Craig Constantine

40 knots in the freezing Atlantic →

Published May 6, 2020 · All posts on May 6 · Thought and Philosophy

The point is, you’re basically this walking, lumbering habit machine. And these habits — a.k.a. your identity — have been built up over the course of decades of living and breathing, laughing and loving, succeeding and failing, and through the years, they have built up a cruising speed of 40 knots or so in the freezing Atlantic. And if you want to change them — that is, change your identity, how you perceive yourself or how you adapt to the world — well you better slam that steering wheel to the side and be ready to hit a couple icebergs, because ships this big don’t turn so well.
~ Mark Manson from, Shut Up and Be Patient

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I’ve been saying, “big ship, little rudder,” for a long time about my own attempts to change course. I’m certain I’m right about myself, but it’s reassuring to hear other people say they see this about themselves too. Wether or not Manson is your cup ‘o tea, it’s nice to hear things that confirm your assessment. “That looks like a shark, right? That’s a shark; we should get out of the water, right?”

The reason—not “one of the reasons”, but the actual, single, I’m-not-kidding, this is really why, reason—I tell the truth is that it helps other people form a good model of their world. Sound bonkers? …try this:

You know what it looks like, and/or sounds like, when a car is approaching along a roadway. You have a model of your world that, I hope, predicts that being struck by said car would be Very Bad. So you instinctively adjust your actions—get out of the way that is—when you see or hear a car approaching. That’s you using a model of reality; in this case a really good model that almost always works. Your model isn’t perfect: The driver could swerve to avoid you, and end up hitting you. In which case your model of the world has failed; you should have stood stationary, in the street to avoid being hit.

Where did you get that model?

What if I had arranged it so that every car you encountered as a child was driven by a confidant of mine. I had them all swerve to avoid you, and I taught you that cars will avoid you. You’d have a very different model! …and you’d agree I had done some SERIOUS lying to you!

Does my definition of True make sense now? I’ll say something if it will help you build a better model of the world. One can try this test on everything; it always works perfectly to tell you what is morally correct [in the context of speaking]. Anyway, I digress.

So I’ve been saying to myself, “big ship, small rudder,” and here I have an external bit of evidence from Manson that my model is correct. *shrugs* Sorry, this is what happens when you peek into my head.

Blindingly obvious →

Published May 5, 2020 · All posts on May 5 · Books

A few weeks ago I had a rapid sequence of ideas related to reading books. All of these are blindingly obvious in hindsight:

One can gang books together when reading. Grab Aurelius’s Meditations, Frankl’s, Man’s Search for Meaning, Seneca’s Letters, and Epictetus’s Discourses, Handbook and Fragments—and read a little from each of them in each sitting. Or grab the Constitution of the United States, The Federalist Papers, the Anti-Federalist Papers, and Stevens’s Six Amendments. (What “gang” of books springs to mind for you?)

One is permitted to place multiple bookmarks in the same book. Yes I’ve long advocated adding sticky notes to mark various things in a book as I go along. But the idea of reading in multiple places simultaneously in the same book hadn’t really occurred to me.

One can make their own bookmarks from 1/4″ satin ribbon! I have all sorts of bookmarks; things which slide onto the edge like a paper-clip, printed cards (“Remain calm. I’m the Doctor.” for example) with the usual string or ribbon from the end, 3×5 cards stuffed in randomly, and large sticky notes. But it’s way cooler to cut a length of ribbon and drape it through the book… just like really cool and expensive books which arrive with a bookmark sewn into their binding.

If you’re cutting ribbon to make bookmarks, you can easily attach it into the book just like the fancy books’ marks. Cut it long enough to: lay one end between the last two pages of the book, tight in against the binding, with the end near the top of the page, and the ribbon laying down the page. Flip a few pages on top of it to hold it in place, and lay the ribbon back up across the entire book again tight in against the binding. Now you have a bookmark that feels like it’s sewn into the binding when you grab the lower portion sticking out of the book as your mark.

My final thought in that recent cascade was of course: Okay, wow, I really have a book problem.

Frog or bird? →

Published May 4, 2020 · All posts on May 4 · Books

He described himself as a frog not a bird, as he enjoyed jumping from pool to pool, studying their details deeply in the mud. The bird’s-eye perspective was not for him, and he had a lifelong suspicion of grand unified theories.
~ Robbert Dijkgraaf from, Remembering the Unstoppable Freeman Dyson

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Freeman Dyson’s, Frogs and Birds is also worth a read.

There is such an insanely huge amount of things I want to read. Web pages, PDF files, ePub documents in Kindle and Nook, and of course stacks of physical books. I read a lot, but of course I’ll barely scratch the surface of just the things I’ve actively decided I want to read. Fortunately, I’m no longer reading to reach a goal, or to finish.

My mind is but a tiny eddy of order, maintained every so briefly within the grand arc of time.

…and what fun it is to go frolicking through the works of mankind, sharing the occasional bit here with you!

