William B. Irvine on Living Stoically
This podcast episode, from the superlative Philosophy Bites podcast, is a great, brief introduction to Stoicism.
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Scree
noun : an accumulation of loose stones or rocky debris lying on a slope or at the base of a hill or cliff.
§14 – Precommit
The devil is in the details?
On one hand pre-committment gives you the power of hindsight; the power of having a higher view point– the executive-level view. You can sort out all the nuances and make an objective decision. But the downside is that you’re intentionally surrendering the ability to make flexible, quick decisions down the road when your day-to-day passions might lead off in a new direction.
Do I want to be sacrificing following my passions?
I’ve attempted — sometimes even “done” :) — big projects where I’ve invested a lot of time up-front thinking, planning, and then started off on the journey. But later, in the midst of the journey, I started to have doubts. Not small, nagging doubts, but well-founded, objective doubts. When that happens I’m faced with letting go of the sunk cost of the prep work that went into the pre-committment. I start thinking, “Look at all this planning I did. Look at how far I’ve come! This doubt must be unfounded.” And suddenly all my pre-commitment is working against me. Granted, the original intention of the pre-committment is to make it easier to achieve my goals, but it can pile on sunk costs, or worse, pile on guilt, which never serves me.
In the end, it seems I simply have to know myself: These days, a 30 day challenge is something I can probably do, but 100 days will probably become a drag.
The devil really is in the details.
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Like a wine sommelier who does not drink
I have found that part of the struggle of actually finding happiness as an artist is the very fight to not define success by the way that the rest of the world defines success. Which is hard because you have to fight the same battles every day. Because you go out into the work environment and the entire industry– And even to a certain extent your own fans because they’re sort of all drinking the same Kool-Aid– are all telling you “Success is defined by this, success is defined by this, and success is defined by this.”
And you’re there in your own little bubble going, “well, no that’s not really true.” I know that there is that superficial level of success, but then there’s also my personal success which no one else can define for me. It really is only defined by how happy was I when I woke up this morning, and how happy am I when I’m bedding down at night. That’s not reflected in any of the billboard charts or any of the iTunes downloads.
So success has this very two-faced essence where, as an artist playing the game in the industry and putting out music and putting out books and so forth, you kind of have to play that game a little bit and ride the balance of trying to get your books on the New York Times best-selling list and know what to do to do that. But also, simultaneously, not drinking the Kool-Aid. Instead, like swishing it around in your mouth, getting the taste, and then spitting it out. …like being a wine sommelier who does not drink.
~ Amanda Palmer from, Amanda Palmer on How to Fight, Meditate, and Make Good Art (#67)
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I am continuosly going through cycles of expanding the bells-and-whistles on everything I’m doing– more social posts, more this, more that, more cow bell… and then– as Amanda puts it– spitting the Kool-Aid out, stripping things back down to a new, better core and then again plowing forward.
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§3 – Reviewing
This third part — the last of the think-y pieces, I promise! — is about the process of reviewing and continuous improvement. The subsequent parts of this series are small ideas and inspirations about the literal things to take with you traveling.
Hey, great trip. Welcome home. Drop your bag. Sleep if you need to. But now it’s time to review!
Overture: Missing or broken.
Here you’re reviewing the things you did not have with you. You’re trolling your recent experience in search of things to add to your packing. Either things to always carry, or maybe just things to have on hand, ready to pack, to give you more options on future trips.
If you recorded any notes, (“I wish I had brought…,” “Widget is broken,”) go over those notes and turn them into decisions:
Buy some thing, (or add it to your general list of things to do, “buy this thing when I have spare cash”,) find a solution for some problem, (or add “find solution to the problem” to your to-do list,) etc. Then get rid of the notes!
Aside: Those notes are the result of what is called “capture.” You had an idea, you captured it, but that’s not a solution. You have to convert that “captured” item into something; buy it, fix it, or turn it into however you keep track of things to do.
Beginner level: Did I use it?
As you handle everything you’re unpacking, ask: Did I use it?
YES? Great, put it away. (Working it to neutral of course! Wash it, refill it, fix it, etc.)
NO? Why did I pack it? Should I pack it next time?
Some things always get a pass. For example, my medical/urgency kit usually does not get used, but I’m always going to carry it. Ditto for a few things like my travel flashlight. I put all of these “they get a pass even though I did not use them” items away first.
Anything left? Great! These are your first batch of things to review. Ask yourself: Why did I pack this in the first place? What was I thinking? What was I preparing for? In the future, would I be ok without this?
