看上去那么冷淡。首先是去年的腿伤事故，本来是不严重的扭伤，却因为庸医作祟，打了五个月的钢板，导致肌肉萎缩甚至不能正常走路；然后是申请葡萄牙签证受阻，移民局差点儿将她列到黑名单；最后是她的妈妈三周前刚刚过世，她还处于丧亲的哀悼阶段…


我听完她的故事整个人都呆掉了，心想随便哪一件事儿落在我头上，都是一个需要时间和精力慢慢复原的事情，更别说三个事情一起来了。然后她竟然给我道歉，说对不起没有和我好好相处，但是她现在真的没有力气再认识新的朋友，还望我能多多担待。我一下子就要哭了好么，这种时候还能有同理心照顾到我的感受，而我还想当然的给人家乱贴标签。

哎，善待身边的人吧，每个人都在经受着他人所不知的苦难和挣扎，不要理所当然的认为事情总该按照自己的想法去发展。人与人交往最重要的一点就是共情能力，少一些评判，多一些理解，也是我需要时常提醒自己并学习的一课。

1. 你能想象四个陌生人第一次见面，每人花费20分钟敞开心扉分享自己的黑暗面和人生痛点嘛？10分钟自述，期间他人不得打断，就算有沉默冷场也要让分享人把这十分钟填满；然后剩余的10分钟接受其他三人的灵魂拷问！

这就是Sensemaking 101网课第一周的课后作业！首先对于这20分钟，我个人是没什么问题，让我讲一天我都能填满，别说这么短时间了。让我觉得有挑战的是同组的三个人都是「社恐」，记者出身的我面临他们的冷场和沉默又不能说话，实在是个大考验！不过这也锻炼了我的耐心和同理心，认真地听他们讲故事，了解他们面临的困境和挫折，在提问时间再把憋着的问题一吐为快。

三位社恐参与网课的目的是能更好地和自己以及他人连接在一起，忠于自己勇于表达，这会儿完成作业后都喜笑颜开，感觉自信心和交流能力都有了显著的增长，一节课就有这么大的改观，真的好期待看到他们8周后的成长和改变！

2. 脑海中印象最深的一则故事是小时候在《故事会》上看到的。

一对老夫妻在二手店淘了一只猴爪，据说对着猴爪许愿，就可以实现三个愿望，但也会因此付出相应的代价。老爷爷觉得很有意思，便抱着试试看的心态，对着猴爪许下了得到二百块钱的愿望。当天下午，老夫妻就接到儿子工作地方的通知，他们的儿子不幸死于工厂事故，抚恤金正是二百块钱。

老夫妻绝望不已，老太太立即许下了让儿子死而复生的愿望。当晚他们听到了一阵阵敲门声，老爷爷透过窗户看到了支离破碎的一个血人正在敲门，就在老太太迫不及待的冲向门口准备开门欢迎儿子的同时，老爷爷立即拿起猴爪说了些什么，此时门开了，外面除了阵阵风声，空无一物。

小时候被这则有点恐怖的故事吓到了，也深深地记住了一个道理，那就是想要得到什么的同时，肯定会付出相应的代价。我需要小心地许愿，因为在愿望成真的同时，我很可能面临意想不到的后果。

想要自由，就要面对无数的不确定性，甚至远离家乡和所爱之人；想要精进，就要几十年如一日的独处创作，甚至耳聋眼瞎也在所不辞… 世上没有免费的午餐，一切的一切都在暗中标好了价码，不必羡慕任何人，你并不知道他们为此付出了什么样的代价。

3. 一分钟的时间，在互联网上都会发生哪些事儿呢？

- Netflix用户播放40.4万+小时的视频

- Instagram用户发布34.7万+IG Story

- YouTube用户上传500+小时的视频

- 美国消费者在网上花费100万+美元

- LinkedIn用户申请了6.9万+份工作

- TikTok被下载安装2704次

- Spotify在音乐库中添加28首歌曲

- 亚马逊运送6659个包裹

- WhatsApp用户发送4100万+条信息

美国成年人平均每天花费11小时与数字媒体互动，通过移动端消费数字媒体的时长也从2011年的45分钟增长到2021年的4小时12分钟，翻了6倍。

在数字世界和物理世界逐渐模糊的当下，到底什么才是「真实」的世界呢？

4. 我看虚构作品时在意三点：
- 一是能否在故事中找到共鸣。最幸福的时候就是看到创作者能用语言或者画面把我想表达但却没能力表达出来的感情具象化；
- 二是能否赋予我探索人生的可能性。毕竟我的生命只有一次，通过文学作品可以看见更多的可能性；
- 三是能否启发我提出问题并作出解答。很多作品都饱含着作者对于所处时代和所面对问题的记录和控诉，无论是社会时政还是情感困惑，也许都能在里面找到答案。

