First of all, anchors.

I’ve found myself wondering about how much the first source I read or come across on a subject fixes my thinking on it – an anchor.  If I find I don’t really like what I’m reading or finding out about, then perhaps this isn’t my first exposure and I’m comparing to something else.  Who?  What?

Dan Ariely tells me this is “arbitrary coherence,” something Humans do as they seek to find lines of reference and patterns.  The arbitrary part might be an idea, a price, a starting point, which provides the anchor I need.  The coherence part is how I make sense of everything else in relation to this.

Of course, if the starting point isn’t a good or accurate one, I’ve got a problem.

Then, observations.

Perhaps an antidote to arbitrariness.  To really see things accurately is key to what I want to do with my life.  To notice the details, gain more information, and then to internalise them, mixing them with my skills and passions, will make it possible for me to express them through my art in a way that serves and contributes to another.

Of course, this is difficult.

To hold to the anchor makes life more straightforward and simpler; to let go is to be all at sea.  But “all at sea” is where the world is most of the time; your willingness to be anchor-free may be part of tackling the problems.  Which makes you something of a rarity in the world.  There are lots of anchor-people but not many let-go people.