Mo Gawdat Quotes Page 3

“The gravity of the battle means nothing to those at peace.”

“The Illusion of Knowledge is strongly supported by the Illusion of Self, particularly the ego. We identify ourselves with our knowledge. We defend what we know and get offended when it’s attacked.

Since what we think is true is often different for different people, the attacks become frequent. It becomes a constant struggle to try to defend an ego.

Undress. Leave your knowledge open to attacks. Be wise. Define yourself by openness to those who contradict what you 'know'.

Be an explorer, a seeker of the truth, always ready to admit being wrong in order to continue the quest.”

“The scientific research will tell you that the more income you get the more happy you will become, but once you get to average income your happiness plateaus.”

“There are three types of thought that our brains produce: insightful (used for problem solving), experiential (focused on the task at hand), and narrative (chatter).

Those types are so distinctively different from each other that they occur in different parts of our brain.”

“There is nothing wrong with planning and trying to assume control. The way we react when something unexpected happens is where we go off track.”

“This is the reason relationships suffer: they’re built on conditional love in an ever-changing world. Expectations of beauty, entertainment value, physical pleasure, and other forms of expectation have become preconditions for love.

When the lover changes, the expectations are missed and the fairy tale turns into a nightmare. Unconditional love, on the other hand, withstands every change.”

“This very human set of survival skills is partly why we’re still here while so many other species are not.

We’re able to take control — or at least believe that we’re in control — while the best other beings can do is to react appropriately when the trouble starts.”

“To make a judgment you need to compare a current observation to one you’ve made in the past. To be anxious you need to think about the future and anticipate that it’ll be worse than the present.

To be bored you need to long for a state other than what’s happening in the present. To be ashamed you need to re-create a moment that no longer exists.

To be unhappy you need to focus on what you want that you don’t yet have. With the exception of pain, no one ever suffered from what was going on in the present moment.”

“To observe the physical world, you need to observe from a vantage point outside it.”

“To reach the state of uninterrupted joy, you need to accept that everything in the physical world will eventually vanish and decay, but the real self will remain calm and unaffected.

Connecting to that real self to see through the illusions of the physical world delivers the ultimate experience of peace and happiness.”

“Treat your brain as a biological function and understand he is not the boss – you are the boss.”

“Unconditional love is felt but not understood. It’s genuinely built upon 'I love' and nothing more — no reasons or preconditions, no expectations and no demands, and consequently no disappointments. No thoughts! This is the only form of true love. It’s rare to find, but it’s real.”

“Unhappiness happens when your reality does not match your hopes and expectations.”

“We humans, unlike the machines we make, constantly question the design. We think it should have been better.

Our biggest disagreement with the designer, and the reason many reject the concept, is rooted in the disapproval of the way he behaves.”

“We think fear is a sign of weakness. It makes us feel vulnerable. We act strong, puff out our chests, and hide our fears. We practice our disguise so long that we believe it.

Think about it, though: when is a puffer fish fully puffed? Being puffed isn’t a sign that it is brave but a sign that it is afraid, very afraid.”

“We view memories as archives of past events — of what has actually happened. But in reality, memories are nothing more than descriptions of what we think happened.”

“We wear different masks and hide our reality from everyone, including ourselves. Our assumed identities becomes our whole lives, and we start to believe them — even more than others do.”

“What happened to the joyful, calm infant who simply enjoyed the moment with whatever it had to offer? Gone. Swamped by the constant urge to define an ever-evolving identity.”

“What I realized was that I would never get to happiness as long as I held on to the idea that as soon as I do this or get that or reach this benchmark I’ll become happy.”

“What keeps us alive and propels us forward are our actions, not our fears.

Fear, if anything, paralyzes us. It blurs our judgment and blocks us from making the best possible decisions. Fear of failure doesn’t drive our best performance. All it does is add anxiety.

What truly drives us to success is our hard work. And you don’t need to be afraid to work hard.”

“What’s the best that can happen? That is the question to ask.”

“When it comes to thought, you should be in full control. Your brain’s job is to produce logic for you to consider.

When the thoughts are presented, you should never lose sight of the question: Who is working for whom?”

“When you see the truth of your unfolding life and compare it to realistic expectations of how life actually unfolds, you will remove the reasons to be unhappy and realize, more often than not, that everything’s fine, and so you will feel happy.”

“When you’re seeking modest improvement in what exists, you start working with the same tools and assumptions, the same mental framework on which the old technology is based. But when the challenge is to move ahead by a factor of ten, you start with a blank slate.

When you commit to a moonshot, you fall in love with the problem, not the product. You commit to the mission before you even know that you have the ability to reach it. And you set audacious goals.”

“While eternity is commonly understood to be a very long time, it really is the absence of time. It is timelessness.”

“While success doesn’t lead to happiness, happiness does contribute to success.”

“With no thoughts, we return to our default, childlike, state: happiness!”

“You are the observer. You are the one aware of all that is happening around you. I know it may sound disappointing, but you have never seen you. You are not to be seen. You are the one who sees.”

“You just need to take charge and act like the boss. Correct Descartes’ statement all the way: I am, therefore my brain thinks.”

“You’ll never please everyone. Find those who like the real you and invite them closer. All others don’t matter to you.”