Amor Fati - love your fate​
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Hi team,

I'm doing that thing again where I put random bits of wisdom down that I came across during the week.

Let's go.
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I received a PDF called 'Charlie Munger wisdom' a couple of weeks ago from my Dad.

It begins:

Warren Buffett calls him the smartest man he knows:

Charlie Munger.

Together they have built a $991 billion empire. And his speeches are a masterclass in decision making, rationality, and success.

Here're [sic]10 of his best ideas to help you win at business and life.

There was no author or source so I thought I'd try to find out who wrote it. Copying and pasting that paragraph into google I found the text word for word in a LinkedIn post by Alvin Foo with 11k likes and in a twitter thread by Kieran Drew 5k likes, both from two weeks ago. Interesting hey... like a teacher receiving two pieces of identical homework and having to figure out who copied who. It should also be noted that like the Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald thing from last week, I can't confirm whether Charlie Munger actually had these ideas. And who knows whether Warren Buffett's empire is actually $991 billion. Oh wait that's easy to check. Oh no... I've just found another LinkedIn post with this exact content again except instead of $991 billion it says $699 billion. (The first comment: Dr. Joerg Storm thanks for sharing. Please read Poor Charlie's Almanack for more insights. Unfortunately the market cap of Berkshire Hathaway is "only" $699 billion (and not 991).
​Okay. This is called wasting time. Let's get to the idea I want to share (read the full post on those links above if you're interested, and feel free to calculate the size of Warren Buffett's empire in your own time...seriously if you work out where the $991bn number comes from pls lmk as I don't think Berkshire Hathaway's market cap has ever been that high? Canadian dollars? What else does WB have in his empire?)

The idea:

So I'm going to be a 'smart' person here, and apply this idea to feeling good.
i.e. how to stop feeling depressed? Take note of the things that make you feel good (or at least, not depressed) and repeat.

The first step in all of this of course is, you need to be aware of how you're feeling to notice when you feel good, i.e. get feedback. How to cultivate that pesky present moment awareness? Meditation ofc (or you just naturally live outside your head, congrats to you).

I was going to write a mini list of things that make me feel good. And say "maybe they are the same for you... (Is this how all self-help books are conceived?)" and then I realised, yes probably that is how all self help books are conceived. And that no, actually I don't want to share this list because I feel embarrassed to admit that, for example I really struggle to get out of bed sometimes, or to open my mail. But those things are on the list because they make me feel good after doing them, even though there is a lot of resistance beforehand.
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...Like yes... obviously. If you're not someone who has ever struggled with that, it reads like I'm insane. Or just totally useless. "No one is ever going to hire you Delia if you talk about how you find it scary to open your mail." (There could be a £400 gas bill in there again. Scary!). I know there are people who read this weekly email who simply aren't wired to struggle in that way (cough, my Dad).
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So, I will keep the list to myself for now and instead I will say, that I just figured something out. As mentioned, often there is a lotttt of resistance to doing the things that make me feel good afterwards. (I guess people talk about this a lot with going to the gym. They realllllllly don't want to. Then they do, and they feel great. But boy they nearlyyyy didn't make it there, but thank god they did because you know now they just feel GREAT.) There's one thing that I've become so used to, that I don't notice the resistance anymore, I jump straight to feeling good. Don't want to brag but yes it's cold water exposure and yes I'm in Copenhagen and swam in the icy harbour today and yesterday on this fine December -5°C weekend... I can't get out of bed sometimes but I can do that so HA! who's weak and hopeless now. Anyway, point is, after two years of cold showers I have come to crave the feeling I get from cold water exposure. IT FEELS SO GOOD! So, before I slide into water that has a thin layer of ice floating around, there's little resistance, but it's mainly excitement. Such a good feeling. The reward in anticipation of the action.
Now I just need to apply this to far more useful life endeavours, such as getting out of bed... or taking a little tiny action step towards a goal (rather than telling the whole world about it all your big life plans well before actually starting work on them. woops). But seriously, imagine feeling excited to do your taxes. Or to eat A SALAD because you know how good you'll feel afterwards? That's what I'm going for (...might take me a while with the salad thing).

