Author: Craig Constantine

Recharging with Tracy Bedford

Published April 22, 2022  ·  All posts on Apr 22

How do creative individuals balance personal growth, self-compassion, and the challenges of isolation inherent in artistic endeavors like podcasting and acting?

Balancing the solitude of podcasting with the communal energy of acting is examined through personal anecdotes.

It’s really just being present and focusing only on that one thing, and I think it’s kind of a meditative experience.

~ Tracy Bedford (20:07)

The conversation examines the personal journey of balancing creative pursuits like podcasting and acting with the emotional toll of isolation and perfectionism. Tracy and Craig discuss the challenges of sustaining creative momentum, especially when life’s demands and self-doubt intervene. Acting emerges as a counterbalance to the solitude of podcasting, offering communal support and immediate feedback.

A significant theme revolves around self-compassion and learning to accept one’s current state, whether in creative highs or lows. The importance of presence, mindfulness, and finding restorative activities—such as walking in nature, journaling, or engaging with a supportive community—is highlighted. The conversation underscores the value of self-reflection in nurturing both personal and artistic growth.

Takeaways

The interplay of creativity and community — how acting provides immediate connection and podcasting requires self-sufficiency.

The challenge of perfectionism — striving for high standards while learning to let go.

The role of solitude in creativity — distinguishing between being alone and feeling lonely.

The importance of presence — mindfulness as a means to enhance creative focus.

Therapy and self-compassion — tools for navigating personal and artistic challenges.

Recharge strategies — walks in nature, reading, and inspiring podcasts as restorative activities.

Resources

Tom Bilyeu — Podcaster known for discussing self-improvement and resilience.

Joel Osteen — Inspirational speaker whose messages were adapted in the conversation.

Rich Roll podcast — Mentioned as a motivational resource.

“Just Keep Swimming” — Reference to an uplifting mantra from Finding Nemo.

(Written with help from Chat-GPT.)

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Not self-made

Published April 22, 2022  ·  All posts on Apr 22  ·  

[…] it is not true that I am self-made. Like everyone, to get to where I am, I stood on the shoulders of giants. My life was built on a foundation of parents, coaches, and teachers; of kind souls who lent couches or gym back rooms where I could sleep; of mentors who shared wisdom and advice; of idols who motivated me from the pages of magazines (and, as my life grew, from personal interaction).

~ Arnold Schwarzenegger

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Brittle and prone to failure

Published April 22, 2022  ·  All posts on Apr 22  ·  

Together, these approaches comprise “complexity.” They tend to make the economic system less resilient. At least temporarily, they pass fewer of the higher costs of energy products through to current citizens. As a result, the economy can temporarily withstand a higher price of energy. But the system tends to become brittle and prone to failure.

~ Gail Tverberg from, Spike in energy prices suggests that sharp changes are ahead

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I don’t know whether to say you’ll be better, or worse, off—but I absolutely recommend reading everything Tverberg has ever written. I’ve a number, (nowhere near all of her stuff however,) of things quoted here on the blog; All those posts are tagged Gail Tverberg. History shows many examples, over thousands of years of recorded history, where economies, (empires, civilizations, and the people,) grew slowly and ended precipitously. There’s yet to be an example of a gradual decline. The open question is for how much longer—possibly very very much longer—can humanity continue to incline? (And to be clear, I don’t have an educated opinion about that question.)

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What actually is the problem

Published April 21, 2022  ·  All posts on Apr 21  ·  

Every obstacle that we normally think of as a problem to be fixed … every “flaw” in ourselves or others that we judge as something to be fixed … what if we can pause, find stillness, and get curious instead of trying to fix?

~ Leo Babauta from, Stillness & Curiosity

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Any day that Babauta gets me thinking is a good day. (If that isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.) I’ve gotten pretty durn good at the “pause”, and the “find stillness”, parts. I also believe I have the “wait but why” curiosity bit figured out, since it has always been with me. It’s that “trying to fix” part upon which I’m perpetually stuck. And I get “particularly stuck”— “particularly stuck” aren’t the right words… if I could find the right words or word, I would use it instead. “Ensnared” is close. Or, have you ever gotten caught by a single thorn while out walking or hiking? That one thorn isn’t going to do too much damage if you stop quickly. In an instant, that one thorn becomes the laser focus of all of my attention. I really feel like I should be able to find the right word to fix that sentence.

Well, that’s curious.

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Competition

Published April 20, 2022  ·  All posts on Apr 20  ·  

I would like to remove all competitions in outdoor sports. The competition is not the important thing. The important thing is to learn to behave with wild nature.

~ Reinhold Messner

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Pasteur’s Quadrant

Published April 20, 2022  ·  All posts on Apr 20

The core idea of Pasteur’s Quadrant is that basic and applied research are not opposed, but orthogonal. Instead of a one-dimensional spectrum, with motion towards “basic” taking you further away from “applied”, and vice versa, he proposes a two-dimensional classification, with one axis being “inspired by the quest for fundamental understanding” and the other being “inspired by considerations of use”

~ Jason Crawford from, Pasteur’s quadrant

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I’ve put a bit of thought into research. I’ve certainly considered the two properties of “research for understanding” and “research for application”. But I’ve never thought of them as two dimensions. Click through and check out the simple but illuminating quadrant graph.

