12 Insights For This Moment In Time
First published on May 28, 2020
It's a funny thing, having a writing practice. If you write often enough, some of the articles are good, some will touch more people than normal. And some will be mediocre.
If you write often enough, sometimes you will be excited to write, sometimes you will be neutral, and sometimes you don't feel like it. Today is the last of those. So here's how I'm going to practise: sit, wait and ask the question 'What gifts do I have to offer to the community in this moment?'
Be patient with yourself. These are strange times. Humans aren't evolved for complexity and uncertainty, and when faced with them we sometimes react in changeable and strange ways.
Consider practices not goals. What are the practices that will enable you to create what you want to create? What are the practices you are in now, where letting them go will enable you to create what you want to create?
Remember that it sometimes feels like life is happening to us, and it is impossible to change. Three deep breaths and changing our physical position can often help us switch out of the threat of 'To Me' and into the creative space of 'By Me'.
Remember that creating life is not the only alternative to 'life is happening to me'. This can be exhausting. Remember the flow states, and the possibility of allowing life to emerge through us.
When you're making big decisions, sometimes it's right to ignore your fears and sometime's it's right to consider them. When you're considering them, though, don't do it freehand, don't let them to run you. Instead, manage and mitigate them, and remember that there is a cost to not acting, too.
Braving the wilderness is lonely and hard. If you keep stepping down into the arena, in the grit, you might leave people behind. That might be sad.
You don't have to accept the premise of the question. If someone says 'What do you do?', you don't have to tell them. Try 'It's funny you should ask...' as a response. This is one of the most effective bridges I've ever heard. From that you can go anywhere. A nice second part of the bridge is, 'It's funny you should ask. What's more interesting than what I do is what I'm interested in. And what I'm interested in is...'
We each have in us creative potential. There are almost never 'great people', there are just people who were in the right place at the right time. In the modern world, no one knows how to make a pencil from scratch, let alone a computer mouse. All that we can do is make our own contribution. So make it. Don't hide away.
Small works of art change people's worlds. I spent an unreasonable amount of money on a 20cm sculpture of one of my favourite fictional characters. It brings me a feeling of joy and release whenever I think about it, let alone when I sit and look at it. You could give that gift to someone.
Listen and look for the people who touch you, however they do that. Spend time in their company, whether literally or by reading their words, listening to their podcasts, engaging with their work. Spend time in that way, being inspired.
Don't read the news. It's hugely negatively biased, especially at a time like this. It rarely gives an accurate picture of the truth and rarely adds value to our lives, often adding only fear. Choose something that contributes to your aliveness. That is almost never the news.
We teach what we most need to know. Probably no one needs this list right now more than me, but I hope something here touches you somehow, too.