On Existence
“Boundaries teach us that existence is unavoidably dangerous”
From the Sinners scene in the car
I cry a lot these days. In no particular direction.
Courtnee Futch from With Love & Butter • I Am Terrified of Who I'm Becoming. Honesty & Other Musings
On becoming emotional...ly intelligent.
I've cried more in the past couple months... years than in my whole life. In both all directions and none at all.
Over heartbreak. Over gratitude. Over disappointment. Over forgiveness. Over anger and bitterness. Over past trauma. Over future anxiety (is that one and the same?)
To have a sense of humor is to be strong: to keep one's sense of humor is to shrug off misfortunes, and to lose one's sense of humor is to be wounded by them. And so the mark-- or at least the prerogative-- of strength is not to take oneself too seriously.
paulgraham.com • Taste for Makers
What holds true for the soil—that you must give it more than you take away—also holds true for nations, institutions, marriage, friendship, education, in short for human culture as a whole, which comes into being and maintains itself in time only as long as its cultivators overgive of themselves.
Robert Pogue Harrison • Gardens: An Essay on the Human Condition
Leisure is not a time to retreat from the world. Rather, it’s a time for poetry, prayer, and philosophy — a chance to reflect on where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re going.
David Perell • Don’t Kill Time
undergo extraordinary transformations, heal others, find and lose love, and grow old, for the formation of characters, the building and tearing down of relationships, the arrival of those revelations that can only arrive slowly.
Rebecca Solnit • Slow Change Can Be Radical Change
In this moment, 6/30 at 6:30, I am listening to How I Write #podcasts and they are discussing how even though they seem extraneous, unnecessary, and annoying, anecdotes and 'boring parts' (such as in books) are necessary for the buildup.
We lose something by trying to summarize or get the meat out of everything. David notes a highlight reel of only punchlines wouldn't be as impactful. A song that gets straight to the drop (or bridge) wouldn't hit the same.
It's the journey that makes it memorable, even if it's not as engaging in the moment.