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Neal Rogachefsky's avatar

I really enjoyed this Barry. It brought together so many of the concepts we’ve been covering. I’m sure to reflect on it many times over.

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Barry Brownstein's avatar

Very nice to read your kind note, Neal. This is one of my favorite essays.

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Peter Sullivan's avatar

Thanks Dr. B - taking me back to our class in grad school with Hayek’s “Cosmos and Taxis” such an impact on me - can’t thank you enough! And my learning continues thanks to this incredible study! So grateful- thank you.

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Barry Brownstein's avatar

Pete, Thank you! We go back almost 30 years. I'm honored to still be working with you.

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Ann Tomoko Rosen's avatar

Thank you for distilling much of what has been plaguing me. It kind of reminds me of a line from Spanglish, from mother to daughter engaging in an extramarital affair: ”lately dear your low self-esteem has been just good common sense.”

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Barry Brownstein's avatar

Thank you, Ann.

What a great line. David Reynolds would love it!

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KM's avatar

Thanks Prof Brownstein. I think the whole self-esteem concept was just taking off when I was a child, so it was all around when I was growing up. But it just never made sense to me. David Reynolds approach makes much more sense.

It also reminds of what Cal Newport wrote in one of his books about passion - about how it emerges from actually doing something, from the practice of learning and mastering something.

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Barry Brownstein's avatar

Thank you, Kylee.

Cal Newport's books are wonderful. Here is my essay on Newport/Passion: https://fee.org/articles/dear-new-grads-forget-about-finding-your-passion/

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Apr 28
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Barry Brownstein's avatar

Very well said, John.

Reynolds calls his work Constructive Living and he would agree with you. He wants us to see all our excuses and then act, anyway. The more we ignore the fear (obviously, we are not talking about taking rash actions) of what needs doing, the more our mindset begins to alter, and we see how ephemeral our self-concept was.

Do I think Reynolds has a complete theory? No. But his ideas work very well in tandem with what we have studied and will study.

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