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After the first lockdowns in March this year, it would be fair to assume that we would learn from the past, that going out of lockdown we would be more aware of the threat of the virus. Yet, yesterday was another record of global infections. Why do we not recognize the danger of Covid-19 and act accordingly? Why do people still group up in small rooms? Why do some can’t stop partying? And why do some even go on the street and demonstrate against guidelines that are supposed to save human lives?

We like to think that all our actions are well thought through, that we understand our environment, and make rational decisions. The truth however is, we as humans act largely irrational and tend to be influenced by emotions, previous experiences, and heuristics. Our decisions maybe make sense to us, however often we take them without seeing the whole picture. Various psychological biases impact our perception of Covid-19:

The availability heuristic

The availability heuristic refers to the tendency to judge the probability of an event happening based on how easily this event is brought to mind. Clearly, Covid-19 is a situation that has never happened before. The only event potentially coming close to this was SARS in 2002, that however did not reach Europe or the US. Therefore, the risk of Covid spreading around the world was perceived higher in Asia compared to Europe. Let’s look at e.g. Taiwan that took the virus very seriously early on and until today reported only 7 deaths (population of 23 mill.). The West however had not faced a similar threat before, which is why until February everyone kept laughing about it, labeling Covid as “the China Virus” (Trump).

But now we have experienced the first wave of the virus, shouldn’t we at least be able to see the risk now? Well, let’s look at a few numbers. Germany for instance has now seen a total of roughly half a million infections, which first of all sounds like a lot. However taking into consideration Germany’s population of 80 mill people, we see that less than one percent of Germany’s population has (officially) been infected. If we look at the deaths, this number is even much lower than that. Therefore: The chance that you actually know several people who had Corona is low (Let’s keep in mind that this is the official number, with the dark number presumably being much higher than that). That’s why it is still hard for us to grasp the risk of the virus. Again: we perceive the risk of Covid as low because we have hardly seen its consequences with our own eyes. This does however not mean, that the risk doesn’t exist. It’s just hard to picture.

The self-interest bias

The self-interest bias on the other hand refers to our preference to believe what’s good for us. Research indeed suggests that that people tend to overestimate the chances of desirable outcomes over undesirable ones. Naturally, none of us wanted the world to look the way it does now. We all prefer to go out, meet our friends, to party, to travel. Ironically, in fast-changing situations with high uncertainty, we tend to perceive the status quo as less risky than introducing new significant guidelines. We want to have the “old normal”, not the highly uncertain “new normal”. Corona threatens jobs, businesses go bankrupt, people can’t see their family. All that really sucks! And even though we might not acknowledge this to ourselves at first, our preferences largely impact what we believe in and what we don’t.

The confirmation bias

Once we have built our hypothesis that Covid isn’t as serious (because we don’t want it to be), the confirmation bias comes into play. Unconsciously, we tend to value information that is consistent with our hypothesis more than evidence that would disapprove it. Our all friend Donald Trump is the best example. Obviously, the American President was informed about risks early on but Trump wanted to believe Corona wasn’t as serious as it threatened the economy and his election. Having formed the hypothesis of having everything under control and assuring the Americans to have nothing to worry about, Trump specifically looked for information that was aligned with his opinion. This lead him to rather wild suggestions such as promoting drugs without scientific evidence or suggesting that injecting disinfectants could cure the virus. It appears that many of us specifically look for information that downplay Covid and ignore others, such as globally increasing numbers and the success of strict lockdowns in China.

I don’t know if all political decisions made are the best ones and I don’t want to seem that way. The covid crisis is a wicked problem that involves many stakeholders and shows high ambiguity. I still feel that we don’t really know what we know. What I do know however is that our behavior of disregarding corona leads us straight into another lockdown. This little piece is an introduction to the psychology behind our actions.

/jacob

“The limits of my language are the limits of my world”, Ludwig Wittgenstein once said. And indeed it seems like words rule this world, in today’s globalization probably more than ever. If you want to be able to communicate properly and express yourself, you need to have the words and to learn the language. So people study communication and foreign languages these days and I see myself sometimes communicating in three different languages on a single day.

And there is something about words that makes them very powerful. Nothing can replace the three simple words ‘I love you’. Or as Philip K Dick. describes it: “There exists for everyone a sentence – a series of words – that has the power to destroy you. Another sentence exists, another series of words, that could heal you. If you’re lucky you will get the second, but you can be certain of getting the first”

Are words effective or misleading?