不过也要说明的一点就是虚构作品受到篇长和时长的限制，只能是生活的浓缩，所以很多因果关系会描写的特别具体，比如说主角做了A就会有B这个结果。但在真实生活中，人并没有办法为万物归因，生活太过复杂又充满不确定性，我之所以成为现在的我，是那么多点点滴滴积累而成，完全没有办法像虚构作品那样来简单总结。如果把这些虚构作品作为生活的参考和指引，反倒很容易在生活中迷失。

又想到创作是一种主观表达自我的方式，一旦创作完成，你的作品已经不再属于自己，「一千个读者眼中就有一千个哈姆雷特」，他人的解读和评判均与你无关，重要的是自己在创作中完成了剖析自我的过程。有很多时候分析自己很难，但是创造出一个客体，然后站在上帝视角解析，一切豁然开朗。

知名职业导师Devin Martin花费1万多个小时辅导CEO级别的领导后发现，那些实现了「财福双全」的成功人士，基本都是通才。他们不会将自己限制在所谓的专业领域中，而是追随自己的好奇心，实现全面的发展，甚至培养了一些和本专业风马牛不相及的兴趣和爱好。

纵观历史，这一现象也可以在那些改变了世界的人身上看到。爱因斯坦擅长小提琴，理查德·费曼热爱打鼓，丘吉尔痴迷于油画和垒砖，乔治·华盛顿喜爱跳舞... 这些看似和他们专业领域毫不相干的爱好，反而促使他们打破常规，将不同学科的思想和技能融会贯通，实现创新和发展。

我们当前的教育系统和公司体系，总是将人们限制在一个框架当中，我们被迫按部就班的在体制内埋头苦干，甚至牺牲本该分配给兴趣和爱好的时间。如果你精通某项学科和技能，那你可以凭借这份单一的优势找到好的工作，爬到一定的职位。但是，之后呢？将你带到这个点的能力，并不能将你送到下一个目的地。于是我们看到很多人深陷于无法实现自我发展的泥潭中，郁郁不得志。

作为一名领导，如果看不到公司内各个部门的联系，就无法创造优秀的企业文化；如果看不到整个公司与所处行业的关系，就无法成为同行中的佼佼者；如果看不到所处的行业与整个市场的关系，就无法实现长久的盈利；如果看不到整个市场和人类社会的连结，就无法在全球舞台实现飞跃。而实现这一切的方法，就需要领导拥有更全更广的视角，而不是只将眼光聚焦在自己的一亩三分地之上。

史蒂夫·乔布斯将苹果公司漂亮的排版归功于他在大学期间学习的书法，并将日后的产品设计理念归功于他几十年如一日坚持学习禅宗，如果不是这些奇怪的业余爱好，他能成为行业的颠覆者吗？Devin辅导的一位独角兽公司的创始人，在空闲时间痴迷于学习一种日本结绳技术，同时也喜欢演奏贝斯，做做园艺；另一位辅导过的谷歌公司技术高管，正在攻读哲学博士学位。这些平行发展的技能，往往都会在他们的事业发展中起到意想不到的功效，无论是起到减压和增加生活乐趣的作用，还是潜移默化影响他们的思考方式。

还记得小时候的我们总会写写画画，唱唱跳跳，总能找到一些让我们忘记时间流逝的活动。长大后也会在业余时间自发主动地去做那些没有报酬也不需要他人提醒，但还是会满心欢喜去做一些事情。如果你在工作之外没有这些兴趣和爱好，那么此时你的好奇心火苗已经几近燃烧殆尽了，是时候多多尝试新鲜事物和体验，观察和记录自己的感觉，找到那些可以让你重燃内在火焰的事情了！

