
Derek Hughes on Substack

Attend to your influences.
I suppose this is the ur-message - to be more aware of what’s influencing you and how. Acknowledge just how much of what you think, feel and do is picked up from others, consciously and unconsciously, and try to become more conscious of more of them. Artists pay attention to this because they love their influences, while a
Who Am I?
Look deep into the recesses of your being, and identify everything you think makes you, you.
Traverse all your mind’s pathways, and locate every desire and thought. Summon every opinion and belief, every interest and passion, and interrogate each and every one, relentlessly.
Ask them where they came from, and who planted them. Ask them if... See more
Look deep into the recesses of your being, and identify everything you think makes you, you.
Traverse all your mind’s pathways, and locate every desire and thought. Summon every opinion and belief, every interest and passion, and interrogate each and every one, relentlessly.
Ask them where they came from, and who planted them. Ask them if... See more
The Pursuit
Once you see yourself as merely a junction point for a whole set of influences, from your parents to your teachers to the feeds you follow and the articles and books you read, you can relax about being ‘you’. You can focus, instead, on making your influence-set as unique, layered and rich as possible. Nobody else will be at your junction point.