Words are all around us today and big factors are the internet and social media as the fastest channel of communication this world has ever seen. To be honest, however, as much as I appreciate the ease of communication with my friends around the globe, there are downsides to this fast-paced communication as people use it to distort reality. President Donald Trump is the best example, basically running the most powerful country in the world through controversial tweets the media all around the globe will talk about. The reality in life tends to be shades of gray but social media comments are often taken black and white.

Others use words to make simplicity look complicated, spinning words around to make an argument sound better. Politicians and lawyers are typically strong communicators and play around with semantics. “The CIA doesn’t kill anybody anymore, they neutralize people or depopulate the area. The government doesn’t lie, it engages in disinformation. The pentagon actually measures nuclear radiation in something they call sunshine units. Contra killers are called freedom fighters” (George Carlin, American comedian). And the thing is that every marketer is going to tell you that this works because people don’t even trust in the right argument anymore but in the right word. Programs of political parties remain more or less the same, but majorities vary depending on the man/woman in charge. The way of communicating and selling becomes more important than the actual content. But is that right?

So what are we missing when listening to words?

How can it be that two people read the same Bible, even pray to the same god, but have different interpretations of what they read? It’s because every word is up to interpretation. Who decides what’s beautiful, what temperature is cold or warm, which movie is scary, and which one is not. How many dimensions of being angry or being happy are there? And more importantly, how can we possibly understand which dimension is meant? We all have our own interpretation of these words and know exactly what we mean, but we cannot expect anyone else to feel exactly the same way we do. As Nietzsche puts it: “All words are subjective to interpretation. Whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not the truth”

Context, not word

So context may help. I’ve been told Germans have words for everything, though I have the feeling we just like using the same words over and over. Depending on the context, the German word “Bitte” can be used to say “You are welcome”, “Please”, “Excuse me?” or “Here you go”. Just by itself the word, therefore, has basically no meaning. This context is crucial, however, digital media tends to take that relationship away from the context and puts the word into a 3 seconds video or slogan.

What words cannot do

Now, and this is the major point of this post, words alone won’t ever be enough. What we as humans need to do is to fill the gap that words leave with silence. As long as I can think I’ve been told that I was (too) quiet. I sometimes feel like people just talk for the sake of talking, to avoid silence because it makes them feel insecure. However, I know that we all feel best around those people where a minute of silence doesn’t feel uncomfortable. What we need to realize is that the most beautiful things in the world can not be read or heard. Instead, they must be felt with the heart. No matter what you do, whether you describe the trees or the sea, nature, or the people. the description itself has very little meaning. But to realize what you are seeing you need the insight that comes only from a still mind. It would be a mistake to get caught up with words. That’s why the Zen describes “The true liberation comes from the hearth, not words”. Or as Rumi (Persian Poet) puts it: “Silence is the language of god, all else is poor translation“

Language opens the world and sets its limits – both at the same time. It is powerful, and we use words to start conversations and relationships, to describe who we are and what we do. However, let’s be mindful of words, be aware of what they cannot do, and that the meaningful things usually come from the moments of silence.

Jacob Nilius

A post of the category ‘I have more questions than I have answers’

“Where are you from?” I heard my professor asking, going through our class full of exchange students from around the world. “Norway,” one said. “Germany”, someone else. “Ok”, my professor said and smiled.

Talking about our origins, we immediately think of our national identity, the country we were born in, maybe the country our parents are from. So I was born in Germany – not that I could remember any of that, but so I’ve been told. And I have a German passport – just like my parents. So we’re all from Germany. Are we?

“But where are you really from?”, he asked. I guess he must have looked into quite confused faces. “Where were you before you were born in Norway?”, looking at the Norwegian who first answered his question. “Well, I don’t know”, he answered.

“I try not to live in the past…but…sometimes the past lives in me” – Jamie Ford

It could be just completely random, coming out of nowhere, suddenly being alive, being born in Germany, out of nowhere. A part of me thinks so.

“Why did you come to Taiwan?”, the professor asked. It’s a question I’ve been asked so many times and still, I’m not fully able to give a satisfying answer. And neither was my Norwegian friend. “Well, I’m just interested in Asia”. “No”, the professor answered, “there must be more than that”. So he asked all of us whether we have ever really thought about why we suddenly had that crazy idea of coming to a country somewhere in East Asia most people in the West barely know about, Taiwan. He asked why we do what we do and if there is anything that we feel like somehow lead us to where we are right now. He asked whether there is a chance that this is not the first time we exist. A life before life?

