Effortful conscious action can be transformed into wu-wei.*
Edward Slingerland

Which of your strengths have you been under-deploying?**
James Clear

It turns out there are seven
alchemical “magicals”–^

Rather than with metals,
I see alchemy as part of Human development:

Conjunctio –
Living with contradictions and tensions.

Solutio –
Exploring by removing story elements to create a new life myth.

Sublimatio –
Developing and elevating some ignored talent.

Coagulatio –
Turning ideas into practices.

Calcinatio –
Embracing pressure to create substance.

Mortificatio –
Letting go and letting come.

Putrefactio –
Exploring with passion the extremes others consider to be ugly and unpleasant.

You probably imagined something in your life for each of these:
You are an alchemist.

*Edward Slingerland’s Trying Not To Try;
**James Clear’s 3-2-1 newsletter: On finding someone wonderful, emphasizing your strengths, and letting go;
^Richard Rohr’s The Tears Of Things.

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Picasso painted with passion,
Mozart composed with it.
A child plays with it all day long.*
Steven Pressfield

When a powerful new technology arrives it offers us wishes. Too often we waste them…We’re in the biggest moment of technological change of our lifetimes. What are you using your wishes for?**
Seth Godin

To be enthralled
is not the same
as being impassioned.

To be enthusiastic
is not the same
as being impassioned.

There are lots of bright
shiny things to be enthralled by–
That is, “to be in bondage to.”

There are many things
to be enthusiastic in–
Though this waxes and wanes.

Passion is not the way
of a few, but the birth-gift
of the many.

It faces difficulty
and discomfort,
But these are the making of it.

It is not made worthy by size
or some scale of feelings,
But by its singularity.

It is not found or pursued,
But uncovered
and allowed to breathe.

All that we are and all that we have
will serve it–
Not the other way round.

*Steven Pressfield’s Do the Work;
**Seth Godin’s blog: The banal djinni.

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The best way to live is to value only what has endured.*
Derek Sivers

The ultimate tradition that is handed down to us is not any particular creed, practice, or institutional structure, but the event of love that was astir in Jesus and then is handed on the the church.**
John Caputo

What you have received,
What endures throughout your being here,
What has begun today.

From human being,
From living things,
From beloved Earth.

Indomitable questions,
Never-ending curiosity,
Above all– love.

Everything is waiting to be hallowed.^

*Derek Sivers’ How To Live;
**John Caputo’s What Would Jesus Deconstruct?;
^Martin Buber, from Philip Newell’s The Great Search.

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MaximumU refers to a dynamic moment when your action confronts and overcomes your doubt, hesitation, or exhaustion.*
AleXander McManus

There’s a paradox to your ikigai because sometimes the easiest thing and the hardest thing to do will be the exact same thing.**
Rob Bell

Somewhere
deeply
inside
you
flows
the
confluence
of
selflessness
generosity
and
wisdom–
the
most
you
that
you
can
be–
flowing
easy,
costing
everything.

*AleXander McManus’ Blue Moments;
**Rob Bell’s How To Be Here.

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The myth and its accompanying rituals were a reminder that often things had to get worse before they could get better, and that survival and creativity required a dedicated struggle.*
Karen Armstrong

Rituals are essentially behavioural training …**
Edward Slingerland

The best rituals
are honed in struggle
and lead to
possibility–
From need to intrigue–
My life is full of them.

The suspense is terrible.
I hope it will last.^

*Karen Armstrong’s A Short History of Myth;
**Edward Slingerland’s Trying Not To Try;
^Oscar Wilde, from Lisa Cron’s Story Or Die.

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Thought is made largely of pictures.*
Antonio Damasio

I like pictures in books.
I wish there were more.
Maybe I could add my own.
That would be fun.

*Lisa Cron’s Story Or Die.

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“Initium est dimidium faci”…”Once you’ve started, you’re halfway there.”*
James Clear

The act of engaging with others generates a way forward that you didn’t previously have in mind. Just start engaging.**
Adam Kahane

Ifs, buts and maybes–
My mind generates plenty of reasons
to stop me moving with this idea.

Perhaps I ought to
take this to my heart – maybe
share it with the heart of another.

Out of the heart
comes one small thing
to explore, to experiment with.

I
have
begun…

If we were to name the one thing that makes the wild woman what she is, it would be her responsiveness. The word response come from the Latin “to pledge, to promise” – and that’s her strong suit.^

*James Clear’s 3-2-1 newsletter: On how to handle idiots, pushing toward growth, and two choices in life;
**Adam Kahane’s Everyday Habits For Transforming Systems;
^Clarissa Pinkola Estés’ Women Who Run With the Wolves.

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The compass needle of the blue narrative does not tremble toward the landmarks of our making – our grand theologies, our gleaming institutions, our cherished customs – but toward the mysterious North Star of the world yet to come, the creation still unfolding, the dawn still breaking over mountain we have yet to climb.*
AleXander McManus

Ride the wave of chaos instead of vainly trying to contain it.**
Anne-Laure Le Cunff

“This is it”
they cry–
Institution,
Idea,
Culture,
Well-worn ways–
Whilst around us
lie countless blue veils^
inviting
the doubters
and disenchanted
and curious
and dreamers
to enter
into multiverses
of possibility–
A wild stream
of uncertainty.

*AleXander McManus’ Blue Moments;
**Anne-Laure Le Cunff’s Tiny Experiments;
^Perhaps have a play by going to Wikipedia’s page for Hyperlink, and see how long you can continue clicking.

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What to do today?–
You know the possibility
of doing something Universe
has never seen before lies in you – right?

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Duchamp helps us understand that “art” shouldn’t be thought of as a noun that picks out certain kinds of objects, but as a verb: We “art” absolutely any object at all by using it to trigger thoughts and conversation.*
Blake Gopnik

I knew it, I knew it–
We all have some art
to bring into the world–
You be you and I’ll be me.

*Rob Walker’s The Art of Noticing newsletter: Just Art It.

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