As best I could understand it, the Buddha’s main thesis was that in a world where everything is constantly changing, we suffer because we cling to things that won’t last.
10% Happier
Dan Harris
These receptors receive instructions from chemicals called neurotransmitters. All neurotransmitters carry only one of two messages: they can either “excite” a cell, encouraging it to fire an electrical impulse, or “inhibit” a cell, which hinders it from firing. These simple conversations between neurons are at the root of everything we do, from sipping a glass of wine to writing a newspaper lead.
Brain on Fire
Susannah Cahalan
One solution is to avoid making any single aspect of your identity an overwhelming portion of who you are. In the words of investor Paul Graham, “keep your identity small.” The more you let a single belief define you, the less capable you are of adapting when life challenges you.
Atomic Habits
James Clear
When people injure you, ask yourself what good or harm they thought would come of it. If you understand that, you’ll feel sympathy rather than outrage or anger. Your sense of good and evil may be the same as theirs, or near it, in which case you have to excuse them. Or your sense of good and evil may differ from theirs. In which case they’re misguided and deserve your compassion. Is that so hard?
Meditations
Marcus Aurelius
The Diderot Effect states that obtaining a new possession often creates a spiral of consumption that leads to additional purchases.
Atomic Habits
James Clear