“I am certain that I have been here as I am now a thousand times before, and I hope to return a thousand times” – Goethe

And then he told us about his own story, how he grew up on one of those tiny Taiwanese islands (Lan Yu), however being fluent in English from a very early age. He later moved to the US and apparently right fit into the American culture. Similarly, he said, he always had the ability to hear extremely well, as if he has practices to distinguish between specific sounds, for example in music. “What if there is a reason I learned the language so easily, a reason why I felt this urge to live in the US, a reason why I managed to integrate myself so easily”.

“I recognized you instantly. All of our lives flashed through my mind in a split second. I felt a pull so strongly towards you that I almost couldn’t stop it” – J. Sterling

Some of us have made similar experiences. One could be recurring dreams of people and places as a reflection of our unconscious mind. Some people claim to have experienced certain events, seen particular people, or gone to specific places frequently in their dreams that feel very familiar and somehow recognizable. Something else is a déjà vu, which is that bizarre feeling that somehow we have experienced a moment in time before Lastly, some may have a great affinity for certain cultures or environments. This is where I tend to place myself, for instance, seeing my somehow clear drive towards the Asian culture.

“The doctrine of metempsychosis is, above all, neither absurd nor useless…It is not more surprising to be born twice than once; everything in nature is resurrection” – Voltaire

So what if there are experiences from a previous life that influence the way we do what we do. Hard to imagine, but WHAT IF. What if there’s a reason you are doing what you are doing. What if there was something before, something you don’t know about but somehow you have this feeling. If this was actually the case, how would this change the way you live, how would it change the value of the things you do, especially the things you like doing, the personal things? Would it have an impact on your ‘purpose’?

“Where are you from?” I don’t know, I cannot know. Indeed, this question is unanswerable. Was there something before my life here began? Maybe – only God/the universe knows. Though there is scientific research in this direction and plenty of videos on children who remember parts of their previous lives. Maybe I was here before, in whatever form. Thinking about this made me reflect on the things I enjoy doing, the things I have learned so easily, the things that deeply touch me, and my drive towards specific environments. There’s no answer to this and frankly, I have not concluded anything. However, it does help me to focus on the things I am doing and equally questioning them.

Jacob Nilius

This one comes from heart.

Do you know those moments when you see the excitement in the eyes of someone when they tell you about a passion, interest or story that may be important to them? It doesn’t matter whether you have the same interest or not, but seeing their passion and true happiness makes you follow what one has to say. That’s what I show when I’m talking about my time in Taiwan. Being there, I created myself a life with everything I needed. Friends, roommates, colleagues, a sports team. I was deeply happy living in Taiwan.

Today, it’s been almost exactly one year since I left Taiwan and after 8 months full of joy, experiences and struggles with Chinese returned to Europe. I first arrived in Taiwan as an exchange student but I knew right away that I would at least extend my stay.

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School & Work

At school, I mostly enjoyed a class by Professor Tang who was supposed to teach about marketing, but never mentioned a single word from the syllabus. Instead, he decided to teach about things way deeper than that and questioned us in what life is really about, often from a Buddhist perspective. I think most people misunderstood his way of teaching, but I understood every word he said. Later, I started an internship at a Marketing Analytics startup. The co-founders who hired me didn’t know much about me when I started, I did not go through any formal application process and had no prior working experience. But I voluntarily attended a class one of them taught at the National Taiwan University (taught in Chinese!) and she must have seen something in me that she thought I could be a good fit for the team. This internship and the skills I developed later allowed me to land my current job in Copenhagen and I’ll be forever grateful for the trust I received from Nicky and Jay.

How did I end up in Taiwan?

Often, I am being asked why I decided to come to Taiwan in the first place. Frankly, I still don’t have the perfect answer. I felt attracted to Asia from early on when I lived in Vietnam for a while, volunteering in a school in Ho Chi Minh City. A year later, I went back to Vietnam to see my friends and also traveled to Thailand, Hong Kong and briefly Mainland China. At that point, I promised myself that I would at least try out how it feels to have an everyday life somewhere in an Asian country. I remember looking at the partner schools of my prior German university. Next to countries like Japan and Singapore which we all seem to be quite familiar with, I saw Taiwan – not even knowing where Taiwan was located. Now, this might have been demotivating for some but I always liked doing things a bit differently than the norm. I like trying something new, risking the uncertainty. In the end, I don’t know if there is a rational reason why I ended up in Taiwan, but all I know is that one day I found myself in a plane to Taipei, not knowing when I’ll come back. I do believe that sometimes we have an inner feeling guiding has, as if the plan was already there. Looking back, going to Taiwan was one of those days and it made me feel like nothing could possibly go wrong.

