Good Morning Friends!

I hope you're well. We are on a 10-day streak of sunshine here in Glasgow, which I've never seen in 6 years of living here! People moan about it still being cold, but it is absolutely beautiful to absorb after a long, dark winter.

I find myself growing branches from the idea of 'Living Fully'. We are heading into Spring I guess... I hope you enjoyed my piece about admiration last week, and I think the more I write and delve into this, the more virtuous it all feels. The danger of constantly aiming to be virtuous is losing sight of why you're doing it. If you get lost in amongst all your intended acts for the greater good, you end up becoming too egotistical. Yet, I feel too many of us swing the other way. We don't live with enough appetite for virtue and, therefore, miss out on all the great things it offers. Ultimately, it brings peace, which I understand isn't tangible, but that's perhaps what makes it worthwhile. The beauty I find with peace is that is always comes back to the simpler, the better.

One idea I've been pondering in this regard is the idea of doing something forever. I've talked about thinking infinitely many times in the early days of TSIP yet it always pops up in different ways to remind us how powerful it can be for guiding how we live. The next time you have an impending decision that could alter the trajectory of your life, ask yourself 'Does doing this forever work?'

The point being, why would you consider it in the first place if not? Is it a stepping stone to something greater? Or is it just the next level of life that you're ready to take on?

Humour me for a second but imagine if this was the rule when making choices? You have to do it forever. There is no going back. It would be wonderfully ruthless for choosing what matters to us. Would you be happy? Would you have peace?

It's not even about having access to all the pleasure in the world with these choices. It's about, you know what's coming, living fully. To experience the ride. It's like your own video game.

To get serious again for a second, why don't we have this outlook more so with decisions? How little consideration or respect do we show for our future selves by not asking this question? Are we just happy to accept the cards we've been given and think we'll be fine anyway? Imagine choosing to live a life less full?

Now, I actually have a cheat code for this idea. It may even be the reason why we don't take it so seriously. The cheat code is: we can change our minds. Most, if not all, decisions are reversible. It's like zero skin in the game. We need to create compulsion and consequence in order to reach the peace infinity brings. My advice? Create circumstance (a minimum commitment) to make yourself do the thing and then don't put an end date on it. Just turn up and see what happens. See how it makes you feel. Something not feel right? Pivot a bit, adjust. Do it until you find love. You'll feel punishment but do it until the love appears.

I'm going to close there today folks. Again, just scratching the surface and sharing as I go. Write to me with your thoughts. I'm away to play with my 8 month old! Have a great Sunday.

Best,

Lawrence