All this hurrying →

Published May 3, 2020 · All posts on May 3 · 7 for Sunday, Quotes

All this hurrying from place to place won’t bring you any relief, for you’re traveling in the company of your own emotions, followed by your troubles all the way.
~ Seneca

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The size of your identity →

Published May 2, 2020 · All posts on May 2 · Society

I think what religion and politics have in common is that they become part of people’s identity, and people can never have a fruitful argument about something that’s part of their identity. By definition they’re partisan.
~ Paul Graham from, Keep Your Identity Small

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There are two ways I can think to aim this: outward as a way to lecture others, and inward as a way to lecture myself. Lately, I find I’m choosing to aim inward with every lesson I encounter. I’m frequently trying to catch myself being untrue to my morals.

Yesterday I was asking myself: What would it mean to be, “so good, they can’t ignore you?” Asking myself such things is an ongoing theme, and I’ve always considered it from the mindset of more; from the mindset of searching for ways to improve by addition. Yes, I’ve intentionally left the subject unspecified here. Thinking about Graham’s article this morning leaves me wondering if the best way—for me today at my current place in my personal journey—might instead be to improve by removing things.

What would that look like, specifically?

P.S.: The question, “what can I do to be so good they can’t ignore me?,” is part of my personal list of daily reminders.

Penmanship →

Published May 1, 2020 · All posts on May 1

I write in my journal, basically, every day. I use a combination of styles to craft my—

…honestly, I’m freaking out watching the computer turn my keystrokes into this INSANELY perfect penmanship. Sorry.

—to craft my journal entries as a snapshot of my mood in addition to recording the written content. No I’m not going to share my journal here.

I generally go pages and pages and pages of writing without making a mistake. I write in ink. (Although, I did take a 2-year foray into writing in pencil—ick.) When I make a mistake, I simply place a single line through the mistake and move on. I picked up this habit from working in laboratory notebooks when I was a physics student; mistakes, especially if you go on to redo the work correctly, are part of the work and part of the record of your work. So in a lab notebook, you never remove a page, and you simply draw a single diagonal line through your mistakes. And then you move on. It occurs to me that’s also a great life lesson.

This morning, I tried to write the word “He”, but I flubbed the strokes of the “H” and got something that looked more like the word, “the.” Without the slightest hesitation, I lightheartedly crossed it out, and began to rewrite “He.” I made the first downward stroke of the “H”—mind you this all happened in a split-second—and when I lifted my pen at the bottom of that stroke I couldn’t remember how to write a cursive, capital “H.”

What followed was an hour-long detour into the bowels of the Internet. First I had to figure out which cursive writing style I use. I’ve no idea what I learned in ’76; it just comes out of the end of the pen when I think writing. The best I could do was look through how-to writing worksheets until—stroking the letters in my mind (get your mind out of the gutter)—I found one that seemed right. Then I looked at the H. Then I flipped back through a bunch of pages looking for one of my Hs. To my flabbergasted astonishment I’ve been cheating. I’ve been writing a block letter capital H, when I need a “He,” “However,” or “Hellion.”

In the end I learned three lessons:

How to correctly stroke a cursive, capital H, and for good measure I brushed up on—see what I did there?—my capital K, since they are dangerously similar.
OMG don’t ever try to think about something that you normally do fluidly without thinking. I hurt my neck and nearly broke my wrist in all of this.
WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT LOOK AT EITHER OF THESE WEB SITES…

https://www.boredpanda.com/beautiful-handwriting-lettering-calligraphy/

And of course there’s a sub-reddit for it…

https://www.reddit.com/r/PenmanshipPorn/

…it took every ounce of my will to not take up penmanship for penmanship’s sake.

Quitting at quitting time →

Published April 30, 2020 · All posts on Apr 30

The best thing you and I can do at the end of the writing day is to stash our work gloves in our locker, hang our leather apron on a hook, and head for the workshop door. If we’ve truly put in our hours today, we know it. We have done enough. It won’t help to keep at it like a dog worrying a bone.
~ Steven Pressfield from, “The Office is Closed”

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…and similarly: Perfectionism is a Loser’s Strategy

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I’ve recently learned that “inertia” as a word, was first applied to the cosmos during a fairly recent philosophical shift in thinking. People like Copernicus were looking at the cosmos and used “inertia” to point out the universe’s inherent, not-alive property; as in, the cosmos possesses inertia, the property of being inert. Newton’s idea of inertia, in the sense that slow moving dump trucks have a lot of inertia, aligns with the idea that the inert cosmos resists. It resists starting and it resists stopping. Newton’s equation, “F=ma” is a result of inertia; If (F)orce is zero on the left, then (a)cceleration is zero on the right. If acceleration is zero, then velocity remains constant.

Aside: “velocity” is speed, “how fast?” and direction, together as one property. Turning a corner in a car, at the same speed, is a change in velocity. To do so requires force from the steering tires of the car. The steering wheel is simply a well designed control for applying lateral force to the front of your car to control your velocity without changing your speed.

