Wonder is the heaviest element on the periodic table. Even a tiny fleck of it stops time.* Diane Ackerman
Curation is the ultimate way of transforming noise into meaning.** Rohit Bhargava
Through awe, we shrink and the world becomes BIGGER. Awe can be tripped by many different things – LARGE and small – from the natural world to human ideas and inventions. Here are three benefits proffered by Jonah Paquette: Among the different ideas that have been proposed, three explanations stand out today: awe strengthens our social bonds, makes us kinder and more generous to others, and fosters a sense of curiosity about our world.* The trouble is, our opportunities for awe are reducing. Robert Marfarlane shares the findings of a report that between 1970 and 2010, the area in which British children were permitted to play unsupervised shrank by 90 per cent. The proportion of children regularly playing in ‘wild’ places fell from one in two to one in ten.^ Perhaps a useful option, Alongside all the fancy New Year resolutions, is to take a slow walk more often – We’ll not know where they lead until we venture out.
As well as opening doors, the children made dens: the doors allowing access and adventures, the dens permitting retreat and shelter.* Robert Macfarlane
Most of us then default to one of a handful of templates and filters for all their experiences; everything gets pulled inside what my little mind already agrees with.** Richard Rohr
It seems that the older we get the more dens and fewer doors populate our lives; More of the familiar, Less of the unfamiliar. This need not be so – I hold on to the truth that people are amazing, and ought to know why – This is both my joy and my work – So we find our doorways and dens, And begin moving between the two – To leave the known for the wonder: awe truly is all around us, if only we take the time to look,^ And to return into the secret place for reflection because we suspect, the opposite of contemplation is not action – it is reaction^^. So this movement to and fro creates a larger story emerges, A life continues to grow amazingly.
there’s a chance to work on our filters, our habits and our instincts* Seth Godin
with panache: still be scratchy and instinctive, and badly behaved* Quentin Blake
There’s a reason why the people you admire can do what they they do. Whatever their craft may be, They’ve practised it, Not only again and again, But also from different angles and in different media and modalities, Developing new ideas and innovative expressions along the way. The good news is, We can all practise.
won’t you celebrate with me what I have shaped into a kind of life? i had no model. … i made it up here on this bridge between starshine and clay* Lucille Clifton
Grace makes both the giver and the recipient more beautiful.** Erwin McManus
I love Quentin Blake‘s simple drawing style, something he came upon early in his days cartooning for Punch magazine. With a few lines and a little watercolour, He is able to tell a story. It holds an important truth for us, That when we find the lines and add a little colour, We come alive. These lines include our abilities and values and energies, And then we can make our own lines. Whilst there’s nothing special about the 1st January 2023, It can become defining if we want it to: “From this day, And for the following year, I will …” We all have lines and colours; sometimes what we only need to extend to ourselves and to others is a little grace.
All he wants to do is draw. He is, thank goodness, unstoppable.* Jenny Uglow
[I]t is another language altogether; impossible for adults to speak and arduous for us to understand. We might call that language ‘Childish’: we have all been fluent in Childish once, and it is a language with a billion or more native speakers today – though all of those speakers will in time forget they ever knew it.** Robert Macfarlane
Though unstoppable, He is also 90; He is Quentin Blake. Robert Macfarlane may be right to assert we all lose our fluency, and then, remembrance of that language Childish, But I wonder whether there are some amongst us, like Blake, who retain more than a few “words and phrases” – of curiosity and awe, of wonder and imagination, of questions and playfulness – That they form and shape into that language we might name Childlike, To use garrulously throughout their years.
Men wanted for hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful, honour and recognition in case of success.* Ernest Shackleton
In that special silence, you get a strong sense of something that wants to happen the you wouldn’t be aware of otherwise.** Joseph Jaworski
Here’s a playful exercise, Figuring out how what you do on a day-to-day basis would save the world: What do you want to save the world from? What are your superpowers? Who helps you to do this? Who are you helping? Directly or indirectly, For large numbers or for the one – We can all make the world a better place. Adventures do not require us to risk our lives crossing Antartica, More often, they’re available as we turn up in our very familiar worlds with greater intention as a result of noticing more, inwardly and outwardly.
*Maria Popova’s Figuring: it’s not clear whether Ernest Shackleton actually subscribed to such an advertisement; **Peter Senge, Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski’s Betty Sue Flowers’ Presence.
