jessa blog
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The state of mental ease
Ease is defined as “freedom from worries or problems.” And doesn’t that sound good? Who always wants to worry and think about problems, right? But ease is also defined as “the absence of effort,” which doesn’t sound so good at all unless all you want is to just get by in life—here today and gone… Read more
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Self-centeredness and short-term thinking
Our confrontation with mortality—or more often, our avoidance of it—shapes our relationship with time itself. When we refuse to acknowledge our finite nature, we construct an artificially narrow temporal horizon that barely extends beyond our existence. This temporal myopia manifests first as self-centeredness, as I’ve observed in my perception of time. Who has the time… Read more
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Think long-term
As an energy researcher, talking about climate change is part of our work. It is a concept that really stuck with me in 2006 after watching An Inconvenient Truth on cable television. Even after reading The Ministry for the Future, I still find it challenging to imagine what life would look like a year or… Read more
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Appearances can be misleading
Wealth can be found even in unassuming places—the dirty and the dank, the commonplace and unremarkable. I also learned that aesthetics don’t always indicate a steady and growing business (although some have reached a point where they can afford the luxury and expense of aesthetics while others have to be aesthetically pleasing as a part… Read more
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Late-night musings #24
Saving money here and there eventually accumulates into an amount you won’t have a heart saving up overnight. The small things and the silent drips may initially seem inconsequential but they create opportunities if consistently pursued. Read more
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Being comfortable in your own skin
Getting old and being married meant you have to accept two realities about finding comfort in being naked in front of: Read more
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A shift in workspace
Location matters when you want to pursue productive work. I’ve been doing most of my academic and professional activities away from home, setting my state of mind that going home means rest. And so, working from home with familiar faces from childhood feels like working against the current—I have to exert more effort to focus… Read more