The valley is where we shed the old self so the new self can emerge. There are no shortcuts. There’s just the same external three step process the poets described from time eternal: from suffering to wisdom to service.*
David Brooks

We thrive when we find a goal and a metric that’s resilient and easily replenished. It turns out that making a contribution is something we can do, again and again, and it never gets old.**
Seth Godin

The valley lies between two mountains,
One of getting, the other of giving:
The getting of stuff or being noticed or achieving something more or bigger,
Or not being the imposter or avoiding being thought less of or feeling bad about ourselves,
To knowing ourselves and noticing others, and appreciating what we have and imagining
how to make this available to others, again and again, because
we are this gift’s endless source.

*David Brook’s The Second Mountain;
**Seth Godin’s blog: Choose your fuel wisely.

Courage is the most important of all virtues, because without courage you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.*
Maya Angelou

The things we do to impress others rarely impress them for longer than five minutes. But the things we do to provide value for others can last a lifetime. In the long run, one of the most impressive things you can do is provide exceptional value.**
James Clear

When we embrace that courage is
“of the heart,”
We respect the vitality of
what it is we must do that
others do not –
Then we will show up, stumble,
make a fool of ourselves, learn
all we can, start over,
Keep going until we
lay the gift at the threshold of
another.

*Martha Beck’s The Way of Integrity;
**James Clear’s 3-2-1 newsletter: On impressing others, the power of the mind, and the hidden costs of success.

No one knows how to tell their story anymore … The Linear life is dead … life is filled with chaos and complaint, periods of order and disorder, linearity, nonlinearity … loops, spirals, wobbles, fractals, tangles and turnarounds.*
Bruce Feiler

The essential trouble … is that the driving force of modern life is that fatally misguided idea that reality should be made ever more controllable – and that peace of mind and prosperity lie in bringing it ever more fully under our control. And so we experience the world as an endless series of things we must master, learn, or conquer.**
Oliver Burkeman

Optimisation of the everyday life is
an illusion, the fourth elemental truth stating,
You are not in control^ –
Better to create a story that dances imaginatively,
Playfully, meaningfully with reality.

At the heart of this pirouetting story stand two major themes,
Wrapped around questions that will
never be completely answered –
Who is my True Self? and
What is my Contribution? leading us
into an infinite story unable to be
completed in a single lifespan.

*Bruce Feiler’s Life Is In the Transitions;
**Oliver Burkeman’s Meditations For Mortals;
^Richard Rohr’s Adam’s Return.

As I approach 4,000 thin|silence posts,
I thought to occasionally revisit past offerings
made on particular days;
Here are some of the doodles that have
appeared on the 1st November since 2014.

Whenever we inquire deeply enough into the truth about our suffering, we arrive at the place where, without changing direction, we stop descending and start ascending.*
Martha Beck

Yet overweighting our emotional investment with too much positivity brings its own dangers. The imbalance can inhibit learning, stymie growth, and limit our potential. That’s because negative emotions are essential too. They help us survive.**
David Pink

There is another you on the
other side of this pain,
Of course, there is another you who
is trying to ignore it, staying as
far away as possible –
Only one e is opening the way for
learning, growing, and moving.

Intuitively, we all know that pain is the force that transforms us.^

*Martha Beck’s The Way of Integrity;
**David Pink’s The Power of Regret;
^Donald Miller’s Hero On a Mission.

You are someone’s ancestor. Most immediately, you are the ancestor of the you of tomorrow … Become the ancestor you’d like to thank.*
Seth Godin

Finality, temporality is … not only an essential characteristic of human life, but also a real factor in its meaningfulness.**
Viktor Frankl

Death,
I cannot do without it,
Asking as it does, that I
live meaningfully today towards
providing tomorrow’s
goodly inheritance – this for
the sake of others:
Creativity,
Generosity,
Enjoyment.^

*Seth Godin’s blog: What do we owe the future?;
**Viktor Frankl’s The Doctor and the Soul:
^These are my three words for what it means to me to be human; yours will be different.

Night exists stage left
Dawn enters stage right
Up stage centre
Write, write, write*
Lemn Sissay

Is there life before death? That is the question!**
Anthony de Mello

What is your
write, write, write?^ –
The must that
insufflates your life!

*Lemn Sissay’s let the light pour in;
**Oliver Burkeman’s Meditations For Mortals;
^It may not writing, but it could help if you write your must down.

About nobility, I cannot be sure that the decline not to say the disappearance of nobility is anything more a maladjustment between the imagination and reality. We have been a little insane about the truth. We have had an obsession with… It is not only that imagination adheres to reality, but also that reality adheres to imagination and that interdependence is essential.*
Wallace Stevens

most of life is spent in the deception phase**
Dorie Clark

We are in trouble when we separate truth
and imagination, when we separate reality
and playfulness – one without the other
leads us into error.

May life deepen here:
Bring imagination and play to
who you are and
what you have.

*Wallace Stevens’ The Necessary Angel;
**Dorie Clark’s The Long Game.

Surprise causes finite play to end; it is the reason for infinite play to continue.*
James Carse

*James Carse’s Finite and Infinite Games.

You can be in a heads-up mode, looking for new opportunities, or you can be in a heads-down mode, just executing and focusing.*
Jared Kleinart

Like a child going out to play, creativity leaves reason at home and saddles up free association for long galloping rides.**
Robert McKee

Being focused and getting on with things is
useful until it isn’t, when it no longer works,
What then? –
It’s your job to have some fun and find something that will.

If the phone won’t ring, make the call
If the mountain won’t move, shift it
If the birds won’t sing, sing to them all
And if the sun won’t rise, lift it^

*Dorie Clark’s The Long Game;
**Robert McKee’s Character;
*Lemn Sissay’s let the light pour in.