Ego is the Enemy, Ryan Holiday

This book covers a topic we should all

practice - humility. Most of what I read I’d already either experienced first-hand from others, try to practice myself, or teach to corporations. Genghis Khan topic was interesting – always a student in ruling and war, his love for ideas and convergence of cultures… all contributing to success for him and his country. The topic of money: if you don’t know how much you need, the default easily becomes: more. And so w/o thinking, critical energy is diverted from a person’s calling and toward filling a bank account. To experience what the Stoics would call sympatheia – a connectedness with the cosmos….the “ocean feeling”. A sense of belonging to something larger, of realizing that”human things are an infinitesimal point in the immensity.” Also the concept of looking up at the universe, knowing your small, but also big. You’re big because you’re connected to the universe and the universe is connected to you. Silence the noise around you then when you’re quiet, you may finally hear the quiet voice needed to listen to. Creativity is a matter of receptiveness and recognition. This cannot happen if you think the world evolves around you.