Aside: I once went over-night hiking along the Appalachian trail. Although we were planning to stay in a shelter, we brought a tent in case the shelter was full. I carried a hammer in case we had to drive tent stakes. I brought a hammer on a hike along a mountain full of rocks on the chance we might need to drive tent stakes. By the end of that hike, I had learned a very important lesson about carrying things which I only _might_ use.
Intermediate: Start keeping track of what you pack.
Along the way, I started keeping lists– eventually very detailed lists– of everything I packed. I started by writing a list of what I was thinking of packing. Then as I packed, and added or decided against packing items, I kept the list up to date. When I returned, I would sometimes add notes about things I didn’t use, along with my decisions about whether I should pack that next time. For me this was particularly helpful for some of the less-used things I kept forgetting.
At the “Beginner” level, we gave a pass to anything we used. But at this level, we want to start thinking about anti-packing things even though we’ve used them.
Advanced: Actively removing items and weight.
Once you know what you are packing, you can go after obvious things to save weight and space:
One of the heaviest things in my bag turned out to be my iPad with its attached keyboard-cover in a Pelican case. I realized that for $20 I could buy a smaller version of the same keyboard cover, which not only weighed less, but also fit into the next size smaller Pelican case. This ended up being a huge weight and volume savings.
I travel with an external battery and charge devices from the battery. I charge the battery when power is available. I realized that I never drained the battery completely, and sometimes I’d go entire trips without recharging the battery. Since I was already carrying the charging cable and power brick, I bought a smaller battery which weighs half as much.
Soon I had “minimized” all the big items, and reached a point where I could fit everything I needed into my bag. At this point I was traveling comfortably. As my trips became more complicated and involved more movement, (walking longer distances, more complex transportation combinations, etc..) it became obvious that weight was the limiting factor.
I eventually went so far as to weigh everything. I literally weighed every individual item, to the gram, and put them in an outline with sub-totals. I can literally pack using the outline and predict what the final pack will weigh.
Why on Earth would I want to do that?!
When I had things in an outline with sub-totalled lists, I could look at each unit, (M’Urgency kit, bathroom kit, sleep system, etc) and look at the heaviest ones. I could then search for solutions to shave weight a tiny bit at a time. It adds up, and I was easily able to turn a 30 pound pack into a 25 pound pack, and know exactly what to pack if wanted to set a weight limit. (For example, if I know I have to be out-and-about for long periods with my entire pack. I can pack ultra-light sacrificing some comfort of course.)
Wrap up
This part concludes the large introduction pieces of this series. The following parts are actually the parts of the series which I first began writing. As I collected and organized them, I realized I needed to capture all the information in these first posts.
I hope you’ve found these introductory parts useful, and I hope you find more useful ideas in the following posts!
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Human Violence
None of us are the products of ancestors who refused to defend themselves.
~ Rory Miller from, The Blueprint of Human Violence – Rory Miller #32
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I’m not a big fan of the Rewild Yourself podcast, and the audio quality on this episode is particularly egregious. BUT…
This is episode with Rory Miller really dives into human violence in a way that separates fear (“I’m afraid, so I’ll be violent”) from violence as a tool. And make no mistake: Violence is a tool. Humans use tools.
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The aims of education
Meira Levinson on the Aims of Education
This podcast — don’t misread that as “this episode” — is one of my favorites. In this episode they briefly mention the experience of the “Other.” Which I find is a large aspect of my reasons for travel.
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Bertolt
Unlike the other townspeople, who are constantly doing things together, he is content in his own company — a perfect embodiment of the great film director Andrei Tarkovsky’s advice to the young.
Most of all, the boy cherishes his time with Bertolt — the ancient oak he loves to climb.
~ Maria Popova from, Bertolt
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Trees.
More recently I’ve been drawn more strongly to photographing them, standing under them and just generally appreciating them.
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Sneak peek
Sneak peek at something I’m writing up from a year-long experiment. This is a graph of weight and waist measurements (plotted on the left in non-obvious units), and the ratio of those numbers (plotted on the right, x1000; so “2000” is a 2:1 ratio in the weird units of course) The measurements jump all over the place, but when I measure every day, a polynomial curve fit shows what’s going on over this three month window. Much much more to write about this…
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The art of parkour
Next time you meet an expert in a field, don’t ask for her/his knowledge; just observe closely, go home and practice. No answers from the outside can ever replace the ones we grow from the inside.
~ Marcello Palozzo from, The art of parkour – a small story
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How to keep time from moving so fast
Savoring what’s familiar does something similar. Instead of spending our time on autopilot mode, we notice the richness embedded in our familiar routines. Choose something familiar that you experience regularly—drinking your morning coffee, picking up your kids from daycare, or chatting with a coworker—and make a concerted effort to savor, and be grateful for that experience. I personally find meditation, more than almost anything else, helps me savor these small things every day.