What do I miss from Taiwan?

The second question I often get is what I miss from Taiwan today – and I do miss it. But again, there’s no such easy answer. Surely, I miss the food – Beef noodles, dumplings, mango shaved ice, bubble tea, the local breakfast store. Copenhagen’s winter also made me miss the Taiwanese weather. But that’s not what this is really about. In the end, it’s always about the feeling, the atmosphere you live in. Ordering food (or rather pointing at a picture saying 我要这个) without knowing what exactly you’ll get – because does it really matter? Practicing my little knowledge of Chinese over and over because it’s fun (你要吃什么?). Connecting with the people that seem so different but that are actually so similar. It’s a feeling of freedom, of fully being able to express myself and that’s what Taiwan gave to me.

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Taiwan can help

Lastly, and this is the most important point, I want to share my perspective on what’s going on in Taiwan today. Taiwan is more or less excluded from international partnerships like the UN or the WHO. Isn’t it absurd that the country that handled the Coronavirus the best way, outcompeting not only Mainland China but also the Europeans, as well as other Asian countries, is still banned from the WHO? When Taiwan requested information from the WHO early on about the potential spread of the virus between humans, it did not even get a real answer. Taiwan took action anyway. So again: There is an island nation around 180 km from the southeastern coast of China where public health officials saw the pandemic coming and reacted fast. It was one of the earliest countries to be hit and has one of the lowest infection rates. Today, this country has only reported 388 positive diagnoses and six deaths – without even getting full information. But you wouldn’t know any of this if you got your information from the World Health Organization. The country is Taiwan, which is banned from the WHO. Why you may ask? Yeah, that’s what I’m asking too. I’m a friend of hearing the Chinese out about why they do what they do, but honestly, at the moment the world pays the price for this dilemma – Taiwan can help.

Most countries would react to this isolation in an aggressive way, playing out all the political strengths they may have and insult everyone else who doesn’t give them what they want. But Taiwan is different. Today, Taiwan sends millions of masks to the exact same countries that exclude it from the WHO. Taiwan doesn’t push on its independence to upset China, it doesn’t talk bad about other countries in public. No, Taiwan reacts by declaring its love for the people around the world.
#taiwancanhelp and #taiwanishelping

Jacob Nilius

Growing up in a small town in Northern Germany, I remember boredom. I’ve never been that person that goes out meeting friends every day, so I ended up spending quite a lot of time at home. School had not been very challenging and besides playing football I didn’t have many hobbies. Even with a trampoline in our garden and my TV with the Nintendo Gamecube and Fifa 2007 in my room, I remember being bored [1].

Welcome to the age of abundance

Boredom, a feeling that I now believe I have not had in the past 5 years. Even now being locked-down in my apartment in Copenhagen, I have the privilege to feel busier than ever before. Our primary challenge today is living in an environment where we somehow want to push 35 hours of activities into a 24-hour day. To be able to do this, we multi-task. We listen to podcasts while we cook, we date (swipe) while we eat, we talk to a stranger on Instagram while meeting a friend in person. We have the iPad on the knees, the phone in the hand and Netflix in the background. We want everything and we want it right now. But the truth is that the overload of information is just too much [1].

An abundance of content is created. On average, we check our phones 96 times a day, that’s once every 10 minutes [2]!! Similarly interesting, we’re exposed to around 5000 ads each day [3] – but how many can you even remember? There are more social media posts, more photos of friends, more Netflix shows, more podcasts, more live streams, more songs, more websites, more blogs (including mine), more of everything. We have far too much stuff, seek too much information in far too little time.

Our biggest challenge isn’t boredom and scarcity of entertainment anymore. It is abundance in every way we can imagine. There are too many careers I could have, too many cities I could live in, too many trips I could take, too many girls I could date, endless things I could consume.

A focused mind is the most important skill in the age of abundance

So what do you need to make sense of all this? The most important skill living in the age of abundance is the ability to focus. By focusing, I mean the ability to ignore all the distractions from social media, the things you could do, the fear of what may happen in the future and instead focus on what really matters.

