Learn to Thrive

THE WEEKLY THRIVE ED. 1.1

The Weekly Thrive

• The Weekly Thrive Ed. 1.1
• Date: 2025-08-27
• View this on the web.

Welcome to the first edition of The Weekly Thrive. I’m so glad to have you and I can’t wait to share what’s in store.

A quick FYI: this newsletter used to be called “Chase the Feeling” on Substack. All of the posts listed there are available on my website, Learn to Thrive.

I have a lot planned for the website and you’ll notice some changes coming soon over the next few weeks. Here are a few things I’ve been writing about the past week…

One thing to think about: The body is intelligent

When we think of the mind as the center of intelligence, but what if it is just the receiver of information and it is actually the body that is the source of our intelligence?

“There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophies.” - [[Friedrich Nietzsche]]

What Nietzsche is telling us is that truth and wisdom are relative. You can search out there for as long as you’d like, but the truth you’re looking for is already within you.

Truth isn’t something you can find, it’s something you uncover. All you can do is illuminate what’s standing in the way of the truth.

How you get back in tune with what’s true is by dismantling what is not. This is why [[The Work]] by Byron Katie is so effective. It’s a framework for dismantling beliefs (thoughts you believe are true) by questioning their foundation.

The four questions are:

1. Is it true?
2. Can you absolutely know it’s true?
3. What is it like to believe you’re right?
4. Who would you be without it?

Truth feels like freedom in the body. Your body is your compass, it keeps the score and it knows when you’re off track. The first step is always awareness. How can you possibly change what you’re unaware of?

The second step to changing your beliefs about yourself and the world are going out and having experiences that make them real to you.

I invite you to [[listen to the wisdom of your body]]. Learn to speak it’s language.

I also added this quote to the home page:

“When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower someone else.” Toni Morrison

This signals that changing the world must first start as a change within ourselves, because what it takes to change the world is allowing yourself to see, think, and act differently.

One thing to write about: Our stories become the truths we carry

“What is true is already so. Owning up to it doesn’t make it worse. Not being open about it doesn’t make it go away. And because it’s true, it is what is there to be interacted with. Anything untrue isn’t there to be lived. People can stand what is true, for they are already enduring it.” — Eugene T. Gendlin (source)

If we want to change our lives, it starts with changing the story we tell ourselves about it.

The stories we tell ourselves are reflections of our inner lives. We are mugs filled to the brim, and if we want to change what’s spilling out of us, we must work to change what is within us.

As life unfolds, we weave a narrative through our experiences to help us make sense of things, but how we tell the story determines the meaning we place on it.

From the meals we choose to the careers we pursue, the relationships we build to the decisions we make, the way we frame our experiences shapes how we see the world.

Even though our stories are unique, they follow predictable [[narrative]] arcs that can provide insight into how the rest of the story might unfold.

One thing to act on: Pay it forward

“If equal affection cannot be. Let the more loving one be me.” - W. H. Auden (from [[LN 📘 How to Know a Person by David Brooks]])

How will you empower someone today? What small act of kindness can you bestow upon someone today?

Change notes (2025-08-27)

• Added garden.learntothrive.club subdomain as a way to publish more notes. If you see any “[wiki-links]”, this is Obsidian’s built in linking feature. Those are accessible here on the subdomain (reply to this email for access).
• I also added a “name” feature to the newsletter, so if your email starts off with a “Hi Name,” and you would like to add your name to it, please reply and I can add your name. For most of you, this doesn’t apply.
• Finished Part 1 of PKM Track - Part II - Refining your capture habit. This is the foundation for building your PKM system.
• We have our weekly PKM workshop coming up on Thursday, August 28th at 11 am. All notes from previous workshops can be found at Ness Labs PKM Group.
• Started writing Part 2 of PKM Track - [[Part III - Making sense of information]].
• Wrote an outline for [[Life Track]], more on this soon.
• Added Toni Morrison quote to Home page.

– I’d love to hear from you - please reply to this email with any thoughts, feedback, constructive criticism, or anything you’d like to see more of. I read every reply.

See you next week! Ethan

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