05 Nov - 11 Nov 2018
The missing stairs carpet was fitted this week so our house is fully liveable once again. And it looks great. Aside from a few niggles that need sorting, and paying for it all, I’m enjoying being able to sit down at the end of the day in my new chair and read. We’ve all been building up our new habits of shoes off, and eating all our meals at the dining room table instead of defaulting to dinners in front of the TV. It’s great. We’re watching a whole lot less “accidental” TV and I’m already reading more. That’s a great result in itself.
I got a few more of my training modules for Scouts validated this week, so I only have 2½ modules left to go. I’m not sure I’ll get them all done by the end of the year because I need to run some specific programme evenings to achieve one of them, and we’ve already got planned for the remainder of this term.
Armistice Day
Speaking of Scouts, as usual the group took part in the Remembrance service at the village church to mark the 100 year anniversary of the end of the first world war. Somehow, the sun almost always seems to shine on these days at this time which, for me, brings a serene calm to the moment and helps to appreciate and be grateful to the many who made the ultimate sacrifice. Would I make the same choice? I also came across the story of a very inspiring person, Nicholas Winton, who saved nearly 700 children from the holocaust. I intend to learn more about him and share it on my blog.
Reading Progress
I’m making good progress through each of the three books I’m currently reading. Atomic Habits is good, but nothing really ground-breaking so far. We’ve discussed in our book club before that the trouble with reading so many self help books and reading widely across the internet, it’s rare for any of these books to feel that there’s much new that we haven’t come across before.
Living Forward is a little different in that it’s primarily just a guide to thinking about and creating a life plan to stop drifting through life and make more intentional decisions.
I finished American Assassin. I haven’t seen the film adaptation but from what I’ve heard it deviates heavily from the book (for the worse). It was an enjoyable read, nothing amazing, but the plot moved along nicely and the characters were interesting. It definitely got my pulse racing a few times. It was good enough that I will probably pick up future books in this series too. Next up on my fiction reading list is Gravity.
A week in Stoicism
We often gravitate toward attaining power, through things like wealth, fame and high positions. This power is fleeting. The real power is in our minds. To reason and make judgements about the things we control and the things we don’t.
”Don’t trust in your reputation money or position, but in the strength that is yours—namely, your judgements about the things that you control and don’t control. For this alone makes us free and unfettered, that picks us up by the neck from the depths and lifts us eye to eye with the rich and powerful.” Epictetus
weeknotes