Then What?
When we’re making plans and setting goals, in some cases the desirability of the outcome will be assumed, our only real question being how to accomplish it. That reflex isn’t always ideal, though, as many of our efforts—our hard fought…
Everyday Kairos
One interpretation of the Greek term “kairos” is that it represents a point of maximal leverage for some kind of undertaking. So while “chronos” means objective, undifferentiated time (measurable seconds, minutes, etc) kairos refers to moments that have a more subjective value.…
Vague Footpaths
I’ve been thinking a lot about aging, of late, and the way we perceive it, deal with it, and respond to it. It’s been interesting working through the concerns and considerations of growing older because while most of us have…
Capacity and Application
I tend to believe that a life well lived (by most standards) involves a consistent increase in one’s personal capacity. In practice, this means we’re more capable of doing and feeling and comprehending: fixing things, parsing the unfamiliar, understanding our…
Simmer or Sear
Some creative work requires the application of quick, definitive force if you want to take what’s in your head, commit it to a distributable medium, and get it out the door in a shape that’s true to what you pictured…
Some Final 2023 Thoughts
I decided at the last second to do away with my usual newsletter format for this final newsletter of 2023 (I’m taking next week off to work on my new book, avoid the news, and eat unhealthy volumes of green…
Taking Time
The calendar provides us with all sorts of baked-in milestone moments, and though we don’t require such moments (holidays, birthdays, etc) to pause, assess, try new things, and make changes to how we live our lives (based on those assessments…
Instrumental Flute Era
There was an episode of Rick and Morty in which the father character is engaging in his hobby—beekeeping—and he’s being watched by his daughter’s friend who says, her interest growing as she speaks, “Look at your dad, such a dork, keeping bees.…
Rearviews
I’ve had reason, recently, to look over a digital archive of my older written work. This can be both a thrilling and harrowing process, as it’s wonderful to make new connections, connect a string of earlier dots and see how…
The Lean
I don’t think false, unjustified optimism is productive, but I do have a bias toward reframing bad situations to focus on the (at times meager) silver-linings that will almost aways be there, if you look. This isn’t typically a pleasant…