[TT 016] favorite questions, emotion map, daily ritual, Buddhist maps, steel memories
Hi again Thrivers,
Goodness gracious, this week sped in the blink of an eye. How is it that the unit of 7 days found in different seasons of our lives can have such very different qualities?
Tuesday marked the new moon and, for the second time, a small crew gathered around a fire in our backyard to drink tea and share stories. I find this to be a rich and meaningful counterbalance to the adventure and mystery of my deepening full moon tea ritual. For me, meaning finds form in crisp relief with the rituals I choose for myself.
And, because I cannot contain myself, I'm deeply humbled and honored to welcome my mother to this newsletter. Hi mom!! And if you ever decide to unsubscribe, it won't hurt my feelings :)
Onwards and upwards to a special Thriving Thursday.
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On questions that guide me
Based on prompts from Write of Passage and, more recently, Building a Second Brain, I've written up my 12 favorite questions for 2021 and their scope of inquiry. They are:
- What are the systems to build a container for and empower human Thriving?
- How does one build an institution that lasts for 300+ years?
- How can I advance the technology of connection to the level of magic?
- In the age of "content is king", how does one speak less to say more?
- How can I communicate in one-to-many channels with the intimacy of a living room conversation?
- What is the most efficient way to connect with someone in their channel of understanding?
- How do I refine my signal to offer clear & precise notes of being?
- Where is the appropriate counterbalance of complexity with simplicity? How do I create the eye of calm in the center of the storm?
- What is the ideal portal to welcome new life into our home?
- What is the peak expression of relational harmony?
- When is "not good enough" empowering? And when does it flare into self-destructive?
- How can I share the ineffable?
Truth be told, I doubt I'll change them next year and will likely refine and subtly shift in the years. I'm curious to see how my questions and writeup shift over time.
On cultivating an emotional vocabulary
This past week I started seriously packing for graduate school and was genuinely surprised by the rich, multi-dimensional wave of emotions that washed over me. It felt really easy, but entirely inadequate, to say that I felt "sad" or "excited".
That reminded me of Dr. Robert Plutchik's emotion wheel that identifies primary emotions and intersections of those emotions. I like the idea of relating emotions to primary colors, but personally I like the Junto Institute's more elaborate version.
Even with all these shades, I find myself stumbling over words when I journaled because I couldn't quite find the palette to express the mix of gratitude, excitement, respect, care, closeness, distance, mourning, and more that I felt.
Today my neighbors asked me how I feel about the move and, after a short pause, I said "bitter-sweet sad". Sounds like a terrible flavor for a chocolate bar.
On nurturing daily rituals
Thanks to BASB I've been thinking about the nature of productivity (prodistemology?) and how that relates to my personal and career aspirations.
By and large, I posit that the best productivity system is the one that I actually use. In other words, the one that inspires diligence and care through positive feedback loops of success. That's why I appreciated Taylor Pearson's comments on daily rituals:
Research about the power of habits and rituals and anecdotal evidence both show that people who accomplish meaningful things in their lives tend to live what looks like fairly boring day-to-day existences.
I'm fairly good at setting up systems, but my weakness is ongoing maintenance. That's why this comment struck a deep note within me:
If you try and set up everything on the front end, you’re preparing for failure. If it’s not sticking, the answer is almost always to do less and cut down.
I especially like how Taylor breaks out his day into 7 distinct chunks - it's coherent, thoughtful, and aligned with my understanding of mapping physical / biological systems to cognition and productivity. This is a good reminder for me to review my current flow and see what would be useful for me to start, stop, and continue.
On the lineages of Buddhism
David Chapman is a strange and brilliant character, and I always appreciate his writing.
Most recently, I stumbled on his piece beginning to explore the origins of "modern" Buddhism most often practiced in the west. I was very surprised to read that "Western" Buddhism was first developed in Asia as a counterpoint to Christian evangelicals in the 1950s. And the part about the specific threads of Western ideologies that transmuted traditional Buddhism was extra fascinating.
When I have a solid chunk of time, I want to read through David's online book end-to-end because I know I won't be disappointed. Until then, I'll take it page by page in random order when I have time.
On steel memories cast to the wind
South African artist Regardt Van Der Meulen creates absolutely stunning sculptures that contrast the ephemerality of memory and life with the medium of steel. I love his use of negative space and dynamic - there is a notable sense that the characters are just floating away like dust in the wind. In the link above, the walking man and ballerinas are extra impressive to me.
His Instagram is full of dazzling installations and close ups of his work. Just wow.
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That's it for this week! Mom, I hope you liked it and, if you didn't, I'll happily refund the cost of your admission.
Until next week,
~Henry