就像之前提到过的范式转移一样，我们大脑理性的一面不会轻易放弃对于命运的掌控权，总是利用狭隘的信息作出狭隘的决定。但我们大脑感性的一面则在后台收集超出我们认知范围的信息，我们应该花费更多的时间和精力认真追随内心，让好奇心和兴趣爱好领路。

伟大的数学家约翰·康威花费大量的时间玩游戏，在玩乐的心流状态中发展出更敏锐的洞察力，发现了「生命游戏」。为什么说艺术家比专家更善于预测未来？因为他们花费了更多的时间处于流动的状态，从而能从固定陈旧的系统中，发展出新鲜的见解。

最后要说明的一点是，沉迷于网络游戏当然也会有心流的状态，让我们忘记时间的流逝，但大多数时候却不是可以创造价值的「心流」。就像我的线上导师Tom Morgan常说的一样，人们往往误解了follow your heart/bliss的含义，如果你自大地让ego领路，但却没能结合这个世界所需的价值，那到头来还是走在一条错误的道路上。只有将自己的天赋才能，兴趣爱好和这个社会的需求空缺结合起来，才能真正地实现财福双全的生活。

1. 麦克·辛格的《臣服实验》讲述了他放手让生命掌舵后，从一位孤独的隐居者进化为拥有600英亩土地的冥想中心的导师，又开发出改变市场格局的先进医疗管理软件，最后成为数十亿美元上市公司CEO的奇迹生活。

读完后反思自己的生活，近两年选择臣服于宇宙的安排后，不也充斥着意想不到的惊喜和收获嘛？去年的此时此刻，我肯定没想到今年会在葡萄牙生活，更没想到还有机会被邀约和葡萄牙的音乐人一起合作表演！老妈看到我们的采访照片都说，你看你笑得多开心呀！

2. 有时候做点小事儿就能给别人带来巨大的快乐！我的读诗播客A Paradise of Poems最近收到一封来自印度听众的邮件，想让我在他朋友生日时，读一首他朋友曾经写的诗歌。

我觉得他想用这种方式给朋友惊喜的想法不错，于是就录制了诗歌，真没想到我的举手之劳，甚至让他感动到哭... 之前还收到过一封青少年的邮件，让我读读她写的关于女性力量的诗歌，发表以后她也是感动满满，觉得作品得到了认可，给了她继续创作的动力。

为什么说我看好创作者经济呢？一方面自己作为创作者，能和读者/听众产生这种一对一的交流和作品交换，形成了积极的正反馈，看到自己的频道能给大家带来快乐，我本身也很有满足感；另一方面作为内容消费者，能通过推广分享我喜欢创作者的内容，或者直接购买给予金钱支持，让他们可以不为生计发愁专注于创作上面，那这又实现了双赢。

所以，多多表白或者通过其他手段支持你喜欢的创作者吧，而创作者也请在能力范围内尽可能地脱离平台的束缚，做一个可以不受广告方和金主爸爸们影响的独立个体，这样才不会被无故cancel，或者创作违心的内容（说起来容易做起来难，但我已经在这条路上摸爬滚打了，希望可以早日实现终极自由！欢迎在CY CIRCLE支持我！

3. 和美国网友视屏聊天时，发现他背景贴了一幅人们穿着光鲜亮丽的黑白照片。我好奇地问他，你这照片是什么来头呀？
他说，你先猜猜这照片什么时候拍的？
我说，看这样子，应该是1920-30年代的照片吧。
他说，是1935年的一张聚会照片，你看他们笑得多开心，玩得多快乐，但是你知道照片上这些人现在都在哪吗？他们都死了。
我：......
朋友继续说，我之所以把这张照片贴在墙上，就是要提醒自己，人固有一死，不管你现在多快乐多幸福，但永远不知道下一秒会发生什么，也许你就死了。所以，活在当下，享受当下，让生命的每一秒都有意义。
我OMG一声，赶紧撸起袖子给他看我的纹身：Amor Fati, Memento Mori。
朋友大笑，说终于见到一位不忌讳谈论死亡的人了。
我给他说，我五年前就找了律师立了遗嘱，而现在也是向死而生的活着，提醒自己热爱命运的馈赠，也谨记死亡随时可能降临。
可能这也是我的勇气和力量来源吧，反正下一秒可能就挂了，那我还有什么好怕的。

