The North Shore
But busyness has a way of stealing creativity from you. Generative work, like art and writing, requires long periods of nothingness: it’s only in that wide empty space that ideas emerge. Long runs, hot showers, commutes that don’t involve harried Slack messages and listening to podcasts at 2x speed. Sitting at the edge of a dock, listening to the o... See more
Jasmine Sun • the scenic route
Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad (Austin Kleon)
Austin Kleon • 2 highlights
amazon.comBut for me, as a person for whom narrow focus is against my instincts, the most remarkable thing about it is how rich it feels. My life these days is small and boring. I bicycle across the same fields every day, I notice how the wind turbines turn to face the wind, I rarely travel, and I spend my spare time staring at a Word document. Annie Dillard... See more
Henrik Karlsson • Almost Everyone I’ve Met Would Be Well-Served Thinking More About What to Focus On
Contemplative space is hard to define. Contemplation is generally not a practice that offers immediate jolts of anything. There’s (well, usually) no chatty/ethery response from on high, no neatly cleared path unfurling after a good long think. In fact, more often it feels like “nothing” at all is happening in that open space. The “soft” characteris... See more
Lia Purpura • The Ecology of Attention
Here’s what’s ahead in this edition:
- An August of ideas: my CaliÂfornia origin story
- The slow lift: a discovery
- Links and recommendations: not toooo many
- Checking in: what’s Robin doing?
Robin Sloan • The Golden Door
It’s only by taking myself away from clutter and distraction that I can begin to hear something out of earshot and recall that listening is much more invigorating than giving voice to all the thoughts and prejudices that anyway keep me company twenty-four hours a day. And it’s only by going nowhere—by sitting still or letting my mind relax—that I f
... See morePico Iyer • The Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowhere (TED Books)
Our ideas, too, will disappoint us if we don’t give them the right environment to develop in. They’ll be shallow, derivative, dull, repetitive, or take too long to show up. Or they’ll just not show up at all. We must find the perfect glass jar and lid for them to appear in.
What is that perfect glass jar, though? Our ideas appear primarily in one s... See more
What is that perfect glass jar, though? Our ideas appear primarily in one s... See more