At this moment many are scared of what the future will bring. We’re afraid of getting sick and each day I see people on Linkedin posting about losing their jobs. Being able to focus means too keep calm and identify what is important right now, what you can do to improve the situation. We really don’t know what will happen, so it’s best to focus on what we can control. What is it that really matters to you, what is it now? This could be health, staying home and protecting yourself and your family. It could also be securing your financial situation, making yourself irreplaceable at work or starting your own business as a plan B.

But this does not only apply to our global Corona situation. Ask yourself in general: Where do you want to be in your life? How can you take action on it? What are the things and the people that are important to you? The individual focus could be anything one finds meaningful. However, this won’t be the search for fame, the lust for materials or the objectification of others.

Finally, here’s a liitle practice for you:

Focus on this place here, not other places.
Focus on one single individual at a time, not all others.
Focus on one single object at a time, not all other objects.

Jacob Nilius

[1] Inspired by Tom Goodwin, Digital Darwinism
[2] https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/americans-check-their-phones-96-times-a-day-300962643.html
[3] https://medium.com/permissionio/the-crazed-battle-for-your-attention-7d207f31d688

“It’s always about timing. If it’s too soon, no one understands. If it’s too late, everyone has forgotten” (Anna Vintour, Vogue Magazine). This applies to everything in life. Did you ever think back and wondered what could have been if you said the right thing at the right moment or what could have been if you met that person at a different time? I have many times.

Time changes conditions for businesses. You could earn millions in 2020 if you produced face masks and you’ll the same if you’re in the airline industry. 2025 however might be the opposite.

On a more personal level, it is your time and place of birth that determines your everything: The way you grow up, your education, basically why you do what you do.

We’re pressured by time

Often, we are pressured by time. We tend to compare ourselves with others to see where we stand and how we are doing. When should I graduate? When should I start a career? When should I be married? We assume that there is something specific that should happen at a specific point in time. We look at our friends or people the same age and see what they have accomplished to determine what we “should” have.

But life doesn’t work like that. One’s life path at the age of 20 will not be on the same life path at the age of 25 or 30. Because life is constantly evolving, circumstances change and what used to be will not be anymore. For the individual, but especially in comparison to others.

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Living in your own timezone

One can graduate from college at the age of 22 but won’t find a good job for many years while someone else graduates at 25 and finds his/her dream job right away. One can become a CEO at the age of 25, work hard every day and die when he/she is 50 while someone else becomes CEO at 50 but works until he/she is 90. Some people find the love of their lives as teenagers, while it took Meghan Markle several romances and one divorce before she married her prince at the age of 36. Barack Obama retired at the age of 55 while Donald Trump started when he was 71. Copenhagen is 6 hours ahead of New York, but this doesn’t make New York slow. Apples grow in May and strawberries in June, but this doesn’t make Apples any better than Strawberries. The bottom line is: it really doesn’t matter what others do and when they do it. Time is very subjective, it is personal and cannot be compared.

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People around you might seem to be ahead of you or behind you but everyone is running their own race and in their own time. We all have different backgrounds, different stories, and different responsibilities in this world. So don’t envy anyone and equally don’t think bad of someone if he/she is falling behind. Everyone is in their time zone the way you are in yours. If you deeply understand time as purely subjective, you won’t ever compare yourself with others again. It’s always about your time, your time zone, your time frame.

All that matters is what you do now

What can you do about time? Stay in today, not yesterday and not tomorrow. This doesn’t mean that you should ignore them completely. Beware of the journey you are in and do what’s necessary now. Trust the process and do the work (now). And the past? The past is the past and it’s best if you leave it there…in the past. But every morning you wake up and have the chance to make the today your masterpiece.

All that matters is what you do now.

Jacob Nilius

Cogito, ergo sum. Je pense, donc je suis. I think, therefore I am.

The philosophical statement “I think, therefore I am” was first proposed by René Descartes in 1637 [1]. Determining the mind as the most certain thing of existence, Descartes thought he had found the deepest truth of humanity and many followed his proposition.

“I think, therefore I am” inspired me to reflect on what our thinking is and whether it determines who we are.

