Sunday Supplement #156 (May 5th, 2024)
Below is another Sunday Supplement with a quote worth sharing, a book worth reading, a movie worth watching, brainfood worth consuming, and a spiritual passage worth pondering.
Please take something away from these recommendations that enriches your week ahead!
Quote of the Week:
“The most intense conflicts, if overcome, leave behind a sense of security and calm that is not easily disturbed. It is just these intense conflicts and their conflagration which are needed to produce valuable and lasting results.”
– Carl Jung
Book of the Week:
Ikigai – Héctor García and Francesc Miralles
I kept passing Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Healthy Life when I went to Barnes and Noble. The self-help book is an international bestseller, selling over 2 million copies.
I finally picked up the book and found the concept of ikigai— a reason for living — what you love, what you’re good at, what you get paid for, and what the world needs all overlap.
The book’s authors interviewed residents of a Japanese village with the highest percentage of 100-year-olds and delved into the secret of their longevity.
I found some of the concepts explored in the book well-worth reading. That being said, the book came off as oddly mashed together. The chapters didn’t flow, and some worked while others didn’t.
Ikigai is a book that I’d recommend to people new to the self-help genre or interested in picking out some of its worthwhile chapters.
Movie of the Week:
Jared and Jerusha Hess wrote the 2004 cult classic Napoleon Dynamite. Jon Heder became a breakout star in the leading role of Napoleon.
The movie follows a socially awkward sixteen-year-old high schooler who lives with his grandmother and older brother in Preston, Idaho.
Napoleon helps his new friend run for class president, awkwardly pursues a romantic interest, and deals with bullies.
Napoleon Dynamite wasacquired by Fox Search Searchlight Pictures at Sundance and made $46.1 million at the box office from a $400,000 budget.
I appreciated Napoleon Dynamite because it depicted the awkwardness of high school dynamics and the underlying desire for people to succeed.
Brainfood of the Week:
A West African Philosophy of Calm | The School of Life
This video focuses on the Yoruba people of West Africa’s concept of “itutu.” The Yoruba people inhabit Nigeria, Togo, and Benin, and they believe one of the most flattering ways to describe a person is to say they have much itutu.
Itutu denotes a particular approach to life: unhurried, composed, assured, and unflappable. It isn’t a divine gift. It is a quality that can be cultivated. It’s a particular view of existence.
The Yoruba people believe agitation and anger flow from an overambitious sense of what lies in our power to alter. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t feel emotions, but your response should be in your power.
I’ve featured around a dozen The School of Life videos in previous Sunday Supplements. They make content from psychologists, philosophers, and writers devoted to helping people lead calmer and more resilient lives.
Closing Spiritual Passage:
“By not wanting, there is calm, and the world will straighten itself.”
– Tao Te Ching 37
Lao Tzu was a Chinese philosopher and author of the Tao Te Ching, which became a foundational text of Taoism.
In this verse of the Tao Te Ching, the Way “the Tao” is shown to be something that should be effortless or, at the very least, something you shouldn’t fight.
I’m reminded of how often we can struggle against what happens to us at any given moment. Instead, accepting the present moment brings with it a sense of calm.
By not wanting anything else in the current moment, you are free to enjoy the moment or respond to your situation.
Seek the calmness in being present, do not deny the current moment, and have a blessed week ahead!
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