And I’m immediately wondering: Can I think of a third dimension upon which to plot research? (Field-of-study comes to mind. Time; The thing being studied, is it something that happens in micro-time like particle physics, or macro-time like geology?) I’m also wondering: what other activities could be plotted in a quadrant? (Writing: insight versus length? Coaching: net change in performance versus time spent training?)

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Core temperature

Published April 19, 2022  ·  All posts on Apr 19

Interestingly, regardless of exercise intensity, exercising in the cold has been shown to reduce and delay the typical [human growth hormone] response to exercise, leading to the speculation that the increase in core temperature may be the more important regulator of growth hormone release.

~ Brad Pilon from, Heat and Growth Hormone

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Human growth hormone is involved in a lot of the body’s signaling, and I was instantly curious about “hacking” exercise to raise core temperature… and then I remembered all the classic “boxers training in sweat suits”—drenched in sweat! It’s right in the name of the clothing. Boxes know a lot about training, muscle and getting into shape.

But then I got completely distracted reading the Wikipedia page. First off, I remember when we didn’t know what the actual shape of molecules were. Then along came mathematical modeling, protein folding… and I think there’s even a “folding at home” project where you can “donate” your computer’s free time to help figure out how proteins fold. Anyway, Human Growth Hormone seems to be solved. It has 192 (!?!) amino acids. The thing is enormous— except it’s actually not that big as far as proteins go. And the folded shape is as important as the chemical composition of each molecule. And you begin to realize the insane complexity of proteins that have hundreds of amino acids… And then you eat food and your body needs enzymes to disassemble these huge molecules into . . . sorry. I got excited. Ahem.

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Accounting

Published April 18, 2022  ·  All posts on Apr 18

Understanding an entity’s metabolism is fundamental to understanding its role within an ecosystem of competing entities and the selective pressures it is under. An entity with a successful metabolism survives and grows; one that fails in its metabolism is eliminated. Over time, through natural selection, an ecosystem becomes dominated by the entities with successful metabolism. Different entities can have different designs and make different choices, but the laws of nature decide which of them thrive.

~ Jason Crawford from, Organizational metabolism and the for-profit advantage

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There’s good and evil, and moral and immoral. There are associations [in the most general sense of the word] of people working in a myriad of structures, trying to achieve many different goals which are good, evil, moral, and immoral. The first thing I had to get straight in my head was that the variety of the association doesn’t tell me anything about the goals, or the morals, of the people. Because it’s those people that matter.

People can use, or abuse, any structure. (Just like they can any tool. A structure of association isn’t magical; It’s a tool.) So what is the difference between “non-profit” and “for-profit”? …which tool is better at enabling people to work towards their goals?

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Diffuse thinking

Published April 17, 2022  ·  All posts on Apr 17  ·  

Although diffuse thinking comes in the guise of a break from focus, our minds are still working. Often, it’s only after we switch away from this mode that we realize our brains were indeed working for us. Moving into diffuse mode can be a very brief phenomenon, such as when we briefly stare into the distance before returning to work.

~ Shane Parrish from, Focused and Diffuse: Two Modes of Thinking

It is a most interesting mode of thinking. Even after protracted wondering, it’s not clear to me what exactly is the list of things necessary to intentionally slip into the mode of thinking. So I’ll start with some things that will prevent me, every time: Being exhausted or even very-tired will prevent my diffuse thinking. Because settling in, physically and mentally, is also how I go to sleep. Being overly energetic will prevent my diffuse thinking. It’s as if the mind is the driver atop the elephant, and the elephant must be in the mood to follow, not in the mood to frolic or smash.

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Self-delusion

Published April 16, 2022  ·  All posts on Apr 16  ·  

Delude not yourself with the notion that you may be untrue and uncertain in trifles and in important things the contrary. Trifles make up existence, and give the observer the measure by which to try us; and the fearful power of habit, after a time suffers not the best will to ripen into action.

~ C. M. von Weber

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Thhhhpbt

Published April 16, 2022  ·  All posts on Apr 16

Burnout research shows that cynicism is an easy way out when we don’t have the mental resources to cope. It’s no surprise that cynicism is a core attribute of the burnout equation: during a time of ongoing stress it’s much easier to be pessimistic than it is to mobilize and make a difference.

~ Chris Bailey from, Remember: Burnout and cynicism go hand-in-hand

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That short blog post is about news-from-the-Internet and the pandemic, but it’s perfectly applicable to any source of chronic stress. For me, the chronic stress is entirely self-inflicted and the cautions remain the same.