We wouldn’t survive a day without thinking

One thing is for sure: We would not make it through a single day without thinking. We would not be able to structure our day, to make it to work on time, to write exams. Would you survive a day without thinking? Most likely not. “I think, therefore I am” makes sense for another reason. By thinking we allow us to create a picture of ourselves that we can identify with. Our skills, capabilities, knowledge. Everything we have consciously done to create the future. Who would I be without thinking? I wouldn’t know. Thinking, therefore, gives us safety. I think about the past and make plans for the future, therefore I know who I am. Right?

So far so good, but what happens once I stop thinking? Do I not exist anymore? What about animals and plants? My dad has chickens in our garden and it’s truly calming me down watching them only following their instincts, walking around all day, picking the grass, taking time to relax in the sun. Not thinking about anything but only being. Does this mean chickens don’t exist? Clearly, there must be a mistake.

Yes, thinking is an essential part of human life. Clearly, however, there is no connection to our existence. To me, Descartes did not describe the deepest truth, but the deepest misconception of humanity. Descartes puts thinking and identity on the same level. But we’re not our minds. We’re also not our bodies. We are pure awareness and consciousness.

“I think, therefore I am not here” (Thich Nhat Hanh)

Our mind (and thinking), however, is not aware. The present moment does not exist for our thinking. Or as the famous Vietnamese zen-master Thich Nhat Hanh puts it: “I think, therefore I am not here” [2]. Thus, we can only be in the present moment if we stop thinking. This is because our mind constantly needs the past and the future to be able to even exist. Our mind needs the problems of the past to be able to deal with the fears of the future. Our thinking is so anxious that it avoids the present. Consequently, time and thinking don’t exist without each other [3]. I am never here when I think. The only thing determining the being, however, is the present moment because life is always now. I, therefore, propose: You’re not who you think you are.

But who am I if I’m not who I think I am?

Most people are controlled by their thoughts up to a level that they don’t even realize they have the choice to think anymore. The bad news is: 80-90% of our thinking is so negative, repetitive and useless that it can even be damaging [3]. We like to stick with problems and actions from the past that can never be undone and get lost in fears about the future. The time we actually use our mind for productive decision making is quite limited.

Charles Cooley once perfectly described our confused mind when he said: “I’m not what I think I am; I’m not what you think I am; I am what I think you think I am” [4]. So I live, we live, in a perception of a perception of ourselves. Because, if I think, that you think, that I’m successful, then I feel successful. And, the truth is, what I think may not even be what you think. We’re basing our self-perception on complete subjective assumptions and misconceptions.

Inner peace begins when we take control of our mind

Recently, I was asked: “Jacob, I can’t remember any moment in my life where I was not thinking. How do you even do that?” And frankly, there is no easy way to learn this within a day. But becoming aware of the difference between our mind (thinking) and our inner being is the first essential step. Eckhardt Tolle describes that inner freedom begins when we take control of our minds. When we’re aware of thoughts passing by without giving them value. I like to use the picture of a blue sky to visualize this. Imagine a blue sky in the summer. Imagine the clouds passing by. And think of how calm the blue sky remains. Clouds come and go but the sky will always stay, it is always in control. Clouds are part of the sky, sometimes there are more clouds and sometimes less, but they’re not defining what the sky is. Clouds just like thoughts come and go. But the sky is not addicted to clouds the way we are addicted to our thoughts.

So don’t try to capture your being with your mind, your thoughts. You’ll only really feel yourself, you’ll only have that extraordinary rapid insight, when the mind is very still, when the word is absent [5].

Say yes to the present moment, say yes to life

If there is anything positive about the current corona-crisis, then it is that most of us are less busy. Use the new feeling of having more time. Use the time to feel yourself, your inner being, your soul. Let the mind and the body on the side for a moment because the soul is the real thing. Deeply recognize that your whole life always happens in the present moment. Stay there. Go and visit the past and the future when necessary. But always say yes to the present moment. Say yes to life. And yes, sometimes that’s difficult. Sometimes saying yes to the moment means suffering. Be the silent observer, accept what’s happening.

Finally, realize that you’re not who you think you are. You are not even the one thinking, but the one observing. Only stopping to think for a moment will lead you closer to your existence.

Jacob Nilius

[1]: René Descartes (1637). Discourse on the Method.
[2]: Thich Nhat Hanh (2012). You are here: Discovering the present moment.
[3]: Eckhardt Tolle (2010). The Power of Now.
[4]: Charles Cooley.
[5]: Michael Tang (2018). National Chengchi University.