230722 What I learned in my studies this morning 3

Balls fall through the air

Juggling my life and purpose.

Perfect the pattern.

Thoughts:

Many things in the air today.

Lack of sleep last night. Ultimate with my kid. A friend's party. Day 4 of fasting (which I plan to break at the party). Reading to do. My country's 500th anniversary to plan, my wedding to arrange, my wife to murder and Guilder to frame for it; I'm swamped.

At least these things are good things. (Thank you, autocorrect; I did, indeed, not mean to type 'thongs' there.)

Even the ostensibly bad thing, lack of sleep, is a good thing when I examine it and recast my judgment of it. It's a chance to test my coping strategies, see which work best, and refine them for the better. (Buying out Starbucks' inventory of cold brew is a strategy, right?)

One of the things I'm hoping to do today is to choose the next book to read with my second child. We just finished How to Think Like a Roman Emperor. They enjoyed it and learned a lot of practical applications of Stoic psychology.

For our next lesson, I'm leaning toward Memorize the Stoics by Kevin Vost because it would do two things for them: (1) it would continue their training in Stoic philosophy and (2) it would reintroduce something I tried to teach them a long time ago — memory techniques to improve their retention of not only this material, but all others as well.

My concern is that, if I continue to 'harp on' Stoicism, will they burn out? Perhaps I should pivot to some other topic for a spell and return to Stoic thought on the next go round.

If not Memorize, I could try to teach them to write well. Oh how I'd love to give them that ability, but I know what skill I have I've garnered through many years of practice. Plus, I (think I) know they don't enjoy writing and that may make extended efforts along those lines painful and counterproductive.

Perhaps I'll let them follow their younger sibling's lead and introduce them to Leil Lowndes' How to Talk to Anyone....

Yes! That will work. I think they would both enjoy that (because it's so much easier than philosophy) and find it useful. I'll go with that.

Thanks, me, for helping me figure that one out.

Today's Meditation: