A word from Epictetus

From the opening chapter of Epictetus', The Enchiridion:

Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are our own actions. Things not in our control are body, property, reputation, command, and, in one word, whatever are not our own actions.

The things in our control are by nature free, unrestrained, unhindered; but those not in our control are weak, slavish, restrained, belonging to others. Remember, then, that if you suppose that things which are slavish by nature are also free, and that what belongs to others is your own, then you will be hindered. You will lament, you will be disturbed, and you will find fault both with gods and men. But if you suppose that only to be your own which is your own, and what belongs to others such as it really is, then no one will ever compel you or restrain you. Further, you will find fault with no one or accuse no one. You will do nothing against your will. No one will hurt you, you will have no enemies, and you not be harmed.

Aiming therefore at such great things, remember that you must not allow yourself to be carried, even with a slight tendency, towards the attainment of lesser things. Instead, you must entirely quit some things and for the present postpone the rest. But if you would both have these great things, along with power and riches, then you will not gain even the latter, because you aim at the former too: but you will absolutely fail of the former, by which alone happiness and freedom are achieved.

Work, therefore to be able to say to every harsh appearance, "You are but an appearance, and not absolutely the thing you appear to be." And then examine it by those rules which you have, and first, and chiefly, by this: whether it concerns the things which are in our own control, or those which are not; and, if it concerns anything not in our control, be prepared to say that it is nothing to you.

The full text can be read here.

You are Enough

You are enough.


You lack nothing.


You are flexible, and responsive to change.
You revel in life, and fear no failure.


You look out on the world, and see abundance.
You look within yourself, and see abundance, too.


You are open to possibilities--that hard times are temporary.
That change is an opportunity, and might lead to good.


That obstacles are fuel for happiness.


You let go of the need for control,
Allowing things to find their level.


You have nothing to prove,
And are worthy of friendship and love.


You have the capacity to be courteous and kind;
Patient and peaceful; attentive and brave.


Nothing fazes you;
Each moment is your teacher.


By doing less, you achieve more;
A superfluous point, but a useful one.


Because in the end,
At the root of it all;


You are enough.

Advice from a stranger

I came across this interesting thread on Bogleheads today, involving a young man who studied English in college, spent the last year and change paying off debt, and wonders how he can stop feeling so depressed about his finances.

Having read the entire thread, I thought I would share a response by the user named "BlueJello," 

(S)he writes:  

The best thing I can tell you is that things can and do change incredibly fast. Where you are right now is almost certainly not where you will be in 5 years or even 1 year. You are doing everything right — you are saving, you are paying off debt, you are looking for opportunities to grow your career. You sound smart and hardworking, and even though you're a complete stranger on the internet I would bet on you.

You asked "what/who should I be comparing myself to, if not others"? The answer is simple. Compare yourself to the past version of you. Focus on the fact that you are getting better — smarter, stronger, richer — every single day, month, year.

Think back to how you felt a year ago when you had $32k of debt. Didn't that feel crushing and overwhelming then, like you were never going to pay it off? Well, you've almost paid it off now!

Think back to how you felt before you landed your $45k job. Remember the anxiety, the pain of the job-hunting process, how nervous you were before interviews. Wouldn't that past version of you be super grateful to have the job you have now?
Think back to the person you were before you learned so much about personal finance and investing, how clueless and helpless you felt. Think about how totally impressed that person would be with the financially savvy present you.

Now think about the future. In a few months, you will have $0 debt. You will move out of your parents home. Think about how good that will feel. After that, you will get a raise or find a better paying job or pick up some freelancing work on the side. Your savings account will grow. First it will be in the hundreds, then thousands, then tens of thousands. You'll get another raise, or an even better job. Maybe technical writing will turn into your own business. Your income will grow even further, and along with it your confidence. All of this will happen to you, and it will happen a lot faster than you think.

In other words, try changing the narrative that you have about yourself in your head. As an English major, you should appreciate the importance of the narrative. Facts are facts but how you choose to look at the facts makes up your story, and the power of a good story is immense.

Right now your narrative goes something like this: "I am such an idiot for getting this useless degree in English, it's not worth the paper it's printed on. I am so far behind all my peers. They have awesome lives and my life sucks. I live with my parents, I have no money, I am a loser. Woe is me." 

But what if you were to reframe your narrative? Try this: "I have paid off $32k of student loan debt in one year!! Holy cow, I am so awesome. I should be featured on the cover of Responsible Young Adults magazine. AND as if that wasn't enough, I've also found a career path that I enjoy and that I'm effing good at! What an incredibly productive year 2014 has been. I can't wait to see what good things will lie ahead for me in 2015."

