The creative process is not a part of one’s life but life itself and all that it throws at you. For me, it was like the creative process, if we want to call it that, found its real purpose.*
Nick Cave

The linear way is wildly out of sync with the lives we live today.**
Anne-Laure Le Cunff

In a Mindful Doodling session
I offered at a local university only yesterday,
One of the participants shared how
they thought their first doodle
should be perfect but it was scrawl.

I loved this word as soon
as they spoke it;
When we’re beginning something, or
playing with an idea, or trying to
come to terms with something
life has thrown at us,
Our first attempts will nearly always
feel like scrawl,
But it’s how creativity begins, and
beginning is more than half a win.

*Nick Cave and Seán O’Hagan’s Faith, Hope and Carnage;
**Anne-Laure Le Cunff’s Tiny Experiments.

As in the case of lines, you are likely to stop when you are no longer sure you should go further – at the rear edge of the region of uncertainty.*
Daniel Kahneman

Categories too often become where thought goes to die. That is, where there’s a widespread tendency to act as if once something has been categorised, no further consideration is required. But, often, it is.**
Rebecca Solnit

What are we completely certain of?

Great institutions crumble,
People surprise us, this way or that,
Nature is far smarter than we once thought,
And this is not the future we imagined
fifty, twenty, or even
ten years ago.

Only through exploration and discovery of
the people we have the potential to be – and we have
no idea what our limits may be –
Will we be able to navigate the brisk uncertainty, rather than
shrouding ourselves in dusted, airless certainty-cum-categories.^

*Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow;
**Rebecca Solnit’s No Straight Road Takes You There;
^I primarily write this to myself.

This is your invitation into dialogue – not merely to observe reality, but to co-create it. Step forward now, speak and listen, ask and answer, and watch as the sacred unseen becomes known.*
AleXander McManus

Our job is not to control our idea; our job is to figure out what our idea is (and want to be) – and then bring it into being.**
Steven Pressfield

This is not how it has to be,
Nor can it be how we want it to be, but,
Perhaps there is something-other wanting to
emerge, and, if we bring our
imagination, playfulness, openness, gentleness, and humility,
It will appear.

*AleXander McManus’ Blue Moments;
**Steven Pressfield’s Do The Work.

To find our ‘life paths,” we’ve got to first accept a few myths about life paths: 1. A life path isn’t a get-out-of-suffering-free card.  2. Just because you choose a life path, it doesn’t mean you’re locked into that for a day longer than you want to be.  3. Not choosing a life path is choosing a life path – but it’s not a great one.*
Campbell Walker

We’re always on a path,
Even when we think we aren’t,
We are;
How then to make sure we’re on
great one? –
Passing on the wisdom of a Yaqui shaman,
Carlos Castaneda counsels,
Be sure to follow a path with a heart:
It is where we will find life.

The beginning of your path already exists within you, like
Dorothy setting forth on the yellow brick road,
You can identify the beginning through
your talents, energies, and values, and
follow where they lead.**

*Campbell Walker’s Your Head Is a Houseboat;
**Let me know if I can help: geoffrey@thinsilence.org.

I judge you unfortunate because you have never lived through misfortune. You have passed through life without an opponent – no-one can ever know what you are capable of, not even you.*
Seneca

Ritual and routine alone do not normally achieve such changes in our imagination and character on their own, but confrontations with our own woundedness and darkness often can.**
Richard Rohr

WordPress’ spellcheck doesn’t appear to
recognise the word woundedness – instread
wanting to replace it with roundedness –
Though, I guess, we do something similar,
Aiming for the appearance of a well-rounded life
before others, turning away
from the woundedness and hurt,
Yet, when I have faced and listened to and
learnt from these,
A better path has appeared.^

*Ryan Holiday’s The Daily Stoic;
**Richard Rohr’s The Tears of Things;
^More tomorrow.