Okay that was the only piece of wisdom I wrote down.

Good news is I just read a book that had been sitting on my shelf for ages. Little did I know it's not really a book and it only took 30 mins to read. Actually that's exactly what it says on the back "it can be read in half an hour or a lifetime". There you go.

This week I'm reading: The Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu (maybe... it's from ~400 BC so who knows)

"Unusual among the scriptures of the world's religions, the Tao Te Ching is not a chronicle of gods and heroes. Instead, it is a series of meditations on the mysterious nature of the Tao--the Way, the guiding principle, the source of all existence. According to Lao Tzu (a name meaning "the old master"), the Tao is found where we would least expect it--not in the strong but in the weak; not in speech but in silence; not in doing but in "not-doing". Wise yet worldly, spiritual yet practical, the Tao Te Ching is beloved by seekers all the world over."

That's the context my version gives. Then it doesn't really tell me much else. Except that it's based on a 1919 translation by Dwight Goddard extensively revised by Sam Torode. Hmmm. Now I feel like I haven't read the real deal.

Whatever. Here are two passages that you might enjoy.

Actually let's get some more context first.

Basic wikipedia context. (I'm away for the weekend, forgive me pls)

What's Taoism?​
​Taoism or Daoism refers to either a school of philosophical thought or to a religion, both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasise living in harmony with the Tao; the Tao is generally defined as the source of everything and the ultimate principle underlying reality.

What's the Tao Te Ching?
​The Tao Te Ching is a Chinese classic text written around 400 BC and traditionally credited to the sage Laozi, though the text's authorship, date of composition and date of compilation are debated.

Wait I thought his name was Lao Tzu?
​Laozi, also rendered as Lao Tzu, or Lao-Tze, proper name Li Er, courtesy name Boyang, was an ancient Chinese philosopher and writer. He is the reputed author of the Tao Te Ching, the founder of philosophical Taoism, and a deity in religious Taoism and traditional Chinese religions.

People also ask: Which is older? Taoism or Confucianism?
​The two great indigenous philosophical and religious traditions of China, Daoism and Confucianism, originated about the same time (6th–5th century BCE) in what are now the neighboring eastern Chinese provinces of Henan and Shandong, respectively. Both traditions have permeated Chinese culture for some 2,500 years. (This answer is from Britannica... fancy).

Give me the passages!

Here they are:

Don't you love realising that humans who lived 2,500 years ago on a different continent dealt with all the same shit we do??

Speaking of China...
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​This week on the Growing Up with Delia Burgess podcast:​
​Ep. 24 - Paul Monk
​Paul is the author of eleven books, from his path-breaking 2005 book on the rise of China, Thunder From the Silent Zone: Rethinking China, to his latest book of love poetry, The Three Graces: Companionship, Discretion, Passion (2022). He has featured on both radio and television for many years as a respected commentator on international affairs. He has been a frequent and authoritative contributor to major print media for twenty-five years. He is a speaker on topics ranging from espionage and national security to the implications of the rise in Chinese power, religion in a secular age, the nature of Western civilisation and educating young minds for the 21st century world.​
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​Ep. 25 - asking my Dad about socialism​
​Tony Burgess is Chairman of Flagstaff Partners, an independent corporate finance advisory firm. Mr Burgess has over 40 years of experience in corporate finance in Melbourne, London and New York and was previously Global Co-Head of Mergers and Acquisitions for Deutsche Bank AG, based in London. Mr Burgess holds an MBA (Distinction) from Harvard Business School (1985) and a Bachelor of Commerce (First Class Honours) from the University of Melbourne (1981).

Here's something I wrote on LinkedIn about the first conversation:

​deliaburgess.blog​
​Listen to Growing Up with Delia Burgess on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts

P.S. Looking for previous editions? Find them here.​

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