Caitlin Johnstone

Suggestions From A Very, Very, Very Old Friend

Be suspicious of anyone who keeps telling you who they are,
because they’re trying to control your story about them.

Be doubly suspicious of anyone who keeps telling you who you are,
because they’re trying to control your story about you.

Be good, but don’t be well-behaved.
The two are mutually exclusive in this world.

Hold your beliefs loosely,
but not so loosely that they can be knocked from your hand
by anyone with a loud voice and a sense of entitlement.

Be open and engaging with people,
but also be aware that sociopaths exist.

Be skeptical,
but not so skeptical that you can’t climb into an idea
and try it on as though it were true.

Be funny, but don’t use it as a defense mechanism.
If you have to choose between being funny and feeling hurt,
choose to feel.

Whether you realize it or not,
you are choosing between authenticity and inauthenticity in each instant.
Become more conscious of those choices.

Know that everyone is exactly as lost and clueless as you are.
Some are just better at feigning confidence than others,
and some few have grown comfortable in their cluelessness.

Minds are great for writing code and inventing new tools and weapons,
but they are worthless for answering life’s biggest questions.

The best way to meditate is to sit still
and relinquish anything that thinks it knows how to meditate.

The best way to find yourself
is to non-conceptually examine the nature of that search.

There is a common notion that a good romantic partner
will “keep you in check” and “keep you grounded”.
This is bullshit.
A good romantic partner lifts you up and trusts you to fly.

Life is naturally breathtakingly beautiful.
Appreciating that beauty is a skill you can develop.

The more you learn to appreciate life’s beauty,
the more it will show off for you,
like a street performer who suddenly realizes he has an audience.

Ease and happiness are natural.
Struggle and suffering are artificial.
Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying.

Your own true north,
your true inner guidance,
will always lead you away from old patterns.

Clear seeing is the total absence of all manipulation.

Be shamelessly beautiful.

Be louder than the sociopaths.

Trust yourself.

Make art.

Make love.

Pay more attention to the clitoris.

Have fun.

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