You need the eye, hand, and the heart. Two won’t do.*
David Hockney

They always spot the ladybug, the fluttering orange butterflies, the dandelion that’s one little puff from bursting. Their questions are my favourite part…Children have been my greatest teachers.**
Maggie Doyne

Wonderful talents
and generous values
can be the making of adulthood,
But sometimes
the best eyes we can have
are from our childlike selves–
Who knows what new
worlds we may see
to bring these to.

*Quoted in Austin Kleon’s blog: Go on until you fall over;
**From Suleika Jaouad’s The Book Of Alchemy.

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Meaning is not something Moses discovered like an objective truth, not something he invents for himself. It is a threshold he crosses.*
AleXander McManus

The successful blueprint aligns that change you seek to make with the life you seek to live.**
Seth Godin

Firstly
the blue moment and then
the blue-print–

Meaning materialises
through a moment that
changes us–

The future is over there
but between here and there
there lies a thick line–

The line
changes everything
starting with you–

*AleXander McManus’ Blue Moments;
**Seth Godin’s This Is Strategy.

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I’ll go on until I fall over.*
David Hockney

Meaning cannot be simulated.**
Arthur Brooks

There will be a thread^
running through all you do
in your lifetime–
Something you cannot put down
because that would be to walk
away from Self–
Nuanced, quirksome, imperfect–
Iterating, adapting, regenerating–
Meaning wrapped
in the fullness of days.

Consider who you are. Above all, a human being, carrying no greater power than your own reasoned choice, which oversees all other things, and is free from any other master.^^

*Quoted in Austin Kleon’s blog: Go on until you fall over;
**Arthur Brooks’ The Meaning Of Your Life;
^I continue in my work to help people notice their thread; I work 1:1 with a small group: it’s a gifted experience and I have a place available. Drop me a line in the comments if you want to find out more. It’s my thread.
^^Epictetus, quoted in Ryan Holiday’s The Daily Stoic.

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Thinking that you are good can make you bad.*
Edward Slingerland

Learning is how to live.**
Derek Sivers

To shift
rather than stick,
That is the question–

Whether to explore
the inexhaustible
human capacity to learn–

Or stay
in the same old
same old–

One becoming
younger, the other
turning older–

*Edward Slingerland’s Trying Not To Try;
**Derek Sivers’ How To Live.

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You can find the craft in whatever you do.*
Rob Bell

You won’t get fired for following a best practice. But you won’t build something that matters with them either.**
gapingvoid

There are instances and
situations where
I want you to follow the guidelines –
Think, piloting the plane–

There are many more places where
I would love for you to bring
your crafter’s heart,
And bring more–

Possibilities I cannot see, born of
deep talent and purpose and meaning,
Expressed through imagination
and skill and service–

You feel and notice
more than most–
Because this isn’t some genetic club,
It’s your choice.

We are not observers of a world already built. We are participants in a world still becoming – shaped by intention, tension, and the trembling power of presence.^

*Rob Bell’s How To Be Here;
**gapingvoid’s blog: Beware Of Best Practices;
^Alex McManus’ Blue Moments.

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We have to be braver than we think we can be, because God is constantly calling us to be more than we are.*
Madeleine L’Engle

We don’t get wise just by adding and adding. We also need to substract.**
Derek Sivers

I suspect
the wiser me
shall only appear
through learning
and unlearning and
relearning,
Over and over–
about myself
and all
that borders me–
I can only be braver
as me
and you can only be braver
as you–
Wisdom of heart
and soul and mind
and body.

*Quoted in AleXander McManus’ FutureU;
**Derek Siver’s Hell Yeah Or No.

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The human soul is like a microcosm of the macrocosm, an inner inverse that corresponds to the infinity of the outward universe.*
Philip Newell

Our current social systems have not yet been set up to prepare us to live a life of true purpose. Today’s culture exists not to nurture our highest aspirations, but to perpetuate the status quo. We need to move out of the small stories we have held about ourselves and the human race.**
Clarissa Pinkola Estés

Could it be that
human possibility
lies in the growing of the soul?

Not something
to be found on
the school curriculum–

Nor registering
with courses on continuing
personal development–

Yet celebrated by
the best of religion, spirituality, and
philosophy–

May we have
high aspirations for ourselves
and those around us–

May we step out
of the smaller stories and
unfurl with the universe–

*Philip Newell’s The Great Search;
**Clarissa Pinkola Estés’ Women Who Run With The Wolves.

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Living for others is how to live.*
Derek Sivers

I now think good character is a by-product of giving yourself away.**
David Brooks

In what other ways
may you do what you do
for the benefit of others?

Have you ever thought it funny
how exploring this brings
meaning and purpose?

And your heart,
Is it not fulfilled, even
happy?

The great powers are testing to see if humans have yet learned to recognise the greatness of soul in all its varying forms.^

*Derek Sivers’ How To Live;
**David Brooks’ The Second Mountain;
^Clarissa Pinkola Estés’ Women Who Run With The Wolves.

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The moment we gave names to the deepest forces – good and evil, love and hate, life and death – we stepped into a different world. They are not simply labels. They are powers. And to speak them aloud is to awaken them. But naming is never neutral. Once we name them, they name us.*
AleXander McManus

Love is like a plough that opens up hard ground and allows things to grow.**
David Brooks

Ever tried to imagine
what it must be like
to think like a dog or cat?

It is impossible
because we cannot remove the heavy
clay of human consciousness–

Here is our complexity–
Love and hate, good
and evil, life and death–

We may try not to hate,
not to do wrong, not
only to exist–

How quickly self-control empties–
Better to love, to do good,
To live fully while we have breath–

Choosing to be
more human–
Transcending, transforming–

*AleXander McManus’ Blue Moments;
**David Brooks’ The Road To Character.

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If we knew what people regret the most, we can reverse the image to reveal what they value the most.*
Daniel Pink

Remember, then, if you deem what is by nature slavish to be free, and what is not your own to be yours, you will be shackled and miserable, blaming both gods and other people.**
Epictetus

If only I had …
I wish that I hadn’t …

I must admit,
I do not like regret–

So what will happen
if I put my regret to work?–

If I do not ignore it
or wallow in it?–

If I allow myself to be awakened
to what regret is showing me–

Perhaps I will find attending to regret
is a compassionate thing?

*Daniel Pink’s The Power of Regret;
**Ryan Holiday’s The Daily Stoic.

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