Hello Friend,

I hope you are in a healthy state of mind and body; the endless whirlpool of tragic tales from the pandemic-ridden world hasn’t pulled you down.

I lately focus a lot on my health, both physical and mental. My mind and body have endured a lot of stress in the past three months, making me realize the importance of staying fit. It was time that I took control and regain the lost energy.

Keeping up with such a resolution is not easy. My mind desires to wander; my body demands to lay back. You are so tired; why do you want to exert yourself more? It questions. And I have often given in to their desires and demands. Not this time, though.

For more than a month now, I have been on the lookout for ways to help myself with this fight. To find ways that work for me. To not give up on the resolve when the things that aren’t working out. I have read a series of articles and books that have helped many that I know. I am consciously implementing what they suggest, attempting before deciding.

Very often, I have fallen prey to prematurely make up my mind about the suggestions from others. “I don’t share that surrounding. I am in such a different phase of my life. That’s too costly. Or too difficult. Or too stupid.” My mind always finds some way to convince me why the suggested strategies won’t work. A month back, it was time for some introspection.

Is it not ironic that a tired mind and body doesn’t want to be taken care of?

Anyway, here’s a selection of this edition’s three brilliant works of writing. I hope they trigger some inspiration for your mind to churn a few happy, positive thoughts.


"Politics and the English Language" by George Orwell

It becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts. The point is that the process is reversible. Modern English, especially written English, is full of bad habits which spread by imitation and which can be avoided if one is willing to take the necessary trouble. If one gets rid of these habits one can think more clearly, and to think clearly is a necessary first step toward political regeneration: so that the fight against bad English is not frivolous and is not the exclusive concern of professional writers.

"Things We Think We Know" by Chuck Klosterman

We adore stereotypes, and we desperately need them to fabricate who we are (or who we are not). People need to be able to say things like, “All stereotypes are based on ignorance,” because expressing such a sentiment makes them enlightened, open-minded, and incredibly unpleasant. Meanwhile, their adversaries need the ability to say things such as, “Like it or not, all stereotypes are ultimately based in some sort of reality,” because that kind of semilogic can justify their feelings about virtually anything. Nobody really cares what specific stereotype they happen to be debating; what matters more is how that label was spawned, because that defines its consequence. It raises a fundamental query about the nature of existence: Is our anecdotal understanding of the world founded on naivete, or is it built on dark, unpopular truths?

"Once More to the Lake" by E. B. White

We had a good week at the camp. The bass were biting well and the sun shone endlessly, day after day. We would be tired at night and lie down in the accumulated heat of the little bedrooms after the long hot day and the breeze would stir almost imperceptibly outside and the smell of the swamp drift in through the rusty screens. Sleep would come easily and in the morning the red squirrel would be on the roof, tapping out his gay routine. I kept remembering everything, lying in bed in the mornings–the small steamboat that had a long rounded stern like the lip of a Ubangi, and how quietly she ran on the moonlight sails, when the older boys played their mandolins and the girls sang and we ate doughnuts dipped in sugar, and how sweet the music was on the water in the shining night, and what it had felt like to think about girls then.

Postscript

Have any recommendations or feedback for me? I’d love to hear from you. Just hit reply, or you can even email me.

Thank you for reading and sharing.

-Amit