Ben's Weblog

Here I provide the link to a blog by a good friend of mine, Ben Smith: Exploring The Crooked Crag

Location: Alexandria, VA, USA

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No Place at All

No Place at All (a fictional parable)      One day many years ago as I stood outside the Metro Center station, I was approached by a stranger. He was a boy about my age, not more than fifteen.      “Excuse me,” he said, “I’m lost. Can you point me to the nearest Metro station?”      I was astonished since we were standing right in front of a Metro station – and not just any station, the central station of the city. “Dude, are you ok?” I responded. “This is the entrance to the metro. You’re standing right in front of it!”      “Bear with me,” he said. “I’m not from here. I come from a small town in rural, and the whole city just seems overwhelming. Everything looks the same – concrete and glass everywhere. It’s hectic, with people and cars and bikes and busses coming at me at every corner. Even at night it’s light, yet shadows lurk everywhere and I am afraid. We hear stories of gangs and criminals. Where I’m from there’s peace a...
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Thought for the Day

“Virtue is destroyed through the same activities through which we acquire it, and the same is true for practical skills. People become both good and bad kitharists from playing the kithara, and similarly for house builders and all the rest. It is from building well that people become good house builders, and from building badly that they become bad ones…. The same goes for the virtues. From of transactions with others, for example, some of use become just, and others unjust. From the way we act in frightening situation, as we get used to feeling fear or confidence, some of us become braved while others become cowards. So too in matters of appetites and anger, some people develop self-discipline and an even temper, while others become self-indulgent and hot tempered – depending on how they conduct themselves in those situations.” From Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics Here, Aristotle is saying that just doing something a lot does not mean you will be good at it. You have to do it a lot a...
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The Power of Journaling

Lately, I have been journaling a lot, and I think you should too. To talk about journaling, I want to first offer a note on visualization that will add context to my thoughts. Visualization is the practice of forming clear and detailed mental images of your goals to help align your mindset with the outcomes you want to achieve. Here’s another idea to build on: Warren Buffett famously promoted his 5/25 rule. It states that you should list your top 25 goals, select the 5 that matter the most, and then avoid the remaining 20 at all costs to stay focused and drive success. If you journal daily, you are naturally doing both of these things at once – whether you realize it or not. Every day that you journal, every page that you fill out, every idea or success that you jot down, every frustration you lament in your writings, you are slowly creating a comprehensive worldview and constructing your dream life.  Journaling gives form to your thoughts on a large scale. If you journal for long...
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