July was another eventful month. We’re in a recession that we’re trying not to call a recession. Manchin shocked us all in an unexpected party-line agreement on a climate/tax/healthcare bill and stripped McConnell of his leverage to block the CHIPS bill. And JLo and Ben got married and made all my dreams come true! 😍
On a personal note, this has been a bonkers busy month. I am studying for the GRE Exam, which has consumed almost all my free time outside of trying to have some semblance of a personal life. I take the test in September so August will be much of the same.
Tunes
On My Radar
“Human arrogance is not a container for God, nor will it ever be.” — Marianne Williamson
“The problem with perfection is that it is mythical, it is an imaginary pathway that, with enough time, will lead back to sorrow. Being attached to perfection is not only a refusal to accept the ups and downs of reality, but also a manifestation of the craving to control.
Life is not a straight and unbreakable line, it is choppy, unpredictable, and is more similar to waves and the movement of tides.
And much of it is out of our control. Giving external events a high degree of importance over how you feel inside will lead you far away from happiness.”
— Yung Pueblo
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“We cannot know love if we remain unable to surrender our attachment to power, if any feeling of vulnerability strikes terror in our hearts.” — bell hooks
“I have striven not to laugh at human actions, not to weep at them, not to hate them, but to understand them.” — Baruch Spinoza, Tractatus Politicus, 1976
“When I was a teenager I wished for world peace, but now I yearn for a world in which competing ideologies are kept in balance, systems of accountability keep us all from getting away with too much, and fewer people believe that righteous ends justify violent means.” — Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind
The Perfect Way is only difficult
for those who pick and choose;
Do not like, do not dislike;
all will then be clear,
Make a hairbreadth difference,
and Heaven and Earth are set apart;
If you want the truth to stand clear before you,
never be for or against.
The struggle between “for” and “against”
is the mind’s worst disease.
— 8th century Chinese Zen master Sen-ts’an
“Life isn’t just about what happens to us; it’s about who we choose to be within the space of what has happened to us.” — Marianne Williamson
“The people of every country are the only sage guardians of their own rights and are the only instruments which can be used for their destruction. It is an axiom in my mind that our liberty can never be safe but in the hands of the people themselves.” — Thomas Jefferson
What I’m Watching
All I have had time to watch this month are GRE Test Prep videos from GregMat Plus, but here is his free YouTube channel.
What I’m Reading
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt
The Official Guide to the GRE General Test (Power Pack) by ETS
Videos I Published
I published three original YouTube videos this month. The most recent video on the 5 books that will change your life is probably my favorite video on my channel so far. 🤓
P.S. If you’re not already subscribed to my channel, please do so!