Whatever you value most in your life can always be traced back to some jumble of chance occurrences you couldn’t possibly have planned for, and that you certainly can’t alter retrospectively.* Oliver Burkeman
If we stick to the letter of the law, we don’t have to think. Because there’s risk involved in thinking. There’s nowhere to hide if it goes wrong. But real creativity often comes with risk. So don’t just blindly follow the words themselves.** Dave Trott
A more fruitful approach to the challenge of living more fully in the moments start from noticing that you are, in fact, are already living in the moment anyway, whether you live it or not.* Oliver Burkeman
This is the pleasure of limits, the fun of play. Not doing what we want, but doing what we can with what is given.** Ian Bogost
Right now, I may turn my attention to the moment I am in: This space, this light, these words, this pen and journal, these feelings; And though a moment may seem small and insignificant, Though it cannot contain all things, as it unfolds, it holds the possibility of leading me to everything.
Whatever the reason, we generate the meaning we need in the moment. The act of reinterpretation is fundamentally an act of agency; it gives is a sense of control and confidence at exactly the moment we feel out of control and lacking confidence.* Bruce Feiler
Keep asking questions. Colour outside the lines. Draw your own maps. Create your own legends.** Ekere Maria Hadessa Talliet
Whatever’s happening right now, I’ve got to remember it’s a story, and, If I stop and pinch myself to get my attention, I can tell it differently – Sometimes even with a flourish.
There’s always something just below the surface, the elements that most people simply don’t notice. But we can if we choose.* Seth Godin
Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.** Seneca
Futurist Ramez Naam writes about the technological, pharmaceutical, and surgical enhancements that we are exploring in order to be More Than Human, But there is far more to who we are yet to be discovered before we resort to these augmentations, The problem is that it takes something that we’ve always struggled with – Effort; We often say “We can’t” when we really mean “We won’t,” Yet for those who feel stuck where they are and understand discipline to be an ability they can develop there are everyday superpowers to be uncovered: The ability … … to work hard … to say no … to practice good habits and set boundaries … to train and prepare … to avoid temptations and provocations … to keep your emotions in check … to endure painful difficulties.*
There’s a word in Spanish. … Instead of saying ‘to wake up,’ you say recordarse, that is, to record yourself, to remember yourself. … Every morning I get that feeling because I am more or less nonexistent. Then when I wake up, I always feel I’m being let down. Because, well, here I am. Here’s the same old stupid game going on. I have to be somebody. I have to be exactly that somebody.* Jorge Luis Borges
Perfection is a manufactured idea. Nothing we see around us is perfect. Indeed, it takes a human mind to conceive of perfection, just as it take a human mind to label something beautiful.* Alan Lightman
Does this choice diminish me or enlarge me?** James Hollis
There’s no perfect choice; There’s a good choice, and the choice that opens more options, there’s even an accidental choice that you’re forever thankful for; Sometimes there’s the obvious choice, though sometimes you go with the non-obvious or the gut-choice just because you want something different – James Hollis’ question will help us with every one of them.
I think there is more going on than we can see or understand, and we need to find a way to lean into the mystery of things – the impossibility of things – and recognise the evident value of doing that, and summon the courage it requires to not always shrink back into he known mind.* Nick Cave
The very moments that make us go “wow!” are the very same moments that can change our lives.** Oliver Burkeman
Stay a while longer, Stretch your unbelieving, See what is happening, Reflect on it some, Be open to the possibility, Allow the unknown to enfold you, You’re learning to dance with mystery, Transfigured by life.
participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world* Joseph Campbell
Something in us wants to be distracted, whether by our digital devices or by anything else – to not spend our lives on what we thought we cared about most. The calls are coming from inside the house.** Oliver Burkeman
Reply to that text, Complete the job in the garden as it’s stopped raining, Find that item that you need (probably under the stairs), Here’s a good moment to touch up the paintwork, Got to put some petrol in the car, Make the shopping list … A moment ago, you were excited by something, A difference you really wanted to make, To bring a little more brightness into the world – Into someone’s world – You had felt the power that came from imagining how this aligns with your talents and passions and values, But now you’re distracted, and you realise that something inside of you is relieved, because joy doesn’t come without time, effort, and sacrifice.
The bittersweet is also about the recognition that light and dark, birth and death – bitter and sweet – are forever paired.*
Equidistant from the atoms and stars, we are expanding our exploring.* Carl Sagan
All of us have to learn how to invent our lives, make them up, imagine them. We need to be taught these skills, we need guides to show us how. Without them, our lives get made up for us by other people.** Ursula K. Le Guin
First of all, Our forming happens to us, and then our forming is meant to happen through us; If we are not mindful of this, then in subtle ways, For the rest of our lives, the forming will happen to us.
The conditions for imagining and shaping our lives have never been more propitious, including the very real possibility of inventing ourselves again today.
Generous listening is powered by curiosity, a virtue we can invite and nurture in ourselves to render it instinctive. It involves a kind of responsibility – a willingness to be surprised, to let go of assumptions and take in ambiguity. The listener want to understand the humanity behind the words of the other, and patiently summons one’s own best self and one’s own best words and questions.* Krista Tippett
I wish I could show you, when you are lonely or in darkness, The Astonishing Light Of your own Being!** Hafez
This is quite a journey, From our discovery that curiosity is an expression of valour that any may develop until it becomes instinctive, a growing of openness towards, rather than against, Surprise!, we let go of assumptions, agendas, and self-interest, Asking generous questions that invite generous answers which are intrinsic to the astonishing light each must share; Deep, generous listening is generative – We let go of ourselves in order that the new may come to birth.
THIN|SILENCE 
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