I’ve gotten relief from myself over the years through journaling and blogging. Journalling gives me some perspective. (But it is difficult to do it well, since it can degenerate into subjectivity, navel gazing, or whining.) Blogging gives me the chance to regularly work with the garage door up; showing my work by exposing my thinking. Even if mostly no one calls me on anything, knowing that people are looking calls me to a higher quality of thinking.

Yesterday and today I’ve been thinking about taking another look at cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). A couple years ago I made a pass at understanding it—specifically wondering if one could “do it” to oneself. (Yes.) I’ve dusted off a small volume for a re-read to see what I can tune in my existing self-care routines, and hopefully find some new ones to settle into for a while.

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A good argument

Published April 15, 2022  ·  All posts on Apr 15  ·  

Arguments […] can have a great deal of force for us even if, perhaps especially if, we recoil from [the] actual positions. The better the reasoning, the more [the] work requires us—if we’re going to be honest—to pick out the step where we disagree, and to see what consequences that has for the rest of our thought.

~ Stephen E. Sachs from, Why Listen to Abhorrent Speech

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I do think about this sort of thing.

In my day-to-day life, I rarely encounter something abhorrent. That’s partly because of my privileged position in life, but it’s mostly because I don’t try to overreach. I don’t try to watch “everything” or keep up with “everything” and I very emphatically do not try to have an opinion on everything. But I do, sometimes, encounter things that, while not abhorrent, rise to the level of odious. Which then makes me think, “do I want to have an argument?”

Increasingly, approaching “always” these days, I don’t feel I have the energy for a good argument. That’s not a good sign.

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Small asks

Published April 14, 2022  ·  All posts on Apr 14  ·  

The world expects that its requests will be accepted. That assignments, lunch dates, new projects, and even favors will get a yes. […] It’s just a small ask, the person thinks. Responding or reacting to incoming asks becomes the narration of your days, instead of the generous work of making your own contribution.

~ Seth Godin

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wait wat?

Published April 14, 2022  ·  All posts on Apr 14

This community’s value proposition is about more than being the Hacker News or reddit for travel. The focus is squarely on quality.

~ Anuj Adhiya from, «https://cmxhub.com/outbounding-hook-model/»

Yes, please. Based on that statement alone, I’d want to be a part of this sort of community.

The basic idea is that, to create habit-forming communities, you must move a user through a loop that over time will help them develop a habit of returning and contributing to the community. It looks like this: A trigger, internal or external, drives a user to the platform where they get some sort of variable reward, contribute something of their own, and return to the platform later for the same loop.

~ ibid.

Uhmmm… (That slight-squint with slightly-sideways, dubious look happens here.) Habituation is not, per se, a good thing. I agree that it is important to understand how what’s said there actually works; I often talk about the Oxo® handles we all have sticking out of our psyches. The ability to generate a habit in someone else is clearly one such handle.

A community comes into extence from the network of interpersonal relationships. A community isn’t, simply by its existence, a good thing. Also, if those relationships form because of habituation to come to the community space, that still doesn’t mean the community is a good thing. And we don’t even need habituation in order to form those interpersonal relationships. Yes, we may be able to “hack” those relationships into existence via habituation, but there are other ways to encourage those relationships.

I want to be part of communities that understand the nature of the interpersonal relationships, and the effect a community has as a whole. I want to be part of communities where those things are actually positive goods.

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Breathing with Lara Land

Published April 13, 2022  ·  All posts on Apr 13

How does breathing, embodiment, and connection influence podcasting and personal growth?

Exploring the intersection of embodiment and podcasting unveils unexpected insights.

It’s okay to ask a question that we’ve asked before… sometimes it’s the fifth, sixth, seventh time we hear it that it sinks in.

~ Lara Land (10:48)

The conversation examines the interplay between breathing, embodiment, and podcasting. Breathing, while central to yoga and embodiment practices, poses challenges when combined with the pacing and sentence structure needed for podcasting. The discussion highlights how these techniques differ across disciplines and the adjustments required to integrate them effectively.

The dialogue also explores personal growth through learning and practice. It touches on the struggles of early podcasting, such as question formulation and flow, and the importance of persistence. The role of nature as a restorative and learning space emerges, emphasizing its connection to personal well-being and creative processes.

Takeaways

Breathing practices — Integrating yoga breathing skills into speaking requires adapting to new contexts.

Flow in podcasting — Creating a natural conversational rhythm is a skill that develops over time.

The role of questions — Formulating unique and meaningful questions can enhance the depth of conversations.

Nature as a refuge — Spending time outdoors provides balance and inspiration for creative pursuits.

Learning frustration — The challenges of starting something new are natural but lead to growth and transformation.

Performance adjustments — Adjusting sentence structure and pacing improves podcasting presence.

Energy dynamics — Presence and energy influence the quality of conversations, especially in virtual formats.

Repetition’s value — Repeated ideas often resonate differently over time, enriching understanding.

Resources

Three and a Half Acres Yoga — A nonprofit organization using yoga for community building and trauma healing.

Mindful Nature Guide Leadership Training — A training program focused on guiding outdoor experiences.

(Written with help from Chat-GPT.)

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