Three Bullet Thursday: May 6th, 2021

Hi friends! Inspired by Tim Ferriss’ Five Bullet Friday, every Thursday I will be sharing three things I’ve been exploring during the week. Welcome to Three Bullet Thursday!

• What I’m reading
  • Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk
    • Chuck’s perspective is an absolute masterpiece. His work pulls the curtain back on the taboos of our society, both experienced and imagined. Usually violent or sexual (sometimes both), his seemingly objective style resembles a reporter – simply describing a series of events as they are without attaching any explicit meaning to them… that’s up to the reader I suppose.
    • This book in in particular, Invisible Monsters, is the story of a fashion model who, via a bizarre accident, becomes physically disfigured and unable to speak. Let’s just say, it only gets weirder from there.
    • This is the fourth Palahniuk book I’ve read, and I recommend them all highly (if you like that sort of thing)
      • Fight Club
      • Choke
      • Survivor
      • Invisible Monsters (~100 pages in so far)

• Quote Passage I’m pondering
  • “When you understand,” Brandy says, “that what you’re telling is just a story. It isn’t happening anymore. When you realize the story you’re telling is just words, when you can just crumble it up and throw your past in the trashcan,” Brandy says, “then we’ll figure out who you’re going to be.” -Brandy Alexander, Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk
    • Yes, I know, I was just talking about this book and its weirdness and you’re ready to move on, but this passage really deserves a minute in the spotlight. Its one of those profound moments that come from the most unlikely of characters (which can happen in real life too y’know). AND WHAT SHE SAYS IS SO TRUE. We humans become so attached to our perceptions, our labels, our past, that our identities become entangled with these things that happened. We instinctively interpret the life around us, what people tell us, and how people treat us into what that means about our value, our worth, and our essence. But its simply not true. Those are just stories. And we have the ability to let those stories go. While of course, this is easier said than done, I still want to thank Brandy (or rather Chuck) for reminding me that it is possible.

• What I’m listening to
  • Aubrey Marcus Podcast Episode 240: Peter Crone can free your mind
  • Aubrey Marcus Podcast Episode 267: Free from your self with Peter Crone
  • Aubrey Marcus Podcast Episode 291: Reprogram your mind with Peter Crone
    • Maybe I should have opened with this, because I am now OBSESSED with Peter Crone. In all seriousness, I feel incredibly blessed that I encountered his work – my life is noticeably better for it.
      • One insight that I’ve literally thought about every day since I heard it is the idea that the emotional turmoil we experience (fear, anger, despair, etc) is simply a reflection of the concerns we have about who we are and what we are. For example, if I lost tons of money in the stock market based on a trade I recently made – I may feel depressed about my now fragile financial situation and angry at myself for making such a trade. “How could I be so stupid? What am I going to do now? That was supposed to help me retire!” HOWEVER, this freak-out doesn’t actually come from the numbers on my screen going down, they come from personal, and often unacknowledged, concerns I have about myself, like 1) having to work unfulfilling jobs my whole life and 2) being a failure. The incident simply revealed this to me. The next step is to acknowledge that these labels I am trying to disprove were never true in the first place. Maybe along the way people or experiences told me they were, but inherently, in my essence, I am not someone who is either of those things. AND here’s the fun part – everyone else is in the same boat, so when someone behaves in a way that I would normally call an overreaction, I can recognize that whatever I did or didn’t do really struck a cord with one of their personal concerns, and this severe reaction is not a direct result of whatever it is that actually happened. There is so much more below the surface. With this in mind, I can now encounter conflict and challenge with more kindness and compassion towards myself and others.
    • I also give an immense amount of credit to Aubrey Marcus for cultivating the space that is his podcast and being the other half of these three incredible conversations.

Hope you enjoyed this week’s Three Bullet Thursday! Please share your thoughts feedback in the comments below, especially if you have any recommendations for me!

See you next week!