J. Danielle

These days I’m more inclined to be specific than dramatic, to organize than agonize.

The sunshine of life springs from twin suns. We may call them love and art. We may call them connection and creativity. Both can take many forms. Both, if they are worth their salt and we ours, ask us to show up as our whole selves. Both are instruments of unselfing.

Understanding all behavior makes sense with sufficient information transforms how we view others. It challenges us to move beyond snap judgments and approach things with curiosity. Instead of asking, ‘why are they acting like this’ we can try, ‘what might I not know about their world?’

Wilderness thus remains a “profoundly human creation” — charged with individualism — in which we perceive not “nature,” but “the reflection of our own unexamined longings and desires.”

Developing taste is an exercise in vulnerability: it requires you to trust your instincts and preferences, even when they don’t align with current trends or the tastes of your peers. Because while having taste is cool, taste itself reflects a certain type of uncool earnestness – a commitment to one’s own obsessions and quirks.