Skip to content

Tag: wisdom

Aldous Huxley, Love in the Time of Cholera, Seven Samurai, The School of Life, and Surah Al-Baqara 2:286

Sunday Supplement #79 (November 13th, 2022)

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.

I hope you take something away from these recommendations that enriches your week ahead!

Quote of the Week:

“Experience is not what happens to you; it’s what you do with what happens to you.”

– Aldous Huxley

Book of the Week:

Love in the Time of Cholera – Gabriel García Márquez

The Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriel García Márquez wrote many acclaimed works and has received much recognition for his contribution to literature and journalism.

Love in the Time of Cholera is one of Márquez’s better-known novels and focuses on two lovers over five decades, from the 1880s to the 1930s.

The story focuses mainly on an unnamed port city in Colombia and follows the lives of Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza.

They both fell in love when they were young, but Fermina eventually chose to marry a wealthy, upper-class doctor with some pressure from her family. Fifty years later, after Fermina’s husband’s death, Florentino declares his love again.

Love in the Time of Cholera has much depth in its pages. Many themes around love and aging are beautifully explored and well worth checking out.

Movie of the Week:

Seven Samurai

Akira Kurosawa received an Honorary Award from the Academy in 1990 for cinematic accomplishments that inspired, delighted, enriched, and entertained worldwide audiences and influenced filmmakers throughout the world.

I featured Kurosawa’s Yojimbo in Sunday Supplement #70, and in that post, I also mentioned his film Seven Samurai.

Seven Samurai tells the story of a poor village under attack recruiting seven unemployed samurai to defend the people and the town.

Kurosawa’s writing and directing, combined with a legendary performance by Toshirô Mifune, helped create a film that will forever be a classic.

The film has been remade multiple times for Western audiences, including twice as The Magnificent Seven, but the original shouldn’t be overlooked.

Brainfood of the Week:

Wisdom | The School of Life

This video starts with The School of Life describing wisdom not as a stable state but as an aspiration or goal worth striving for.

They state that there are many strands woven into wisdom. Realism is one, gratitude another, politeness, humor, and self-acceptance are some others.

The video breaks down each thread it mentions and discusses how each attribute helps contribute to wisdom.

In breaking down realism, they explain how knowing something might be difficult allows for acceptance and a calm demeanor when tackling challenging tasks.

There is much more in the full video, and I highly recommend giving it a watch. If you enjoy it, I’ve featured The School of Life in a few previous Sunday Supplements.

Closing Spiritual Passage:

“Allah does not burden a soul beyond that it can bear.”

– Surah Al-Baqara 2:286

This passage from the Quran reminds me of how we can feel overwhelmed at various points in our lives, but we always seem to make it through those times.

These difficult moments can seem like burdens, but the more time passes, the more I can see the lessons in the experiences.

I’ve mentioned it before in previous Sunday Supplements, but many passages from spiritual texts could often be swapped without anyone’s notice.

This Quran passage seems to me like a universal message that wouldn’t be out of place in the Bible, the Vedas, or any Buddhist texts.

Know that any challenge in your life is one you can handle, and have a blessed week ahead!

Comments closed

Sri Ravi Shankar, Get the Hell Out of Your Own Way, Before Sunrise, Psych2Go, and Dhammapada 33

Sunday Supplement #76 (October 23rd, 2022)

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.

I hope you take something away from these recommendations that enriches your week ahead!

Quote of the Week:

“Wisdom is knowing when to have rest, when to have activity, and how much of each to have.”

– Sri Ravi Shankar

Book of the Week:

Get the Hell Out of Your Own Way – Jan Grobler

Jan Grobler is a Life & Transformation Coach, Cognitive Behavioral Therapist, Psychological Kinesiologist, and Teacher.

Get the Hell Out of Your Own Way contains the lessons Grobler learned along his journey that helped him heal his past trauma and obtain freedom to move forward.

The book is divided into three parts: How We End Up in Our Own Way, Cutting the Key to Your Freedom, and Be & Stay in the Driver’s Seat of Your Life.

What I enjoyed most about the book was the combination of wisdom the text provided and the prompts in the book to help you take actionable steps forward in your life.

Get the Hell Out of Your Own Way is an engaging read that leaves you with many gems to bring into your life.

Movie of the Week:

Before Sunrise

I’ve only seen the first film in Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy, but it’s a movie I find myself thinking about long after I’ve seen it.

The story follows a young man and woman as they meet on a train in Europe and spend one evening together in Vienna.

Most of the movie focuses on the dialogue between the two characters as they explore their contrasting ideas and perspectives on life and love.

Before Sunrise premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and grossed $22.5 million from a $2.5 million budget.

The movie is an intriguing watch for its exploration of postmodern views on love and appears on many watch lists with favorable reviews from critics.

Brainfood of the Week:

6 Signs Your Burnt Out, Not Lazy | Psych2Go

Psych2Go’s mission is to make psychology and mental health more accessible to everyone. Their YouTube page has just shy of 10 million followers.

This Psych2Go video defines burnout as a negative state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive stress and the inability to cope with it.

There are many overlaps between laziness and burnout, and it’s important to know the difference to recognize early signs.

Psycho2Go’s video is not a substitute for professional advice, but it is a good source of general education.

I’ve featured Psycho2Go before in Sunday Supplement #66 and recommend checking out their channel.

Closing Spiritual Passage:

“Just as a fletcher straightens an arrow shaft, even so, the discerning man straightens his mind— so fickle and unsteady, so difficult to guard.”

– Dhammapada 33

This verse from the Dhammapada reminds me of the constant task of attending to our minds.

I think of moments in my past when I’ve been happy with where I’m at but didn’t continue on the path of reflection and improvement.

The Dhammapada passage points out how the mind can be fickle, unsteady, and difficult to guard. It requires constant work.

The example reminds me of the necessity for continuing to exercise if you want to stay in shape. You can’t stop once you reach a certain point and expect to stay in shape.

Make tweaks to the arrow of your life to improve its flight, and have a blessed week ahead!

6 Comments
2021 © Drew Alexander Ross