“Oh, Mr Campbell, you just don’t know about the modern generation. We go directly from infancy to wisdom.” I said, “That is great. All you’ve missed is life.”* Joseph Campbell
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgement, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.** The Apostle Paul
My father was born in 1909, His father, whom I never knew, was born in 1872. This span of time has provided me a sense of how much has changed across the generations, each having more than the one before. Though I can easily forget, I try to hold on to the wisdom from the past that can help me to become more, rather than to have more, Wisdom I keep before me especially in these lines – Which, counterintuitively, enlarge rather than constrict life: Life is hard, You are not as special as you think, Your life is not about you, You are not in control, You are going to die. Joseph Campbell gave his life to understanding how critical myths are to us, These stories helping us to find our bliss, Enabling us to live larger lives through humility – the world doesn’t revolve around us, and gratitude – we have so much if we bother to notice, and faithfulness – serving one another: Life is an expression of bliss.*
Few of us inherit the rich and complex mythologies that the Sanū pass on – the sense of the world alive around us, and of ancestors keeping a gentle watch residing in the very rocks were stand on, the very wind that buffets us. Most of us have to make our own, if we think to do it at all.^
School and work push us to avoid real dreams. Dreamers are dangerous, impatient and unwilling to tolerate the status quo. Existing systems would prefer we simply fit in. The dreams we need to teach are the dreams of self-reliance and generosity. The only way for us to move forward is to encourage and amplify the work of people who are willing to learn, to see and to commit to making things better.* Seth Godin
Every move an infinite player makes is towards the horizon. Every move made by a finite player is within a boundary. Every moment of an infinite game therefore presents a new range of possibilities.** James Carse
It’s not that some have way more attributes than others, It’s that some know how to make the most of what they have noticed about themselves: They have stepped towards the horizon and the horizon has moved. Seth Godin references the two dreams of self-reliance and generosity; These align with Theory U’s two questions – Who is my True Self? and What is my contribution? – And with Joseph Campbell’s two myths that we need, These being the personal and the social. When we emphasise these in our lives, then something new begins spinning around and between the two: possibility.
Before writing and drawing were separated they were conjoined.* Scott McCloud
Pictures and words together make a third thing.** John Baldessari
It had been suggested that I write something about doodling for a Christmas-time blog at the University of Edinburgh, So I thought that I would share this here – It’s a great time to doodle – So here we are: Twelve good reasons for doodling and twelve doodling things to do – all you need is a black pen and paper. Merry Doodling Christmas!
Day 1 Doodle comes from dawdle, It is a great way to come aside from all the busyness and noise and slow down: Use the doodle alphabet to create an abstract illustration, Filling a 10x10cms square.^ Make it busy.
Day 2 Colouring in a doodle is for relaxing. Slowly use crayons, pencils or pens to colour in yesterday’s doodle, and see how it changes; Notice how you change: Changing what the body does can change our feelings, perception, and thoughts.^^
Day 3 Colouring is for relaxing, Doodling is for listening, But there are six other art-for-learning skills: A means to record, Understand better, Create something, Present something. Add your doodle to the following text by way of illustration: Before writing and drawing were separated they were conjoined.*
Day 4 Doodling is one of the smallest ways of moving, And moving is one way we extend our minds and keep our thoughts moving. Draw an A5 frame on a sheet of paper: You have one line with which to fill this shape – You can’t break contact, so You’ll be able to use all the shapes from the doodle alphabet except the dot: Write the words, “Keep Moving” on your sheet.
Day 5 Doodles and text together take us into the world of semiotics, In this case, Conveying meaning in as few words of possible, Enhancing with a doodle. Try copying this doodle from Hugh Macleod*^
Day 6 We remember more when doodling: One study found that people who were directed to doodle while carrying out a boring listening task remembered 29 percent more information than people who did not doodle, likely because the latter group had let their attention slip away entirely.^^ Write out the following Jean Rhys quote, Create a doodle to go with it The hide this and recall all the objects, Including those you imagined to be present: I got a box of Jnibs, the sort I liked, an ordinary penholder, a bottle of ink and a cheap ink-stand. Now that old table won’t look so bare, I thought.^*
Day 8 There are doodling shapes everywhere. I took a load of pictures of buildings and spaces whilst on holiday in Florence and at a conference in Washington, which I later used to create a colouring book. Why not get out your holiday pictures and use the features of buildings and spaces to create your doodle for today?
Day 9 You can doodle anywhere – All you need is a small notebook and a black pen. Hugh Macleod began doodling on the back of business cards, and still creates images that are this size. Play with small doodles by cutting out some paper or card the size of a bank or loyalty card.
Day 10 You never know where doodling will lead you. I ended up with illustrating requests for books and even a board game. Doodle often, don’t worry about what others think, Don’t look at likes or anything, just doodle. Create a doodle with the text: Doodling with attitude.
Day 11 Everyone can doodle; It’s simply a sad fact that someone, somewhere, told us that we couldn’t draw: How old do you have to be to make a bad drawing?⁺ If you can remember who or when, Create a doodle that has on the left when you stopped drawing and on the right has today’s date – Then go crazy doodling.
Day 12 Doodling is for Christmas; For several years now I have created a Christmas card. Here’s your turn for Christmas 2023 – or Yule or Winter or Solstice or Hannukah or Dongzhi or Shab-e Yalda. Have fun and a great holiday however you celebrate.
*Scott McClooud’s Making Comics; **Austin Kleon’s blog: A brief appreciation of John Baldessari: ^The doodle alphabet comprises a: square, circle, straight line, curved line, wavy line, dot, ellipse, cloud, zigzag, swirl, loop, arch; everything you need to create a doodle; ^^Annie Murphy Paul’s The Extended Mind; *^Hugh Macleod triggered my doodling; copying his work is a great place to develop our own doodling; ^*Lauren Elkin’s Flaneuse. ⁺Lynda Barry’s Making Comics.
THIN|SILENCE 
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