Category: Life

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Curiosity

Curiosity may have killed a cat or two, but can you imagine life without it? We’d be puffed up with certainty; willfully ignorant blobs happy to consume whatever dreck’s put in front of us, happy to parrot any conspiracy theory or celebrity gossip or whatever the latest outrage is that algorithmic or human manipulators want us to spread. Doesn’t sound too exciting, does it? So, yeah, curiosity is pretty essential for a mindful, deliberate life. It prevents us from stagnating and beating our heads against the walls of our own echo chambers. It keeps us open to new ideas and Read More …

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The Year of Routine

At the beginning of 2020 I planned for a year of new experiences, but instead, it became the year of routine. Wake up at 5am. Meditate for an hour (or rather set an intention to follow your breath for an hour but end up lost in thought instead). Write or exercise for another hour. Make a couple of phone calls. Breakfast. Go to work. Lunch. Back to work. Dinner. Read. Write some more. Sleep. On weekends, replace work with a long walk, tai ji class, and longer writing sessions. Sprinkle in a few chores and appointments and add a hefty Read More …

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No Waiting, Just Being

Waiting can be a hassle, but more and more I find myself rolling with life’s inevitable delays. The world, contrary to the way things ought to be, doesn’t revolve around me. My delay is another person’s smooth sailing. Just this morning, the person I was supposed to meet texted me that he couldn’t make it on time. A few years ago I might have gotten impatient. I might have tapped my feet, looked at my watch, and given every outward sign of impatience. But really, what’s the point? It’s not going to make traffic flow any faster. What’s even crazier, Read More …

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Goal-setting for Writers

To get ahead in life, you’ve got to set goals. Everybody says so. Unfortunately, not all goals are created equal. Setting the wrong ones can lead to time wasted, or it can derail our efforts altogether, and end in frustration and regret. Clearly, a goal of “I’m going to be a famous writer” isn’t very helpful. “I want to be a better writer” is only slightly more useful. Better how? And anyway, how can we tell if we’ve hit the mark? So the self-help world gave us SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-based) goals. Much better. Now we’ll actually Read More …

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Attention!

I’m currently reading the excellent “How to Do Nothing – Resisting the Attention Economy” by Jenny Odell. It’s a dense, academic read at times, and I’ve found myself looking up words; something that I don’t do too often. That may be less of a testament to my prodigious vocabulary than to the possibility that I haven’t been challenging myself in my reading enough. In her book, Odell rejects the idea that the attention economy (e.g. social media, TV, and their sine qua non – the advertising industry) is a given. Something we cannot escape and are powerless to confront. That Read More …