Keep an open mind

It is sometimes difficult to be optimistic about the future when times are not the best. And yet, very often, it is an optimistic attitude that lifts us above a stubbornly negative mood. Without any change in present circumstances, the mere shifting of our outlook makes a half-empty glass look half-full; a partly-cloudy sky, partly-sunny; and a period of struggle, an opportunity for growth rather than a set-back or a defeat. 

There is also the idea of suspending judgment--that is, submitting no interpretation to ourselves as final, to the extent it is possible to do so and still live our lives. We experience something as "bad," and yet wonder how we are to know if its subsequent consequences are also bad. One could say the same of things we experience as "good;" how are we to know it is "good," as our initial judgment claims? In either case, there is no telling what will come of it all, hence the old Taoist story: 

Let's keep an open mind then, shall we? 

Double in ourselves?

“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense." -Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

"It is the mind that maketh good or ill, that maketh wretch or happy, rich or poor."
- Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592)

I sometimes find it hard to follow Emerson's advice above. It is a simple thing, really, to treat each day in isolation from the "... blunders and absurdities" that we daily commit. Even as we assume the past has no physical reality, still it plays on our mind through memory and experience. We draw on things past to help us do and understand things in the present; for example, how to read, or ride a bicycle, or the route we take to work. We remember that drinking tea can often be a pleasurable experience, or that eating certain foods almost always leads to unpleasant moments on the toilet (or what folks at my old university used to call them, "Wismer-shits").

So perhaps there is some value in drawing on the past for the sake of the present. Yet sometimes the past infects a mind with images that render it helpless or severely morose in the present. We see our follies, berating ourselves rather than drawing lessons from them. We take an activity with potential utility--looking backward for ideas about the present--and instead make it an exercise in fashioning negative ideas about ourselves. Our "old nonsense," as Emerson puts it, does nothing more than supplement the new nonsense we daily produce. It would seem that one day's follies are enough; why add to them with those we have already carried?

And so I think Montaigne gives reasonable advice, maybe;echoing that of Shakespeare-through-Hamlet, and no doubt others. Our thinking makes us sick or well, in a mental sort of way. That at its root, we do not need protection from the past, but rather from the mind that uses the past to assail our present. We are double, as Montaigne says elsewhere, in ourselves. Our mind makes us well, and our mind makes us ill.

Maybe.

Can exercise protect the brain against depression?

It's possible, according to a new study on the subject by a team at Sweden's Karolinska Institute. Alex Hutchinson over at Runner's World does a good job reviewing it, in particular his description of how exercise might serve to prevent depression: 

"Depression is very complex and multi-faceted, so there are likely lots of different factors involved. But the particular pathway identified in the new study is sort of the opposite of the chemical-produced-in-the-brain hypothesis. Instead, it appears that there's a chemical called kynurenine produced mainly in the liver in response to stress that then travels to the brain, where it's linked to (among other things) neuroinflammation, cell death, and depression. Exercise causes your muscles to increase levels of a protein called PGC-1alpha1, which in turn leads to higher levels of an enzyme that converts kynurenine into kynurenic acid – and the key difference is that kynurenic acid is unable to cross the blood-brain barrier, so (unlike kynurenine) it can't get into your brain and wreak havoc. 

So the short version is: stress produces kynurenine which may lead to depression, but exercise helps you convert kynurenine into a harmless substance, leaving you more resilient to stress-induced depression."

It's an interesting hypothesis, and not an obvious one.

The full review can be read here.

Various perspectives of China

Max Fisher of Vox published an interesting analysis today of what he terms, "The single biggest misconception Americans have about China." He writes:

There is a fundamental gap between how Americans perceive China and how China's leaders perceive China. That gap is as wide as the Pacific Ocean and it is crucial for understanding what's happening in Hong Kong today and how China's leaders will respond to it. 

Americans see China for its strengths: its massive size, powerhouse economy, exploding growth, miraculously expanding cities, booming industries, and growing influence on the world. Even the fact that many Americans see China as a threat is ultimately a compliment to the country, treating is as a near- or soon-to-be-equal.

Chinese leaders (and most Chinese people, for that matter) have a view of their country that could not be more different. They see their country and government as so weak, so embattled by existential threats from without and within, that the possibility of chaos and collapse is seen as immediate and omnipresent.

The full piece can be read here.