4. 过年期间做过最有意义的一件事应该是参与@史秀雄Steve 发起的#老爸10问#

小时候的我和爸爸特别亲，每年暑假寒假都跟着爸爸「二人世界」走遍祖国的大江南北，但是出国之后却慢慢疏远了，觉得他落伍了，也不会理解我了。通过这次开诚布公的谈话活动，我才意识到其实我从小到大并没有什么太大的变化，还是那个独立有主见喜欢尝试各种新鲜事物的活泼孩子。爸爸妈妈了解我的品性和行为模式，而他们也一直在默默关注着我的微信和微博，基本知道我在海外的所有事情。

只不过是我单方面自以为是的把爸妈拒之门外，没有给他们和我沟通的机会，而我也没有去主动了解他们，反而把他们放在约定俗成的框架中，自以为是的觉得他们就是我「想象中」的样子。这次对话让我知道其实这层血浓于水的关系是可以修复重建的，我们家每个人都很独立自主，但这并不意味着我们不要爱意去增加这份感情。想起采访Pieter Levels时，他还嘱咐我要多和家人通话聊天，当时接着有些泪目。身体不骗人，我的内心深处肯定是渴求和爸妈的深层次交流的。所以应该多给爸妈了解我的机会，自己也会多付出时间了解他们的想法，给予他们应有的支持

几个小时的对话最后抽取了一个片段和大家分享一下，听听我爸妈的山东口音以及他们对我的教育方法吧哈哈哈！

When I interviewed Pieter Levels on my podcast, we discussed the unbalanced ratio between male and female indie hackers. We understand the importance of having a role model or referencing other people’s stories on our making and building journey. Since there are not many female founders stories, I’d like to take this opportunity to share my journey and lessons learned along the way.

Unlike many tech-savvy IHers, I was trained in marketing and communications. I started my career as a part-time journalist while studying in New Zealand. I got a full-time job offer with a big corporate as a social media specialist and then switched to the finance world to focus on content creation, PR and community management.

Since I was a non-native English speaker living in an English-speaking country, I worked extremely hard (12- 14 hours a day) to prove myself and learned the rules of climbing corporate ladders. I got financial rewards and social proof from friends and colleagues often. So I pushed myself even harder at the workplace to get more recognition.
​
I had entered a vicious cycle that I wasn’t even aware of. It was like a drug I became addicted to.

Luckily enough, my body warned me after two years of workaholic lifestyle: I had severe eczema. My doctor told me I had to stop working day and night without rest. Otherwise, I could die. Naturally, I was scared and quit my job immediately.

I organised a gap year for myself, toured around the U.S. and China, and used my savings to enjoy material goods. Those leisure times were a temporary cure that didn’t bring me any long-term fulfilment. After a half year of travelling and ‘enjoying’ life without doing any actual work, I ran out of money and fell into depression.
​
While I was staying at my parents’ home, my former manager contacted me to join her at a bank. I accepted straight away and treated this opportunity as a lifeline in the darkness. Working in a corporate environment again, however, didn’t save me at all. I was grateful for the opportunity, but it eventually pushed me into an abyss. I threw myself into alcohol and parties to find happiness and began to have panic attacks.

​Around the same time, I came across Tim Ferriss’ The 4-Hour Workweek and James Altucher’s podcast. They inspired me to start my side hustles and embrace my inner creativity.

Ever since I was a child, I have practised singing, drawing, writing, dancing, and calligraphy. I even published my first novel in primary school. Writing and artistry are embedded in my DNA, but these are not accepted as a typical path in society. So I stopped doing those things I love and dedicated myself to the socially-accepted way of living: attend a good school, find a good job, work hard to get a promotion, get married, have a baby, and raise a good kid to repeat your path… I understand that people have different approaches, and some may enjoy this way of living. But it’s not for me. This is a hard lesson I learned about myself till I was 30.

Once I realised that I needed to embrace my inner creativeness, I started a newsletter and podcast in 2018 to replace partying and drinking. I wrote about my life living abroad as a Chinese international student and offered career tips from my own experiences. When I devoted my working ethics to what I really loved, the results didn’t lie. My follower and subscriber base grew slowly, but steadily.