Where was I? …oh, right! Inertia. The cosmos. Back to it…

The inert cosmos resists starting and stopping. But I am not inert! I long ago recognized that when I was not moving—figuratively speaking, moving by being engaged making progress toward some goal… When I was not moving, then I needed to do something to get moving. I needed to start, and realizing that I was bad at starting, I needed to practice starting. Okay, did that.

Unfortunately, I have created a new problem: I don’t know how to stop. It turns out one really needs to also be able to start and to stop. Now that I’ve mastered starting, I can finally begin to learn to stop.

<sarcasm>And surprise!</sarcasm> F=ma. Starting and stopping are equally difficult.

Elizabeth Cunningham | Yoga for Life →

Published April 29, 2020 · All posts on Apr 29

On Castbox.fm — Elizabeth Cunningham | Yoga for Life

How can yoga principles and breathwork enhance movement practices and overall well-being?

Yoga principles extend beyond the mat, offering insights that reshape how we move and manage stress.

I want you to get that you can use your breath in any moment, in any circumstance for whatever you’re doing, to calm yourself down to expand your movements to be able to tap into your parasympathetic nervous system.
~ Elizabeth Cunningham (4:34)

The conversation highlights the role of breath and yoga principles in enhancing physical movement and mental clarity. Elizabeth shares how her personal experiences with spinal fusion surgery and back spasms led her to rediscover yoga, which ultimately relieved her pain and transformed her perspective on movement. She emphasizes how breath control can calm the nervous system, improve posture, and foster creativity, encouraging people to integrate these practices into everyday life.

Elizabeth explains how posture and breath awareness serve as foundational tools that extend beyond yoga into disciplines like parkour or even daily interactions. She underscores the importance of breath for managing stress, preventing injury, and achieving flow states. Through humor and hands-on demonstrations, she aims to make yoga accessible and practical for all movement practitioners.

Takeaways

Breath as a tool — Breath can calm the nervous system, expand movement, and bring awareness to the present moment.

Posture alignment — Proper posture starts with engaging the core, which prevents lower back pain and fatigue.

Breath and movement — Inhalations create expansion, and exhalations drive contraction, aligning with physical movement patterns.

Breaking assumptions — Approaching yoga and breathwork with a beginner’s mindset fosters creativity and discovery.

Applicability of breath — Breathwork applies not only to physical practices but also to daily conversations and stressful situations.

Resources

Elizabeth Cunningham’s website

Elizabeth Cunningham @elzcunningham

Art of Retreat — Official site for Art of Retreat, a leadership and education retreat for movement professionals.

(Written with help from Chat-GPT.)

And then it gets harder →

Published April 29, 2020 · All posts on Apr 29 · Apogee

I don’t think we emphasize enough the importance of evidenced-based metrics. Deep work is important. Making lots of bets is important. But if these efforts are not grounded in the reality of your field — including the hard truths about what you really do need to potentially succeed, not just what you know how to do — they are wasted.
Cal Newport from, You Need to Master the Rules Before You Can Reinvent Them

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Deep work; yes. Making lots of bets (or, fail faster, pick yourself, iterate quickly, etc.); yes. Grounded in reality; yes. Are those all necessary? yes—actually, hell yes, amen and once more, louder, for those in the back!

But are they sufficient? If you have those three, will you be successful? Setting aside the timing and random luck parts of success, nope I think you also need tenacity.

I’m not sure if it’s learned, innate or both of those. But there’s a necessary tenacity. Ever play tug-o-war with a dog and a rope-toy? That dog has the tenacity, in Spades. (Without Googleing, can you tell me where the phrase, “in Spades” comes from?) holy shit no you dont thats my rope toy i am never gonna let go as long as you want to play this is my favorite game oh my gawd best day ever!!

But, a good dog also knows it’s a game. Tenacious? Absolutely. Drop that toy like a hot potato when something better comes up? What rope toy?

TK: Tantra, authenticity, and eye contact →

Published April 29, 2020 · All posts on Apr 29 · Movers Mindset

TK: Tantra, authenticity, and eye contact

What role does tantra, authenticity, and interpersonal communication play in enhancing personal growth and human connection?

TK openly discusses her experiences with tantra, explaining what it is, what it means to her, and how it relates to her goals with Lovecraft Collective. She shares her thoughts on the power of eye contact, radical honesty, and interpersonal communication. TK delves into her love of climbing, her relationship with movement, sexuality, and how the two are connected.

There’s something kind of magical that happens when you— We’re making eye contact right now, and it’s kind of silly, but if we allowed ourselves to continue to make eye contact…
~ TK (19:39)

The conversation explores the multifaceted nature of tantra, diving into its definition and its applications in fostering human connection and holistic healing. It highlights the significance of balancing energy, exploring pleasure, and integrating movement practices such as climbing and parkour into a fuller, more embodied experience of life. TK shares personal anecdotes that underline the importance of understanding and addressing sexuality as a fundamental part of being human.

The discussion also dips into the profound power of eye contact, vulnerability, and radical honesty as transformative tools in interpersonal relationships. Insights into TK’s movement background, including climbing and parkour, provide a glimpse into how physical activities intertwine with personal development and creativity.

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