What we don’t tend to realise is that we – and everyone else – view “objective” through our own subjective lens, our own personal narrative.*
Lisa Cron

The two most important things we can do are to allow ourselves to be seen AND to really see others.**
Bernadette Jiwa

Though I read widely to
find out what others believe, if
I am to join the objective,
I must be prepared to join a great diversity,
Giving up the obstacles I carry within me,
Together seeking to step out of the subjective,
for the sake of the transformation that is so
necessary.

The role of the facilitator is not to get people to collaborate but rather remove the obstacles that are impeding them from doing so.^

*Lisa Cron’s Story or Die;
**Bernadette Jiwa’s Briefly newsletter: Every Day Counts;
^Adam Kahane’s Everyday Habits For Transforming Systems.

We have yet to recognise that foresight trumps information in the game we are playing with machines … In the future, the human edge is going to come from what we value and from our judgement, not from going head-to-head with machines to parse facts.*
Bina Venkataraman

It’s a weird time to be alive right now. There’s so much input … All this stuff has to go somewhere. And so it ends up in our heads.**
Campbell Walker

I remember my friend and mentor
Alex saying that the future will be shaped by
foresight, intention, and love –
These very human attributes are why we are not threatened by
information, but welcome it,
Indeed we need information:
Stripped of its cumulative body of ideas,
the naked human brain is far less impressive.^

In preparation, and so we don’t compete with machines,
We identify what Bina Venkataraman identifies as our
judgements and values, and I point to as our
talents, energies, and values, through which
we shape our imagination and intent.^^

*Bina Venkataraman’s The Optimist’s Telescope;
**Campbell Walker’s Your Head is a Houseboat;
^Matthew Syed’s Rebel Ideas;
^^Let me know if I can help: geoffrey@thinsilence.org

Change your mind. That’s why you’re here.*
Seth Godin

So many people are losing heart, but not me! I have lived through four wars, have seen unbelievable suffering and misery, and you know what? I am full of hope for the human race. We are tied to each other in ways not possible before. We must now begin to live and grow together to become what we can be. I have dedicated the rest of my life to helping make this possible.**
78 year old retired nurse from Finland

There will always be the critical need for
a remnant willing to open their minds and
learn from the other –
Perhaps in this time of rapid polarisation
more than ever before –
Taking a stand for love and everyone:
Love is more than an emotional condition;
love is an intentional act.
What it intends is
the essence of the other person.^

*Seth Godin’s blog: Bringing goodwill to the conversation;
**Jean Houston’s The Possible Human;
^Viktor Frankl’s The Doctor and the Soul.

Journal writing is a voyage to the interior.*
Christina Baldwin

When did you first notice you were bad at something? And then what happened?**
Lynda Barry

Writing things out helps me unravel
the mess in my head so that
I might weave it into something helpful, useful, sometimes even
beautiful.

I do not make this journey alone – I have been
blessed with good companions who challenge, guide and
illuminate – like Lynda Barry asking great questions for journaling:
There’s always a What’s next?

*Ryder Carroll’s The Bullet Journal Method;
**Lynda Barry’s What It Is.

Your inner scorecard is the compass that points toward the person you’re meant to become, not the person others expect you to be. What’s on your inner scorecard?*
Bernadette Jiwa

I would say self-actualisation is the unintentional effect of life’s intentionality.**
Viktor Frankl

I was handed a scorecard as
Christine and I took our grandson onto the mini-golf course (with
dinosaurs): who would come first, second, and
third?

When we’re in a finite game, the likelihood is,
We’ll measure our performances against one another
with the scorecard
provided.

We’re in trouble, though, if this is the
only scorecard we use; more crucial is the one
we have designed for ourselves: performance versus
potential.

But is this scorecard for your infinite game? –
Which is your meaning or intention – so even if
your actions are thwarted,
This can never be taken from you.^

*Bernadette Jiwa’s Briefly newsletter: Measuring Up;
**Viktor Frankl’s The Will to Meaning;
^It will break out in new actions; you’ll make a new scorecard.