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

* Tim Harford’s Messy

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

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

Above all, I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and that in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure.*
Oliver Sacks

Remember that to change your mind and to follow someone else’s correction are consistent with a free will. For the action is yours alone … .**
Marcus Aurelius

And the most
amazing thing
about consciousness is
I get to change my mind–
Being open to more
is awe-some.

*Oliver Sacks’ Gratitude;
**Quoted in Ryan Holiday’s The Daily Stoic.

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

The alchemical qualities of journaling showed us how to turn isolation into creative solitude, confinement into connection, and confusion into clarity and calm.*
Suleika Jaouad

Define a good life as more than shallow pleasure.
A good life is contribution.
A good life s resisting temptation.
A good life is being the best you can be.
A good life is diligently following your book.**
Derek Sivers

Without my journal practice
it would be too easy to choose
easy–
I need challenging words
from others to play
upon my daily pages
to work their magic
in me–

*Suleika Jaouad’s The Book Of Alchemy;
**Derek Sivers’ How To Live.

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

Gratitude works.  Gratitude scales.  Gratitude creates a positive cycle of more gratitude.  When in doubt, default to gratitude.*
Seth Godin

Every so often,
I’ll be sharing
a portion of the images**
from my colouring book
Slow Journeys in
the Same Direction–
You’re welcome
to print these
for colouring in–
Not quite a labyrinth
but they’ll slow you down.

*Seth Godin’s blog: If every day were thanksgiving;
**Each Slow Journeys page is two pages wide.

SOME MORE SLOW JOURNEYS
SOME RANDOM THIN|SILENCE

It is my belief that attention to and devotion to the nature of soul represents the quintessential strength.*
Clarissa Pinkola Estés

Perhaps the gap between what is and what ought to be is shrinking. Perhaps the canyon between myth and history, dream and memory, past and future – was never uncrossable.**
AleXander McManus

Nothing lies outwith
a soul–
Thinkings
feelings
doings
a universe
the accelerating more
of all that is and
all that might be–

*Clarissa Pinkola Estés’ Women Who Run With The Wolves;
**AleXander McManus’ Blue Moments.

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