Reinvigorated by these early successes, I bootstrapped a content consultancy company to work with founders and solopreneurs. Many of my business-owner friends and networks witnessed how I leveraged original content to gain exposure and form an engaged community. They frequently asked me for tips on doing that. So why not make a living from it?

Running a business, however, was way more complicated than I thought. Apart from delivering the actual work, I have to deal with accounting, tax and many other chores. Though I didn’t enjoy the operational aspects as much, I eventually earned enough money to quit my corporate job.

In July 2019, I moved from New Zealand to the U.K. to start a new chapter of my life. My original plan was to find clients in London, work on weekdays, and watch Premier League football games or travel around Europe on weekends. Half a year into this new life, the pandemic demolished my dream.

I was lockdown in a new country, alone, and without a stable income. I didn't have financial or mental support during the pandemic. I was anxious and worried. The only silver lining was seeing my side hustle grow rapidly as more people were stuck at home and had more time to read and listen to my newsletter and podcast.

While lockdown was challenging, it proved to be a gift in disguise. It provided me with solitude and time to reflect on myself. I kept morning journals, walked 10,000 steps every day, learned new skills (coding and design) and published a memoir in Chinese and one novel in English.

One day in 2021, I came across Pieter Levels’ work on Twitter and realised the digital nomad lifestyle would be perfect for someone like me! So I joined Nomadlist and started to work remotely with clients from China, New Zealand, and the U.K.

2022 marks the fifth year of my content creation career. Here are the results at a glance:

• 150,000+ followers on Weibo (Chinese Twitter)
• 7,000+ subscribers on WeChat (¥13,000+ RMB in revenue)
• Almost 1,200 people subscribed to my English newsletter Chiwi Journal after 6 issues.
• CY Circle with 50 paid customers within 5 month ($14,000+ in revenue ).

Looking back on my journey, I can’t say I’m successful since I haven’t achieved financial goals as other IHers did. But I can say I’m happier and more at peace, and enjoy the process I’m going through.
​
Here are three crucial lessons I learned along the way：

I recommended an interview on Whole-Body Intelligence in my annual letter to readers in 2021. Embodiment expert and author Philip Shepherd says:

Another famous example is George Soros and his back pain. His back hurt when his portfolio was positioned poorly because "bodily sensation is a key indicator of unconscious dissonance; of when your intellect is missing something important from the outside world".
​
We usually talk about the importance of mental health among founders but rarely mention the necessity of body intelligence. As builders and makers, we rely on our decision-making process to provide services and products to the world in need. When we are surrounded by noise and overloaded information, it's time for us to listen to our body (or gut feeling) and develop the ability to intellectually interpret body sensations and take action accordingly.

Recently, I interviewed David Senra, the host of one of my favourite podcast shows, Founders. In the interview, he summarised three common traits based on 200+ founders' biographies he read: Self-faith, persistence, and focus.

There is no such thing as smooth sailing in life. For someone who moves countries and changes careers every couple of years, I could speak non-stop about all difficulties and setbacks I've encountered. However, I understand I couldn't become who I am today without everything I experienced and everyone I’ve met. I always have a strong faith in myself because I trust the process. As long as I keep doing what I love — such as writing, involving in creative projects and interacting with people — I will win this lifelong game with a peaceful mind, healthy life, and good relationships with others.
​
As Naval said, find something that feels like play to you but looks like work to others. I don’t believe using willpower can help you walk too far, but the energy inside you (e.g. motivations and self-drive) will guide you along the way. In Chinese, luck — 运气 (yun qi) — literally means to convey/transport your energy/spirit. I've been studying Eastern philosophy since I was young. I feel like luck will come around when we know how to use our energy/spirit wisely. We have to be laser-focused to generate energy/spirit. Consistent hard work is when we fully use that concentrated energy in dedication to our work.

