Issue #57: 03.23.25
Welcome to Life: Under Construction, a fortnightly newsletter focused on growth and creativity, wealth and wellness.
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Your inner voice can be uplifting. But it can also be mean and degrading.
It can be cunning, subtly convincing you of your strengths and weaknesses.
It can be loud, drowning out reason and dismantling agency over self.
One way or another, it’s persuasive.
Which got me thinking…
- About what guides the narrative.
Our feelings tend to drive the conversations we have with ourselves. Unproductive? The inner voice says you’re lazy.
If we feel inexperienced when faced with a challenge, it says you won’t succeed. Feel treated unfairly? Rumination, complaining, sometimes spiraling.
Point is, feelings like to drive decisions and conversations. We often let them, for better or worse. - About where feelings come from.
Feelings are emotions—anger, love, fear. We don’t control emotions, they come and go . But we do control our attention and opinions.
When we pay attention to our emotions, we feel them. When we judge emotions, we form an opinion of them. Good, bad, sad.
In the end, attention gives power to feelings and opinions strengthen them. - And about what it means to be human.
It’s messy. Feelings are the biggest culprit. They make us irrational and impulsive. They make us fucking crazy.
Feelings also fuel empathy. They connect us. They’re the foundation for friendship and family.
Guess we pay attention to how we feel because that’s part of being human. Because without feelings, life wouldn’t have much of a purpose.
Here’s the thing, I’m my own worst enemy. I’m my own best friend.
Maybe that sounds familiar.
Maybe your feelings get in the way and lend a hand at the same.
Maybe your inner voice pulls you down and then lifts you up.
But you don’t always have to listen. Or believe what it says. Or how you feel, for that matter.
Because that’s also part of being human.
You have the final say.
Here are 15 things you might find interesting.
Some words
Sapere Aude (Latin): Dare to know; have courage to use your own reason; dare to know things through reason.
“With enough voices, even the most absurd claim can seem true.” (Paraphrased)
– Chinese proverb, Three Men Make A Tiger
“Behind every great achievement is a long, unseen journey.”
– Shane Parrish, Brain Food
Some wonder
- To develop your own creative genius: style is the answer to everything
- Tactile sympathy: the connection between touch and personal value
- At the end of the A.I. arms race, creativity will win
Some wealth
- Positioning for the next shot: the reputational cue ball
- How to be consistent: 7 strategies that actually work
- So you reached your goal: now what?
Some wellness
- 3 ways to stop negative self-talk (article | video)
- Zen habits: the physics of motivating yourself
- 13 spiky points of view on emotional health
Some work
- Copy Chops: A psychology trick to make numbers more appealing
- At Alphabet®: Kingston business events campaign
- The Davis Daily: One last cast
That’s a wrap. I hope you found something interesting.
Keep building.
~
Cory B. Davis
The Davis Daily 