No Reason
Tomorrow’s events:
Stoic Breath: Sunrise Edition w/ Steve Beattie. Every Monday @ 6:15 AM ET. RSVP here.
Structural Dynamics and the Creative Process w/ Robert Fritz. January 4th @ 4:00 PM ET. RSVP here.
The Bridge: Deep-Dives W/ Evan McMullen. January 4th, 11th, 18th, and 25th. 5:00 PM ET. RSVP here. 90 mins.
Newly posted event:
Shadowplay: Getting Under the Covers in 2021 w/ Arran Rogerson and Alyssa Polizzi. January 8th @ 6:00 PM ET. RSVP here.
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January 3rd, 2021
Camille and I got Chinese food on New Year's Eve, and the fortune cookie I got said …
You will always live in interesting times.
Always?! C’mon fortune cookie writer person, whoever you are, give this steward a break. Don’t you know that infamous phrase “may you live in interesting times" is apparently a curse? And that “you will always” part was so aggressively certain. I mentioned this infamous phrase in a previous entry …
Ostensibly a blessing, this expression is apparently a curse. Uninteresting times are safe, predictable, and normal. Interesting times are dangerous, uncertain, and weird. It seems we are living in interesting times with a trajectory of it becoming more interesting.
Well, the wise approach here is to lean into our interesting times, as it would be foolish to pretend things are uninteresting. We can distract ourselves in the spectacle all day, neutering our potential, and chasing our own trauma tails around—in support of the outrage porn industrial complex—but if you are attracted to the misty promise of The Stoa, then you already realize this is a deeply uninteresting way to be.
It has become fashionable to take a poop on New Year's resolutions, as the failure rate is pretty high. There is energy when things start though, and that includes a year, especially one which arrives during interesting times. What should we resolve ourselves to this year? Maybe something simple ...
Resolve to show-up.
Resolve to affirm life.
Resolve to be in the mess.
Resolve to beautify what is.
Resolve to recognize love.
After eating the Chinese food, Camille and I took something that made us happy, and then we drank, talked, and listened to Adrianne Lenker deep into the night. Camille said she loved me, and I asked why. I was totally fishing for compliments, and her answer blind-sided me. I do not remember her exact words, but she said something that expressed the following ...
I do not know why I love you. I do not have a reason. I just do. If you need a reason to love somebody, you do not really love them.
I might not be doing justice to her words, but what she said, and the way it was said, really landed. For the longest time I was looking for reasons, then Camille came around, and loved me without one.
There is no poverty of resolutions we can make this year, and many of them surely are for good reasons, but during these interesting times, I’ll be going with the resolution that does not need a reason.
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