PROMPT: Fear and Self-Doubt

Daily writing prompt
How do you handle fear and self-doubt?

Feel it but don’t feed it. I feel whatever emotional sensation it brings with my whole attention, but don’t ruminate — i.e. don’t let the mind go into worst-case scenario building or pity partying or self-criticism. Use the sensation as an anchor for one’s awareness. This honors the source of consternation while recognizing that one’s mental (/ emotional) experience of an event is not the event, itself — i.e. that one has influence over one’s experience even when one has zero influence over the event. Gain confidence with the small emotional experiences and work toward the big ones.

This was the great gift I received in being taught sakshi bhava, the yogic practice of dispassionate witnessing.

PROMPT: Negative Feelings

Daily writing prompt
What strategies do you use to cope with negative feelings?

Sakshi Bhavan, the dispassionate witness, giving feelings one’s full attention without allowing rumination that compounds the effect.

Not technically a strategy, but I think it’s on point.

BOOK: “The Virtues of the Table” by Julian Baggini

The Virtues of the Table: How to Eat and ThinkThe Virtues of the Table: How to Eat and Think by Julian Baggini
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher Site – Granta

This book examines the nexus of food and philosophy, from the ethics of butchery to the virtue of authenticity to whether hedonism is a necessary component of eating philosophically. Much of the book challenges or debates conventional wisdoms such as whether local foods are inherently better, whether dining is always and everywhere a social activity (or should be,) and whether organic is always preferable. The book covers a wide variety of topics including: mindfulness, gratitude, skepticism, fasting, willpower, spontaneity, technology, etc.

The book offers many ideas for reflection though sometimes it felt like it rambled on for more than the issue in question necessitated.

Each chapter ends with a discussion of a particular food and its preparation as thought relevant by the author. This is a nice grounding mechanism for discussion that tends otherwise to be cerebral and philosophic.

I’d recommend this book for anyone interested in thinking more about food and its intersection with philosophy of life.

View all my reviews

PROMPT: Pay More Attention

What details of your life could you pay more attention to?

Mental states and somatic & emotional sensations. Sakshi Bhava is good stuff.

PROMPT: Listen

Daily writing prompt
What do you listen to while you work?

I don’t. I could listen to instrumental music while writing or doing other mental work, but I can’t have anything with words / lyrics involved. It’s distracting and can warp my writing.

FIVE WISE LINES [May 2025]

It is a happy talent to know how to play.

Ralph waldo emerson

Just living is not enough… one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.

Hans christian andersen

Don’t abandon kindness, mercy, and sympathy in an emergency.

Qiānzì wén [千字文], Ch. 3

Logic will take you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.

albert Einstein

You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment.

Henry david thoreau

PROMPT: Positive Thing

Daily writing prompt
Describe a positive thing a family member has done for you.

Be present.

PROMPT: Positive Change

Daily writing prompt
Describe one positive change you have made in your life.

Daily practice of feeling gratitude. (As opposed to being grateful that one November day a year and wallowing in how horrible everything is the other three-sixty-four.)

PROMPT: Fun… Exercise

Daily writing prompt
What’s the most fun way to exercise?

In the Flow.

Mind Fog [Free Verse]

The fog envelopes me.
I draw vivid pictures
on its white surface.

I don't know how I do it,
But I know why.

It's a craving:
To fill emptiness,
To disallow silence.

The fog's texture is
Subtle, but existent.

Should I not sketch my story
On that white surface,
But rather give it my attention
then I might see that texture,
and then see it clearly,
and - eventually - feel it
as I glide my hand
though space...
Blind and at ease.