A refined soul is in general one with the gift of transforming the most limited task and the most petty object into something infinite by the way in which it is handled.* Friedrich Schiller
being human is nothing more than being conscious and being responsible** Viktor Frankl
Our touch – Those talents, energies, values – Makes all the difference in the world: The task, the role, the person, Creating an infinite game, seeing an infinite person; We don’t come into the world preprogrammed – It is always our choice, the joyful responsibility opened to us through consciousness.
Only people who don’t write think you know what you think before you write. You write to learn what you think.* Marc Weidenbaum
Writing is a process in which we discover what lives in us. The writing itself reveals to us what is alive in us. The deepest satisfaction of writing is precisely that it opens new spaces within us of which we were not aware before we started to write. To write is to embark on a journey of which we do not know the final destination.** Henri Nouwen
An idea – I write it, A problem – I write it, A struggle – I write it The criticism – I write it, That went well – I write it, My story – I write it; Writing is my interface between the ordinary and extraordinary – An everyday everyone superpower To make it more powerful, just add doodles and conversation.
‘How do you hold on,’ said night ‘To peace in the day?’ ‘To keep what I have,’ said light ‘I have to give it away’** Lemn Sissay
The evolutionary purpose of story is conflict resolution … The riveting conflict in any story … revolves around the internal struggle that the protagonist goes through in order to solve the external problem.^ Lisa Cron
We might imagine some idyllic story for ourselves, yet, it is in the struggle that we will know that we are alive: A conflict without prompting a swedge within, Another word for which is growth, and perhaps another, Flourishing.
*Swedge (n) Scottish for brawl or fight; present participle: swedging; **Lemn Sissay’s let the light pour in; ^Lisa Cron’s Story or Die.
So, in the most natural way, I took it upon myself to get to know my myth, and this I regarded as my task of tasks.* Carl Jung
A person who doesn’t know what the universe is, doesn’t know where they are. A person who doesn’t know their purpose in life doesn’t know who they are or what the universe is. A person who doesn’t know any of these things doesn’t know why they are here. So what to make of people who seek or avoid the praise of people who have no knowledge of where or who they are.** Marcus Aurelius
Will we ever fully know who we are, that is, Who we can grow to be? – I doubt the world is made up of people who fully know themselves or don’t, More likely we find people moving towards their full selves or not – and which am I, and which are you?^
Take me down to the spring of my life, and tell me my nature and my name.^^
*Joseph Campbell’s Pathways to Bliss; **Ryan Holiday’s The Daily Stoic; ^A myth comprises four elements: And of what I regard as four major functions that mythology serves, the first one is the mystical function. The second is the cosmological, re-relating to the cosmos. The third is the sociological, and the fourth is the pedagogical, carrying the individual through the stages of his life. (Joseph Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey); ^^George Appleton, from the Northumbria Community‘s Morning Prayer.
A person begins to be human only where they have the freedom to oppose bondage to a type. For only there, in freedom, is their being – being responsible; only there “is” a person authentically, or only there is a person “authentic.”* Viktor Frankl
*Viktor Frankl’s The Doctor and the Soul – the words in italics indicate where I have been gender-inclusive.
“Does it work?” That’s the first question. The second question is, “how do we make it work better?”These two questions, patiently repeated, lead to incremental improvement and an understanding of reality. The opposite approach is, “because I said so.” Reality might not care what you want.* Seth Godin
We think we want the answers. But really what we want are the problems.* Gabe Anderson
Give me sober activism anytime, rather than rose-tined fatalism.** Viktor Frankl
Answers are like home, Questions, problems, are like journeys – We need both, but the snag can be that we stay in when we need to get out more.^
*Gabe Anderson’s blog: Hanayama; **Viktor Frankl’s Yes to Life; ^Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi wrote about how we are born with two contradictory sets of instructions: conservative and expansive; the first requires little encouragement, not so the second – where curiosity and creativity dwell.
Wonder is the heaviest element in the periodic table. Even a tiny speck of it stops time.* Diane Ackerman
The whole point of finitude is that it gets easier to spend more of your time on worthwhile and life-enriching activities once you’re no longer trying to do all of them, or do them perfectly, or do them with the secret agenda of achieving a feeling of security or control.** Oliver Burkeman
My father never owned a watch, He immersed himself in work he loved, punctuated by mealtimes; On the other hand, much of my working life has been ruled by my watch.
We don’t have all the time in the world, but doing something we love and that opens us to wonder – Whether it be the natural world, things to discover, or people – Has a strange affect on time – To know ourselves and be ourselves is an important part of this.
In one sense, I don’t have a lot of time left, And I’ve certainly wasted a lot of time, but, Just like you, I can affect time by developing my wonder, Immersing myself in timelessness, which at its best, will always include others in some way, And we have a whole new year to play with this.
I must change my life so that I can live it, not wait for it.^
the opposite of contemplation is not action – it is reaction* Richard Rohr
The great tragedy of speed as an answer to complexities and responsibilities of existence is that very soon we cannot recognise anything or anyone who is not travelling at the same velocity as we are.** David Whyte
Without a contemplative practice, we are more likely to react than respond, and initiating – the option no one thought of – is even further beyond our reach; The enemy of contemplation is speed, Including busyness that has us missing so much, perhaps even the things we should be about instead of what we are doing.
Contemplation begins alone, Then involves others, and must always be translated into imaginative action; The great thing is that contemplation doesn’t cost us a penny, and we have a whole new year to try it out, Perhaps writing a journal, Or maybe walking, or being still in nature, or a gallery or some blank space – Whatever works, Have fun experimenting.
Much of our lives we are trying to connect the dots, to pierce the heart of reality to see what is good, true, and beautiful for us. We want something lasting and transcendent.* Richard Rohr
The vast majority of characters … rarely question how deeply they’ve gone into life, how much wider they might go, if they’ll ever experience themselves to the fullest.** Robert McKee
Whilst being charged with curiosity and reflection, It is possible that the word consider connects to examining the stars for navigation or astrological guidance – An exploration of ourselves, of others, of our world will not only guide us to a fuller life, but will also change us on the way.
We firstly do consideration before we feel it: What will we read? Who will we meet? When shall we be quiet? How shall we write out our thoughts? Where shall we walk? How will we practise openness?
THIN|SILENCE 
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