But you’re not under the circumstances. You are the circumstances.*
Seth Godin

I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.**
Walt Whitman

May you understand that
you are more-than-enough circumstances to
be who you are and to
do what you must do, that
the only difference you need is how
you see yourself –
This is the gift of humility:
not having to high nor
too low an opinion of yourself, but
a true opinion;
So Walt Whitman is not only “upping” himself as he dares to
celebrate and sing himself,
He is celebrating and singing everyone –
Indeed, only as he does so can he fully
be himself … and I can be myself and
you can be yourself.

God, as I have come to understand God through Jesus, is happy to remain anonymous or to be named in a wide variety of ways or even to go incognito.^

*Seth Godin’s The Song of Significance;
**Dacher Keltner’s Awe;
^Brian McLaren’s Faith After Doubt.

Trying to flee from insecurity to security, from uncertainty to certainty, is an attempt to find an exit from the very system that makes us who we are in the first place.*
Oliver Burkeman

The difficulty is a sign that you’re on an important part of the journey.**
Gabe Anderson

The universe may resist,
But it also helps us;
I desire security and certainty as much as anyone,
But I sometimes wonder what I might be missing when I’m not prepared to play
with the unstable and unknown,
Perhaps that blur is life
passing me by.
.

*Oliver Burkeman’s The Antidote;
**Gabe Anderson’s blog: Freddie and You.

Instincts never lie to you. Pay attention to the messages that don’t change; those are your instincts.*
Katherine Morgan Schafler

I’m good at it vs. I got good at it. The second one is almost always more true.**
Gabe Anderson

Your instinct is tied in with your
talents and abilities
energies^ and
values –
All of which can be grown and developed, meaning
instincts can become better, stronger;
You’re not taming your instinct,
You’re enwildening it.

*Katheriine Morgan Scafler’s The Perfectionist’s Guide to Losing Control;
**Gabe Anderson’s blog: Got Good;
^As in, what greatly energises you versus what painfully deenergises.

The artist talks about the making of the album as a long journey, ups and downs, creative road blocks and break throughs, the blood sweat and tears and years. But amount of effort has never been a very good measurement for how good a song is going to be.*
Gabe Anderson

Poetry, says Marie Howe, hurts a little going in.**
Krista Tippett

Whatever our art – and by art
I mean the most creative and elegant solution we
bring out of our lives for others – it will be uncomfortable coming
out
and going
in.

*Gabe Anderson’s blog: Listen For Yourself;
**Krista Tippett’s Becoming Wise.

The good myth integrates the myth maker into society in a generative way. Our personal myths provide our own lives with a sense of unity and purpose. But our own lives connect to other lives, or myths, to other myths. The most mature personal myths are those that enhance the myth making of others.*
Dan McAdams

So look around at those existing ideas in the world. You can imitate them and still be offering something valuable and unique … Why? Because we are imperfect mirrors.**
Derek Sivers

We find ourselves through one another,
Our unrepeatable imperfection^ creating something
different and vibrant;
Through many others,
Constantly changing and becoming
uniquely ourselves –
And they, uniquely themselves –
Adding nuance and complexity to
personal dreamings, songlines, myths.

Each life is capable of this.

*Dan McAdams’ The Stories We Live By;
**Derek Sivers’ Hell Yeah Or No;
^Viktor Frankl’s wonderful description of humans.

Some years ago,
I created a colouring book that not helps you
to relax, but also links in with my
dreamwhispering work;
It’s still available and doesn’t cost very much:
Slow Journeys in the Same Direction –
I thought some might like to know.

Long ago the word alone was treated as two words, all one. To be all one meant to be wholly one, to be in oneness, either essentially or temporarily. That is precisely the goal of solitude, to be all one.*
Clarissa Pinkola Estés

For nowhere can you find a more peaceful and less busy retreat than your own soul – especially if on close inspection it is filled with ease, which I say is nothing more than being well-ordered. Treat yourself often to this retreat and be renewed.**
Marcus Aurelius

Look at me,
Listen to what I’m saying,
Keep moving, keep doing,
Binging is your reward –
The outside world is demanding.

Come into your stillness,
Enter the quietness in which
the minute gives way to the moment, where
being is your treasure –
The inner world is inviting.

It’s not one rather than the other,
The more the outer world becomes
faster, louder, demanding,
The more we need to
grow our souls.

Marcus Aurelius wrote meditations such as
this one for himself –
If you were to write your own,
To lead you to your soul-retreat,
What might you pen?

*Clarissa Pikola Estés’ Women Who Run With the Wolves;
**Ryan Holiday’s The Daily Stoic.

If we do not attend to the work o projecting delight upon the world, what are we actually doing? If we do not look for joy, search for it, reach for it, what are we saying about the world? … joy exists as a bright, insistent spasm of defiance within the darkness of the world. Seek it. It is there.*
Nick Cave

We don’t have to wait for delight to come to us,
Each of us is capable of producing something
utterly delightful –
This usually for others first of all,
Which makes it more delightful still for us.

Don’t hide your de-light under a bushel.

*Nick Cave’s blog The Red Hand Files: #219)

Systems don’t start out to be selfish, but resilient ones end up that way.*
Seth Godin

I am rooted but I flow.**
Virginia Woolf

Not only do I exist within systems,
I am systemic,
Creating the operating patterns and frameworks for
what excites my attention and
causes me to pursue, systems capable of
nurturing and evolving these into
complexity and replicability.

So far so good, but if my system does not
also throw me out into the further
unknown and unexplored for further
discovery and renewal, then
I will become trapped in some form
of systemism – best to
Check whether your system is feeding itself or you.

*Seth Godin’s This is Strategy;
**James Clear’s 3-2-1 newsletter: On having high standards, the secret to willpower, and how to be strong yet flexible.

Acting responsibly requires breaking ourselves open, or being broken … It requires being openhearted, but not fainthearted.*
Adam Kahane

I have believed in honour, ethics, and right living as its own reward.**
Harry S. Truman

To contribute what I must, no matter what,
To gift this to others wherever possible,
To seek to live wisely in this world.^

How about you?

*Adam Kahane’s Everyday Habits for Transforming Systems;
**Ryan Holiday’s Right Thing, Right Now;
^I know that I have hardly begun.