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- 🐒 The 5 Parable of the 5 Monkeys
Hey guys! 👋 Hope you're all having a fantastic week.
Today, I want to share a thought-provoking parable that reminds us of the importance of questioning our beliefs and embracing personal growth. You may have heard of the "Five Monkeys Experiment" or the "Five Monkeys and a Ladder Experiment."
The story goes as follows: Five monkeys find themselves in a room with a tantalizing bunch of bananas hanging from the ceiling. As soon as a monkey attempts to climb the ladder to reach the bananas, all the monkeys are drenched with cold water. Soon, a lesson is learned: climbing the ladder leads to discomfort for everyone.
Then, a new monkey, oblivious to the previous spray of water, is introduced to the group. As it eagerly makes its way towards the ladder, the other monkeys, conditioned by their past experience, prevent it from doing so. This cycle continues as each original monkey is replaced, with the newcomers being taught by the existing monkeys to refrain from climbing the ladder, even though they don't fully comprehend why.
This simple parable holds profound wisdom that we can apply to our lives. It reminds us to question our thoughts and beliefs. How often do we go through life accepting and adhering to certain ideas without truly examining them? Are they truly aligned with our values and aspirations? Or were they instilled in us by others without critical examination?
By challenging our beliefs, we embark on a journey of self-discovery and growth. It allows us to break free from the confines of societal expectations and become the architects of our own lives. When we question why we think a certain way, who taught us to believe as we do, and whether these beliefs still hold true, we gain the power to shape our perspectives and make conscious choices.
Embracing this practice of self-reflection and questioning ensures that we continue to evolve into the person we aspire to be, rather than conforming to what the world expects of us. It liberates us from the limitations imposed by outdated beliefs and encourages personal growth on our own terms.
So, I invite you to take a moment and contemplate a recent thought or belief that you held. Challenge yourself to critically analyze it. Ask yourself why you think this way and who or what influenced your perspective. Does it still hold true in light of your personal values and experiences?
I’d love to hear any thoughts you have on this. Feel free to reply to this email 🙂
Have a great week.
Kenji.
👍🏾 Things I’ve enjoyed this week
The Flash (movie) - I haven’t seen this just yet, but I plan to do so this weekend. I loved the Flash series, and I am super excited to see this movie! Will keep you updated on how it went on next week’s newsletter.
How to get Youtube premium at a discount (article) - I love YT premium but hate the expensive cost. If you’re a student looking to save money, I found this article particularly interesting 👀.
A Job to Love (book) - As you all know, I love The School of Life, and this week I started this book. It talks about what makes a job good enough, and ensure the job that you do is fulfilling you in the way that it should.
📚 Highlight of the week
The Arc of the Practical Creator - More to That moretothat.com
But this is where the power of reframing comes in. A Practical Creator doesn’t view a boring job as a dead-end endeavor, but as an active patron of their creativity. In the same way that wealthy families support the financial needs of their favorite artists, the same could be said about you and your employer. You exchange your time for money, which is then used to purchase the clarity of attention you can invest into your creative work.
Monetary wealth displays itself on a scoreboard for the world to see, but time is measured on an hourglass that no one, not even you, can view. Monetary wealth climbs higher as we make more money, but time slowly ticks lower and lower. You are the most time-rich when you are the most financially poor, but we rarely notice when we have an abundance of time. We only become aware of the value of time when ours is almost gone.
Freedom is one of those virtues that money actually can buy. In fact, it’s the greatest thing that money can purchase, as the ability to choose what problems to solve (and the manner in which you’ll solve them) is enabled by having control over your attention. Ultimately, money affords you with the ability to close the doors you don’t want opened, and to open the doors that were once closed.
Resurfaced to me by Readwise
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