Whenever we inquire deeply enough into the truth about our suffering, we arrive at the place where, without changing direction, we stop descending and start ascending.*
Martha Beck

Yet overweighting our emotional investment with too much positivity brings its own dangers. The imbalance can inhibit learning, stymie growth, and limit our potential. That’s because negative emotions are essential too. They help us survive.**
David Pink

There is another you on the
other side of this pain,
Of course, there is another you who
is trying to ignore it, staying as
far away as possible –
Only one e is opening the way for
learning, growing, and moving.

Intuitively, we all know that pain is the force that transforms us.^

*Martha Beck’s The Way of Integrity;
**David Pink’s The Power of Regret;
^Donald Miller’s Hero On a Mission.

You are someone’s ancestor. Most immediately, you are the ancestor of the you of tomorrow … Become the ancestor you’d like to thank.*
Seth Godin

Finality, temporality is … not only an essential characteristic of human life, but also a real factor in its meaningfulness.**
Viktor Frankl

Death,
I cannot do without it,
Asking as it does, that I
live meaningfully today towards
providing tomorrow’s
goodly inheritance – this for
the sake of others:
Creativity,
Generosity,
Enjoyment.^

*Seth Godin’s blog: What do we owe the future?;
**Viktor Frankl’s The Doctor and the Soul:
^These are my three words for what it means to me to be human; yours will be different.

Night exists stage left
Dawn enters stage right
Up stage centre
Write, write, write*
Lemn Sissay

Is there life before death? That is the question!**
Anthony de Mello

What is your
write, write, write?^ –
The must that
insufflates your life!

*Lemn Sissay’s let the light pour in;
**Oliver Burkeman’s Meditations For Mortals;
^It may not writing, but it could help if you write your must down.

About nobility, I cannot be sure that the decline not to say the disappearance of nobility is anything more a maladjustment between the imagination and reality. We have been a little insane about the truth. We have had an obsession with… It is not only that imagination adheres to reality, but also that reality adheres to imagination and that interdependence is essential.*
Wallace Stevens

most of life is spent in the deception phase**
Dorie Clark

We are in trouble when we separate truth
and imagination, when we separate reality
and playfulness – one without the other
leads us into error.

May life deepen here:
Bring imagination and play to
who you are and
what you have.

*Wallace Stevens’ The Necessary Angel;
**Dorie Clark’s The Long Game.

Surprise causes finite play to end; it is the reason for infinite play to continue.*
James Carse

*James Carse’s Finite and Infinite Games.

You can be in a heads-up mode, looking for new opportunities, or you can be in a heads-down mode, just executing and focusing.*
Jared Kleinart

Like a child going out to play, creativity leaves reason at home and saddles up free association for long galloping rides.**
Robert McKee

Being focused and getting on with things is
useful until it isn’t, when it no longer works,
What then? –
It’s your job to have some fun and find something that will.

If the phone won’t ring, make the call
If the mountain won’t move, shift it
If the birds won’t sing, sing to them all
And if the sun won’t rise, lift it^

*Dorie Clark’s The Long Game;
**Robert McKee’s Character;
*Lemn Sissay’s let the light pour in.

This is the essence of the artistic process. When we’re in liminal space between now and what is about to come, we’re fully alive.*
Seth Godin

When one goes to the forest, one seeks mokșa, or release. Now, this word is often translated as “freedom.” That is not what it means. It means release from ego itself.**
Joseph Campbell

It is possible to move directly from where you are
to where you want to be, but look closer and you will see
there exists a space between here and there, and to
enter and explore is to uncover more possibilities –
Not only the things you can do, but also
the person you can be;
These liminal spaces are all around you:
To enter and explore, or to pass and keep going is always
a choice.

You have two essential tasks in life: to be a good person and to pursue the occupation that you love. Everything else is a waste of energy and a squandering of your potential.^

*Seth Godin’s blog: The next one;
**Joseph Campbell’s Pathways to Bliss;
^Ryan Holiday’s The Daily Stoic.

When you lead without compensation, sacrifice without guarantees, when you take risks because you believe, then you are demonstrating your faith in the tribe and its mission.*
Seth Godin

*Seth Godin’s Tribes.

Don’t chase success. Instead chase new and interesting ways of solving other people’s problems.*
gapingvoid

*gapingvoid’s blog: Take something ordinary and elevate it.

The most important thing is to
find the people who need and who will
value what you have to give.