Month: January 2020
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What your thoughts look like
To be in your own thoughts — language, like headphones, delivers a sense of privacy. Of course, no thinking is linear. Neurons are always crashing into each other, trying to connect and build new avenues of ideas. The whole of brain waves is greater than the sum of its parts. Neurons that fire together, wire…
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Inspiration is a myth
All the inspiration exists and is equally distributed. But the ubiquity of motivational quotes and rags to riches biographies can be sheer fodder. Instead of doing the work, we get caught in the cycle of disattention. The role of the artist is the create a reality for themselves. We can’t expect to copy and paste…
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Why Leonardo da Vinci wrote backward
Leonardo da Vinci wrote backward (mirror writing) because he didn’t want others stealing his ideas. Writes Da Vinci biographer Rachel A. Koestler-Grack: “The observations in his notebooks were written in such a way that they could be read only by holding the books up to a mirror.” But did a genius who combined art and…
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Doing something is better than doing nothing
A lot of people never start because of the fear of imperfection. But when it comes to creating, something is better than nothing. That something could be as little as a blog post — private or public — a diary entry, a podcast, a simple doodle, or if you prefer to speak through images, an…
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Open to detours
Open to detours, fixated with the wrath of curiosity. The single-minded goal-setter scrounges for practice. In theory, doggedness is the least path of resistance. Like sheep, we’re a magnet for jumping through hoops. But we can’t afford to put the right brain to sleep. Quiescent until unmoored from reality, the maker begs to turn pipe…
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Starry-eyed surprise
To look at life full in the face, rather than externalizing it through a distracted and edited irreality. The enlightenment takes place backward, in moments of strict boredom, reflection, and introspection. It’s hard to look away from the rectangular glow, as it promises to signal and promote our best selves. Drowning in novelty, when all…
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Seeking ignorance amid uncertainty
Curiosity is a powerful tool. It makes us question our surroundings and compels us to ask why things work the way they do. It kicks the mind into exploration. But the addition of courage takes curiosity a step further; it tries to fill the void through hands-on experimentation. These small tests are fuel for failure in…
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The student never graduates
Learning stops in adulthood because people think all they’ll be doing the rest of their lives is working. But the cubicle, formerly called the ‘action of office,’ is where ideas and learning go to die. You can put your head down and work for the same company for 20 years if you want. You’ll gain…
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Finding aim through purpose
Some people need that motivational voltage to get them going. So they collect positive quotes on Pinterest, post inspirational tidbits on Facebook, and believe — albeit mistakenly — that the law of attraction will get them on the cover of Forbes. The barest encouragement, even if forcibly imagined, provokes enough optimism to keep the wannabe…
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Writing is a wrestling of words
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by
Writing is like wrestling, a tug of war with words that only make sense when we put them down. We anticipate the next letter, next word, the next sentence, with the prayer that it all comes together: grammar, structure, and meaning. Perfection is futile. The only fight we win is taking on the resistance that…
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Life is a pendulum of experiences
It was miserable. It was wonderful. It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. You can’t experience one high without experiencing another low. Life doesn’t work on a scale of 1 to 10 Life ebbs and flows. A step forward reverts in a step back, and vice versa. Life is a…
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How to survive a plunge from a waterfall
You know when you’re going over a waterfall and there’s no way to avoid it? Life throws challenges at you. That’s why this tutorial on diving from a waterfall — a real one, not the metaphor for life’s hurdles — will come handy. Oddly enough, the figure in the how-to image looks exactly like Harrison…