Someone says life is hard.
The comedian says, “Compared to what?”
Comedians are philosophers.*
Derek Sivers

If we accept the will will never be able to do everything perfectly, we may start thinking about innovative ways to work within our limitations.**
Anne-Laure Le Cunff

The first elemental truth
of life being hard^ is also
a limitation the universe
is inviting me to play with–

*Derek Sivers’ How To Live;
**Anne-Laure Le Cunff’s Tiny Experiments;
^Richard Rohr’s Adam’s Return: 5 elemental truths (limitations) – Life is hard, You’re not as special as you think, Your life is not about you, You are not in control, You are going to die.

SOME RANDOM THIN|SILENCE
THIN|SILENCE FROM A YEAR AGO

Without a doubt, there can be growth within a stage, but growth from one stage to another usually requires us to doubt the assumptions that give shape to our current stage*
Brian McLaren

I doubt life is simple and easy,
I need to doubt that I am unable to deal with life’s challenges,
I must doubt that life is only hard and ugly,
I will not doubt that life is all of these, and worth believing in.

*Brian McLaren’s Faith After Doubt; the four stages being simplicity, complexity, perplexity, and harmony.

SOME RANDOM THIN|SILENCE
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That moment, it imprinted on my heart.
What a gift she gave me.
Mystic.*
Rob Bell

A personal myth delineates an identity, illuminating the values of an individual life. The personal myth is not a legend or a fairy tale, but a sacred story that embodies personal truth.**
Dan McAdams

So many people
inside each of us,
But one more than others–
Perhaps shaped
or maybe received–
lights a path
into some unknown.

*Rob Bell’s Everything Is Spiritual;
**Dan McAdams’ The Stories We Live By.

SOME RANDOM THIN|SILENCE
THIN|SILENCE FROM A YEAR AGO

Only the wounded physician heals.*
Viktor Frankl

There’s a difference between details and clutter…Details are the tools of your craft. Details remind you who you are, where you’ve been, and what your path is.**
Rob Bell

What if my clutter is my detail
and my detail is only clutter
and my pain may be your help
and your help may be my hope?^

*Viktor Frankl’s The Doctor And The Soul;
**Rob Bell’s How To Be Here;
^Here’s the journey of the lines – the rubbish experiences of our lives may be the things that define us, whilst what we think is important to turns out to be rubbish; and the pain from our rubbish may shape us as helpers, and still we need the help of others to help us hope.

SOME RANDOM THIN|SILENCE
THIN|SILENCE FROM A YEAR AGO

A good conversation is a constant stream of unexpected responses.*
Tim Harford

* Tim Harford’s Messy

SOME RANDOM THIN|SILENCE
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Social disconnection warps the mind…Over the past decade, everything has become politicised. Churches, universities, sports, food selection, movie awards shows, late night comedy – they have all turned into political arenas. Except this was not politics as it is normally understood. Healthy societies produce the politics of distribution…Unhappy societies produce the politics of recognition.*
David Brooks

And we have been given so much, each of us. All of us. What will we do with it? Who will we help? What will we give?**
Ryan Holiday

People wanted for hazardous journey.
Low trust, poor connection,
Even years of complete misunderstanding.
Safe return doubtful.
Community and beauty in event of success.

*David Brooks’ How To Know A Person;
**Ryan Holiday’s Right Thing, Right Now.

SOME RANDOM THIN|SILENCE
THIN|SILENCE FROM A YEAR AGO

The place to do your work, to live the good life is here.*
Ryan Holiday

Copying is how I learn, it’s a way to understand what’s really going on, and drawing is a way of slowing down long enough to really look at something.**
Austin Kleon

Not to wait for somewhere else,
Not to wait for perfect–
To notice the good
in the nearby and not-ready–
May we notice
what we have to bring.

*Ryan Holiday’s The Daily Stoic;
**Austin Kleon’s blog: Drawing to remember.

SOME RANDOM THIN|SILENCE
THIN|SILENCE FROM A YEAR AGO

Drawing is much more than GOOD OR BAD. IT IS A language FROM another part of you…Cartooning isn’t just a way of drawing, it is a way of seeing.*
Lynda Barry

 the act of writing by hand changes the human brain in ways typing physically cannot**
Justin Deschamps

I understand that when I write
or draw by hand
my brain lights up
everywhere all at once, but
typing sentences
or selecting an image
from Substack^
turns almost all the lights out–
I thought you might like to know
and have a play.

*Lynda Barry’s Making Comics;
**Justin Deschamps Substack post;
^Other image and photo stocks are available.

SOME RANDOM THIN|SILENCE
THIN|SILENCE FROM A YEAR AGO

Conversations are interactions that share insight and wisdom. Meetings are real-time memos that waste everyone’s time and leave no commonly accepted record behind.*
Seth Godin

I want to receive you as an active creator. I want to understand how you construct your points of view. I want to ask you how you see things.**
David Brooks

I followed my daily activities
with lists of what energised
and de-energised me–

Guess which list
captured conversations and which
the meetings–

Good conversations explore
the infinite of within and without,
Not so the meetings.

Love is living the experience of another person in all his uniqueness and singularity.^

*Seth Godin’s This Is Strategy;
**David Brooks’ How To Know A Person;
^Viktor Frankl’s The Doctor And The Soul.

SOME RANDOM THIN|SILENCE
THIN|SILENCE FROM A YEAR AGO

We each have within use unlimited possibilities; purpose is therefore never a singular discovery. Life is a continuous opportunity.*
Anne-Laure Le Cunff

he alone can do good who knows what things are like and what their situation is**
Josef Pieper

I must ask the questions,
I must know what you see,
I must listen with you,
I must be open
to what wants to be–

A person is a point of view…People don’t see the world with their eyes; they see it with their entire life.^

*Anne-Laure Le Cunff’s Tiny Experiments;
**Quoted in Ryan Holiday’s The Daily Stoic;
^David Brooks’ How To Know A Person.

SOME RANDOM THIN|SILENCE
THIN|SILENCE FROM A YEAR AGO