Satisfaction

It's easier to feel good by being satisfied with a little than by getting a lot.

Due to its nature, thinking cannot produce full satisfaction.
On the contrary, it is the father and mother of our problems.
Ambition and desires are fertile ground for disappointments and frustrations.

Saving the Planet

A man who says he will save the world is overestimating himself.

Instead of saving the planet, we should be focused on changing our own actions.

Security

To feel safe, people want to belong to a group, sect, or organisation.
That is only a delusion of security.

Seeing

There is more to everything than meets the eye.

It's not what we look at, but what we see when we look.

We only see a narrow strip of the infinite in the middle of which we live.
The more limited the mind is, the more easily it runs against its own limits.

There is not a more important skill than the ability to see the good and the beautiful in the world, in others, and in oneself.

We need other people to see ourself.

We get used to everything, even not seeing something obvious.

Seeing life correctly is the starting point for doing what works.
It elevates the mind and energizes the brain.

It is of utmost importance to see correctly.
If we see wrong, we act wrongly.

Selected

We hide certain pats of ourselves,
even from ourselves.

Self

The self is an isolating system.
Its circuit can be enlarged, but not enough.

We can get over the rainbow
only after understanding ourselves.

The journey to ourself takes us to other people.

We spend our life with ourself.

The best way to find yourself is to be there.

The self has no form other than that given by thoughts.
The ego cannot be touched.
Therefore, observing the self is in a sense impossible.

A person who thinks he understands life
may think a little too much of himself.

There is no objective self, only subjective perceptions created by the mind.

Thinking gives undue importance
to the permanent part of the self.

When the self is stripped, the world opens up.

What else can you be but yourself?

Self-centredness

Self-centredness in all its forms kills empathy and crushes compassion.

A self-centred person absorbs problems because he sees himself as the centre of everything and spends his time defeating an invented monster.

Self-centredness is a learned habit, but we can unlearn it. The brain can isolate us, but it can also connect.

Self-deprecation

Belittling is not a smart way to look at yourself or others.

Self-deprecation is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Self-direction

Everyone can make more for themselves than they do.

Self-examination

Self-examination creates the illusion in the brain that the ego is real.

Self-importance

Self-importance often produces
the opposite effect to what is intended.

Self-improvement

If the idea of self-improvement comes from a desire to be better than others, it is only poorly disguised selfishness.

Self-respect

A self-respecting person does not let himself off easily.

Selfishness

Selfishness is a prison to which a person sentences himself.

If selfishness is the answer, then what was the question?

Selfishness is a dumb way to shrink yourself.

Separation

There is no point where you stop and I begin.
When we meet, we are intertwined.
Everything is intertwined with everything.
Nothing is separate.
We just cannot isolate ourselves from the world.

You and I are different. We are also different to how we were a week or a year ago. Some part of us lives in time and space, the rest lives in connection with the universe. We are physically separate, but our minds are inseparable.

Shared Meaning

Societies are built on shared meanings. They are the cement that holds cultures together: without shared meaning, communities collapse.

If we want to achieve something together, we must realize the necessity of shared meaning. If everyone's views are taken seriously, everyone shares the same meaning.

Show

A company is not a one-man-show -nor one-woman.

Many strong leaders have destroyed their companies
by permitting a personality cult to emerge.

Shrinking

No one has the right to shrink anyone.

When we limit our life, we are not shrinking life, but ourselves.

Sibelius

Do we have to be Sibelius to hear the glow in a crane's voice or to be dumbfounded by a swan's beauty?

Jean Sibelius was not a talker. In his only radio interview, he stated, among other things:
"I never talk about my compositions."
"All my works are dear to me, my own children."
"Never write any unnecessary note, because every note must live."
"Here at Ainola, this silence speaks."

Silence

When we focus all our attention on the facts, everything that doesn't belong disappears.
Then we hear the silence, and it's incredibly beautiful.

Silence is underrated.

Silence of the mind is a luxury.

We can be wrong even when we don't say anything.

Silence is not the ending of the noise.
It is listening quietly.

Skill

We can become skilled at what we like to do,
but rarely become a master at what we don't love.

No amount of skill can compensate for the lack of will.

Sky

The sky is blue and sometimes dazzlingly red.
Nature's brush paints accurately and sensitively.

Slave

If the salary is the best thing at work,
a person has made himself a slave.

Slow

There is great beauty in slow motions.

Small

Acting small is big.

Life is not insignificant
- but one can make it so.

Smart

A smart person does not criticize
what he doesn't understand
- nor what he does understand.

Many people would be smarter
if they kept their mouths shut.

In life, it's not how smart we are,
but how we are smart.

Smile

You can't force someone to smile genuinely.

Society

Society is a product of our minds.
Without the mind, there are no countries, companies, governments, human relationships, or ideologies, but there is no sense of joy or freedom either.

Song

If you want to sing,
you will find a song.

Speciality

Life is special.

If you see something special,
something special is about to be born.

Spreading

We spread what we are.
We can only give what we have.

Stability

We live in a world where stability is an exception.

Staying

It seems like people are doing anything to stay put.

Stranger

When encountering a stranger,
we reveal ourselves.

Stretching

Every person wants to experience miracles in their life,
but many workplaces don't provide a platform
in which they might manifest.

Stupid

When we notice that we are acting stupidly,
we change our behaviour immediately.
If we don't think we're stupid,
we keep banging our heads against the wall.

Subject

The subject creates the object,
the observer creates the observed.
Without one there is no other.

Success

The common definition of success generates by-products that nobody wants.

Success is a matter of will.
Not that we can achieve success by wanting it,
but that we can't get it without wanting it.

Prolonged success can numb and make us arrogant.
The dumbest decisions are often made in the throes of success.

Success starts often after taking a wrong step in the right direction.

Success is getting what we want.
Happiness is wanting what we have.

We cannot always succeed. And we shouldn't.
We can always learn. And we should.

Support

In support, giving is as important as getting.

Suppression

All ideologies are based on suppression of thoughts
and lead to conflict.

Symbols

The ideas describe a trimmed-down version of the target. The object either exists or it doesn't, but thought is always different from the object it refers to. Words and thoughts are only symbols.

System Errors

We often approach a problem in the same way that created it: by breaking it down into parts. System faults must be approached differently. They need to be looked at them holistically, organically, and more palpably.

System errors cannot be fixed by pressing a button. The mechanism that causes a particular consequence must be revealed. After that, we might come up with ways to hack the system.

Systems

It is not easy to understand what the external reality of the system requires, allows, or enables. The system either exaggerates or underestimates the changes taking place in the environment, and may react in ways that are not good.

A living system cannot be defined without distorting it.