self expression
When we speak, we use the breath in our lungs to give our thoughts a physical form. The sounds we make are simultaneously our intentions and our life force.
Ted Chiang • Exhalation: Stories
“My advice to you and your team is to just be yourselves,” Rubin explained. “Because if you do what you think the rest of the world wants, one of two things will happen. You might be right, but if you are, you won’t really know why; and if you’re wrong, you’ll be angry at yourself for deviating from what is true to your core. So just be yourself,... See more
Here are some other techniques people use to access and maintain the zone:
- Introducing a long delay between when you do the work and when it is shown to the world. Annie Ernaux writes about this in A Simple Passion, a memoir about how she becomes obsessed in a banal way with a man who is having an affair with her—the thought that others will read
Substack • Notes | Substack
When you find yourself blurting out questions you've never asked before, questions that provoke you and possibly even scare you, be thankful. You are exiting your conscious mind and probing the unconscious. As the questions get more and more profound, your probe is going deeper and deeper into the many layers of information that are unseen but
... See moreJanet Conner • Writing Down Your Soul: How to Activate and Listen to the Extraordinary Voice Within
My soul, when I tend to it, is a far more expansive and fascinating source of guidance than my ego will ever be, because my soul desires only one thing: wonder.
Elizabeth Gilbert • Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear
Bill Watterson’s 1990 Commencement Speech, via Both are True