When we trust our intuition or follow our bliss, our left brain often won’t give up the control of providing us with certainties. Modern society gives us a sense of security, telling us that we will have everything if we follow the standard path. But this ‘everything’ is not suitable for everyone. We are trapped in the mimic desire and get distracted by other people’s lifestyles and paths, especially on social media. If we want to feel ‘secure’, we have to give up the life we truly ‘deserved’. Just as Joseph Campbell said, 

As the number of entrepreneurs and IHers grows, more and more people start to ditch the conventional road and pursue their true callings. The biggest question we need to answer is whether we are brave enough to follow our interests, step into the unknown, and cultivate our own path.
​
I’m on this road and hope to see you around :)

This article is originally posted on Indie Hacker

之前发表过三篇英文播客推荐文章（第一弹，第二弹和第三弹），今天再来推荐总结下其他优质的频道。

REBEL WISDOM PODCAST

这是线上导师Tom Morgan给我推荐的一档播客节目，由英国广播公司和第四频道的电影制作人大卫·富勒和作家亚历山大·贝纳联合创立。

两位创始人认为，人类目前正面临一场文明层面的思想危机，旧秩序和旧思想已经无法适应当前的社会发展，在新事物层出不穷的当下，我们需要用一种变革性的思维模式来提升自我意识，并通过开诚布公的探讨和对话，找到一种理解世界的新共识。

播客内容涉猎广泛，从影视娱乐到地缘政治，从艺术人文到生物科技，同时Rebel Wisdom还开设了不少线上研讨会和课程。我刚刚加入了他们为期8周的课程《Sensemaking 101》，通过与思想家、哲学家和心理学家交流探讨，从而提高自由主权意识，发展就重大课题展开逻辑讨论的技能，为实现创造新文化新文明打下基础。

​INFINITE LOOPS  PODCAST

当我们试图理解一件事情的时候，经常会陷入一种无限循环的怪圈当中。市场跌跌涨涨，历史不断重复，我们总会在兜兜转转后，又回到了原点。这档播客节目旨在教会我们如何重新学习，重新思考，跳出怪圈，避免陷入无止尽的无限循环当中。

主播吉姆·奥萧纳西（Jim O’Shaughnessy）是知名资产管理公司OSAM的创始人和主席，也是多本投资类畅销书的作者。他通过采访来自不同文化和背景的人（包括历史、哲学、艺术、科学、科技和金融圈等），帮助我们成为一个更好的投资者，形成拥有全面世界观的思考者。

p.s. Jim采访Tom Morgan的两期播客应该是去年对我影响最大的内容了。Jim的儿子Patrick O'Shaughnessy主持的聚焦商业和投资的播客也十分推荐：https://www.joincolossus.com/ 

INDIE HACKERS PODCAST

自从成为自由职业者之后，Indie Hackers就成了我最常光顾的网站之一。在这里我知道了「创作者经济」和「数字游民」的概念。混圈子久了，我也成为了IH的供稿人，也因此结识了我很欣赏的创建狂人Pieter Levels，然后成功邀约他在我的播客Chiwi Journal聊了聊我感兴趣的话题。

如果你也想成为自由职业者或者数字游民，或者在业余时间搞搞副业赚点零花钱，那从这档节目中，你将得到不少有用且相关的知识。

WHAT IS MONEY?

如果今年只能听一档播客的话，那非这档播客莫属。主播Robert Breedlove是我见过的最多产的深度思考者。他拥有金融和哲学背景，投身比特币之后，开启了这档聚焦「比特币背后哲学」和「第一原则揭示金钱概念」的播客：What's Money?

最近他一次性放出七集和Balaji的访谈节目，Balaji知识之渊博，分析之透彻，让我这个喜欢平行时间听播客的人，都不得不坐下来认真边听边做笔记。而他采访艺术概念和创意总监Mike Hill的系列播客节目，也让我听了不下三遍。

他们就《禅与摩托车维修艺术》的作家罗伯特·皮斯格的另一本书《莱拉：道德探究Lila: An Inquiry Into Morals》进行了探讨。这本书可能是有史以来最被低估的著作之一，因其晦涩的关于形而上学质量（The Metaphysics of Quality，MOQ）的概念让普通人退避三舍。MOQ揭示了现实不是由物质组成的，而是由不同的价值模式构成，为我们人类一直纠结的「什么是真实的现实」问题提供了新的启示。播客还就主客体二元性的本质、善与恶的对立、科学与宗教的关系、以及自由和行动的重要性等相关哲学话题进行了探讨。

