Weekly read Wednesday

Welcome back. I'm going to try to maintain this blog with a couple of posts a week. Flat progress posts will be up at the end of the month, but in the meantime here's three articles that I enjoyed reading. I always had positive feedback about these posts, so here's the first one in nearly three months. I hope it's a goodie.

First up is, The Staggering Bullshit of "The Secret." Apologies to anyone who is a lover and firm believer in this book. Probably best to skip this one. 

For those of you who don't know what The Secret is…well you'll have to read it to find out. I'm kidding. The Secret is a self-help book that was published in 2006 and states that our thoughts govern what we receive. As in, literal energy waves get sent out from our brains and the universe only responds by giving back whatever we give out. 

Now I'm a big believer in energy and the power of our thoughts, but I do not believe that the Holocaust was simply caused by too many negative thoughts floating around at the time. I also think that relying too hard on this mantra can be detrimental to things we want to achieve. "Books like The Secret are like McDonald's for the mind. They're easy and make you feel good, but they also make you mentally fat and lazy…" Thoughts can only get you so far. To get where you want to be, you have to get up and do something. And sometimes, things go wrong and that's okay. It's not your fault because you didn't believe in yourself enough. "At some point, we must all come to terms with the struggles and failures in our lives, because we have them. This, ironically, is a more logical path to success than simply wishing incessantly for all your dreams to come true. Don't wish for good rewards. Wish for good problems." No journey of success is ever a smooth ride. Don't be lazy. If you want something, work hard and be a nice person.

This is a nicely put article (if a little blunt), but if you do one thing today…please watch the video included; guy tries to smash wood-board on his head by believing in himself.

Next, here are five tips for how to get away from your digital life. It's always good to remind ourselves that there is life outside of the internet. If you ever find yourself refreshing your social media feeds in a constant cycle (we've all been there), this is a quick article for you.

Finally, here is a short video teaching us a potentially life saving self defence technique. I hope no-one reading this is ever in a situation where they ever need to use this, but just incase…this guy's got your back.

Welcome back to WHAT IS THIS LIFE. Have a wonderful Wednesday.