Life
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Hope is a hedge against reality
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2 min read
We live in anticipation. The worker who looks forward to a vacation is probably far happier and more productive than one who toils away without the slightest carrot of free time dangling in their future. Without lying to ourselves, how do we unlock the treasure of hope (of more time, more freedom, and other imagined scenarios, etc.) without fabricating…
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The shared intimacy of the individual
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2 min read
Behavior operates at the amygdala level. Without conscious interpretation, we either fight or run away. Instead, what we seek is more constructive: long-term serotonin levels that strengthen emotional agility. Once we develop kinship between our senses and surroundings, we can level set and carry on when things go against us. There will always be those…
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When hearts and minds realign
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2 min read
We are exchanging advice, ideas, and information all the time, in effect trading minds with each other. Yet, within that knowledge transfer also oozes emotion. Stress is as contagious as a sneeze. If a family member or we bring tension home, it spreads like a virus to everyone in the house. The obstacle becomes an…
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The brilliance in absurdity
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1 min read
The synergy between brilliance and absurdity is one of the paradoxes of our time. One can’t be crazy without being wickedly smart. Thinking different isn’t supposed to compute. For the innovator, experimentation is the antidote to perfectionism. Trial and error is a mechanism for chance discovery. The right answer is a function of the mistakes.…
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Thinking things through
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2 min read
What we’re thinking of right now often feels of the utmost importance. Negative thoughts, in particular, turn passive onlookers into nervous inward-facing participants. The face twitch, lip biting, short breaths, full-bodied elsewhereness — says it all. The nerves light up like a Christmas tree, flaring internally on a rollercoaster of emotions. The brain gets stuck…
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Conformity as a preventative structure
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2 min read
The obvious remains invisible only because we choose to turn a blind eye to any framework that doesn’t align with our interests. Our minds crave homogenization. Even the misfits and activists who believe in no other cause than hope share tribal urges — there’s a strong instinct to join the pack. The herd outwits the…
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A test case of curiosity
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2 min read
There is no plan. We go through long stretches of time, just guessing. But the passage into mystery lures us forward. It costs nothing to try. The world changes—we change—when we live in the continuous present to see where it’ll lead us. As we dabble in life’s experiments, our efforts necessitate a kind of dream…
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Raging against the machine (us)
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2 min read
Writing is to rage against the machine, not the powers that be. It’s a practice that hollows out the anxieties within. The machine is us, and the blank page is the battlefield of emotion. Writing is a meditative process, a chance to pause and self-distance from the everyday. Prose allows us to exhaustively test society’s…
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Chords of inquiry
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1 min read
We remain emotionally uneven, driven by the vagaries of an electronically-fueled world tilted toward bad news. The external glow messes with our internal wiring, where even the illusion of reprieve bears zero hope. Yanked out of our public selves into private accountability, how do we cope with the torrent of life’s clutter? Facing reality is…
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Flow of attention
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1 min read
The creator goes from broad attention to a narrower focus. They see the forest for the trees while simultaneously shifting their vision to see the trees through the woods. Like a student, the artist aggregates what’s interesting and then goes deeper, pulsating from a generalist to a specialist, adding and subtracting, exploring the world through…
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Double or nothing
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1 min read
The best art deserves the long look, just as the best books earn a re-read. The second our surroundings pull us out of a desultory scan and compel interpretation, we learn twice as much. Pausing (and thinking deeply) is integral to the learning process. Disfluency extends the hesitation and augments the meaning. We’re not all vacuum cleaners.…
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Never enough peace
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2 min read
The world is a slow-methodical GIF loop that suffers from nasty jolts. The map is artifice; an illusion of safety that tempts the tyrants to remake boundaries. We spent two years social-distancing, at home hovering under flattened time and held together by screens of electronic bondage only to get invited to the worst party in our…