Recommended Reading 

Do antidepressants create more mental illness than they cure?

Excerpts:

• “Many antidepressants show no better efficacy than placebo or talk therapy in long-term usage.”

• “Nearly 13 percent of the US population over age 12 now regularly swallow these pills (antidepressants).”

• “Minor complaints are now pathologized. Creating an illness is the best way to sell a drug.”

• “Even with an increasing number of studies detailing the negative long-term effects of these drugs, we’re swallowing more pills than ever.”

Notes:

• The article states that antidepressants can be helpful in certain scenarios. While I think this may be true, I’ve seen many studies to suggest that alternative interventions, such as talk therapy, the establishment of a surfing or meditation practice, and or cognitive behavioral therapy, can be just as effective in most cases. And of course, without the side effects associated with pharmaceutical antidepressants.

 

Recommended Practice: Reading the Obituaries

I’m a firm believer in the practice of reminding yourself that this life will one day come to an end. It puts things into perspective and helps focus your attention on what matters.

Reading the obituaries is a great way of accomplishing this goal. Plus, taking in biographical information is one of the best ways in which you can realize important truths about life. Reading biographies is also a great way to cut through the distortion that can often created by reading abstract theories and opinions.

 

Recommended obituary: William Burr, engineer who enjoyed travel and found joy in helping people, dies of coronavirus

Excerpts:

• “Shortly after he retired, Mr. Burr was part of a medical mission to Haiti, and it changed his life.”

• “He had an engineer’s brain, a single-focused kind of guy while he was working and providing for his family, but that (medical mission trip) changed his perspective,” Kenneth Burr (his son) said. “All of a sudden, he had this different joy of helping people and it kind of carried through his whole retirement. He came back from Haiti a different guy and focused on doing things for others.”

• “When she (William’s wife) got ill for about three years, he tended to her all the time,” Kenneth Burr said. “I once said, ‘That’s quite a burden, Dad. You’re there 24/7.’ He said, ‘I count it as an honor to take care of her. She took care of me for years. It’s my honor and delight to take care of her.’”

 

Music Recommendation

 

Journal Excerpts

Some say globalization is good. Some say it’s bad. Some say facebook is good. Some say it’s bad. The same goes for the chemical industry, taxes on businesses, investment banks, bitcoin, capitalism, socialism, environmentalism, the list is endless. Why is it so hard, for so many, to see that in nearly every circumstance the answers are highly nuanced, and probability lie somewhere in the middle?

Having incredible abilities is one thing. Being capable of leveraging them to produce wealth is quite another. Countless individuals with remarkable skills are never able to effectively monetize them.

Learning about others is one of the best ways to decrease the amount of time you spend obsessively thinking about yourself. This is one of the reasons why I make such a strong effort to spend lots of time reading biographies and autobiographies.

Not sure what to do with the next few hours? Try reaching out to a bunch of people who you haven’t spoken to for a while.

The less I think about what I’m going to say prior to having a conversation, the better the conversation tends to go. 

Are you more drawn to mountains or oceans? 

 

Photo of the Week 

 

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