FOUNDERS PODCAST

去年我的灵感缪斯Richard给我推荐了一档付费的播客节目Founders，毫不夸张的说，我下载并听完了96%的节目，因为每一集都是一个关于创始人的故事。

主播David Senra每周分享阅读传记的读后感，并整理为我们可以学习借鉴的知识。纵观历史，很多聪明人都在不断试错的道路上奋发图强，发明创造可以推进人类文明进步的业务和技术。他们中的一些人将经验集结出书，让我们这些后辈花费几个小时的时间，就可以学到他们毕生的经验。

我也有幸采访了主播David，本来预约了一个小时的时间，结果我们这俩书虫第一次Zoom见面就聊了两个多小时，而且还意犹未尽。在采访中，David提到了他阅读250多本名人自传后总结出成功人士的四大特质：
- 有异乎寻常的自信心
- 专注、专注、再专注
- 持之以恒，不轻易放弃
- 给自己放空的时间

推荐这档节目给创业人和创作者，以及喜欢听故事的人们！

THE JORDAN B. PETERSON PODCAST

关于龙虾教授就不用过多介绍了吧，我参与翻译的他的新书《Beyond Order》今年也要出版啦！敬请期待！

教授认为传统媒体已经没落。尤其对于年轻人来说，大型电视台、报纸和杂志社产出的东西已经与他们完全无关。人们完全可以从社交媒体等新型媒体上面找到自己想要的信息，甚至直接与内容创作者进行对话。传统媒体中的采访都有剧本，你不是在听一个人说话，而是在看背后整个团队的表演。但播客却可以让你可以直接听到主播和嘉宾在几个小时内发表自己的看法和言论。播客为人们带来了一种真实性和亲密感，没有人可以连续做多期节目而不暴露真实的自我。

AUBREY MARCUS PODCAST

最早听Aubrey的播客，是因为喜欢他聚焦商业和健康的知识。最近几年，Aubrey自己也实现了转型，更加聚焦灵性的发展，也终于结束了长期混乱的亲密关系实验，有了稳定的终身伴侣。

Aubrey通过分享亲身使用「草药疗养」的经历，或者采访在该领域的研究者，向我们展示生活和现实的另一种可能性。你可以不相信，也万万不要上瘾，但请保持一颗开放的心态，去感受那些远古的智慧和仪式。让自己感受这流传了千年的神奇药物，给自己一个大开眼界的机会。

CHIWI JOURNAL PODCAST

最后，当然要毛遂自荐下自己的节目。从去年正式开始做英文节目以来，不仅锻炼了英文表达能力，也因此结识了一众尚未谋面但特别聊得来的嘉宾。无论是采访我在数字游民旅程中遇到的朋友，还是与我的线上导师进行对话，都让我在学到感兴趣知识的同时，对自己有了更深刻的了解。

当我跟随着兴趣去体验生命，生命也随之派来一位位老师，在对的时机教会我重要的课程，让我的生活丰富多彩又好运纷呈。如果你也是生活在海外的留学生或者数字游民，对前沿科技和文学哲学感兴趣，那这档节目肯定对你口味！

小活动：
​之前搞过一个21天写作打卡群，这个月受到作家Alex Banayan 的影响，准备搞一个小型的30天发现真我的群。

规则：
每天拿出至少五分钟回答以下三个问题
- 今天让你感到兴奋的事情是什么？
- 今天让你感到能量被消耗的事情是什么？
- 今天学到的最重要的一课是什么？

30天坚持写下这三个问题的答案（理想状态是买个新的笔记本，每天睡前花费15分钟左右思考并回答），并在群里打卡（不用分享你写的内容，自己对自己诚实就可以了）。

最后一天「毕业典礼」找一个环境优美的地方，从头到尾回顾这30天写下的所有内容，并回答以下三个问题：
- 这个月让你感到兴奋的事情是什么？
- 这个月让你感到能量被消耗的事情是什么？
- 这个月你学到的最重要的一课是什么？

通过这30天的练习，基本可以发现什么可以激发自己的兴趣，又是什么一直在耗损能量。当然，这个练习不是一劳永逸的解药，发现自我需要一生的时间，这只是其中一个简单的方法罢了，如果你觉得可以坚持，欢迎加入打卡群：
- 群在Discord上，请确保可以登陆，?https://discord.gg/wCBmANJjrE
- 加入后在「30天写作打卡」打个招呼做个自我介绍
- 2月7日正式开始，结业的时候给坚持下来的朋友们发个POAP纪念一下?