~ Chris Bailey from, How to keep time from moving so fast
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Stop aspiring
But if aspiring was our true fulcrum, you’d be on your throne already. Here’s the truth: It’s not the heights we aspire to but the FLOOR WE PUT UP WITH that determines our place.
~ Bryan Ward from, Stop Aspiring
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A good friend recently said something to the effect of, “Life is full of compromises which you cannot avoid. So don’t compromise with yourself.”
I find both of these things are very useful for me to keep in mind.
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Here We Are
Forty years after the Voyager sailed into space, we seem to have lost sight of this beautiful and sobering perspective, drifting further and further into our divides, fragmenting our fragile home pixel into more and more warring factions, and forgetting that we are bound together by the improbable miracle of life on this Pale Blue Dot and a shared cosmic destiny.
~ Maria Popova from, Here We Are
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Also quoted in this piece is Carl Sagan’s original commentary on the “pale blue dot”. Gets me every time.
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What happens when men flee the wild
…as we flee the discomfort of the wild without, so we flee those of the wild within, estranging ourselves from the power and beauty of the uncharted life…
~ Bryan Ward from, What Happens When Men Flee The Wild
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Sometimes everything just falls into place
So I went for a walk to shake off the aches from two solid days of training at the new LVPK Academy. And I got to the part where I normally loop back and I thought, “I’ve never actually walked up to that upper parking lot…” So I did. Above the lot, another level higher, is a wide open soccer/football field with brilliant green grass, and those 5-tier, ubiqitous, aluminum bleachers. I laid down on the top-most, narrow bleacher– just basking as the bright sun, and the cold wind argued back and forth about wether it was warm or cold weather. Just staring up at this gorgeous blue sky containing one of those new-fangled aeroplanes and one of those old-beaked vultures– the teeny tiny black speck near thebottom, just a bit to the right, …you thought it was a mark on your screen didn’t you? Ever do that yoga pose where you cross your legs and lay back on something alinged along your spine, put your hands behind your head, crack open your entire chest, pull your shoulder blads back and just streeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeetch?
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You Need People
When you’re stuck in a black hole where it’s impossible for you to reach escape velocity, your only hope for escape is to find an even stronger gravitational field to pull you out. People act a lot like gravitational fields, and when you put enough of them together, all tugging at you in a consistent direction, you’re going to move.
~ Steve Pavlina from, You Need People
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This is a vastly better version of the old adage, “you are the average of your five closest friends.” I very intentionally use the people I find and train with in the Art du Dèplacement universe in this way. (Semantic detour: I may have you plotted in the ADD space even if you would say you are in some other.) If I’ve trained with you, you now know why I am sincerely appreciative of _your_ contribution to my journey.
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Epilogue
As I mentioned many times, taking a picture was the hardest part. If (when?) I do this sort of silliness again, I will have to come up with a way to make the photography easier. A lot of times I just didn’t want to carry my phone with me (e.g. running). And for the things that were visually interesting, capturing the 3rd-person point of view usually required me to setup a small tripod and use the self-timer or my remote. All of which — everything about taking the photos — seriously detracted from the fun of “just be active every day.”
How did it turn out physically? Meh. No particular weight loss. No particular weight gain. No particular increase in strength. (Other than my usual, generally upward slope of improvements this time of year.)
Mentally? Meh. It turned completely into a chore and took the fun out of it. Sure, it was fun to post things, and to see people’s likes and comments. But on the grand scheme of things, it was a large distraction. I would do much better to — and this is what I will be doing — simply find things which inspire me and do them regularly. Then move on when I feel like something new.
So. There you have it.
FIN
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Carl Sagan on the Power of Books and Reading as the Path to Democracy
Books are key to understanding the world and participating in a democratic society.
~ Carl Sagan
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I don’t think it has to be physical books — recall Mr. Sagan is from the pre-Internet epoch — but definitely *reading*, and definitely you have to be doing the hard work of deciding for yourself what you are reading.
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Concept-Shaped Holes Can Be Impossible To Notice
Put these together, and you have cause for concern. If you learn about something, and it seems trivial and boring, but lots of other people think it’s interesting and important – well, it could be so far beneath you that you’d internalized all its lessons already. Or it could be so far beyond you that you’re not even thinking on the same level as the people who talk about it.
~ Scott Alexander from, Concept-Shaped Holes Can Be Impossible To Notice
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If there’s one thing that makes my brain lock-up every time, it’s this conundrum.
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miss!
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Matthew Poprocki: Artistry, challenges, and personal expression
What motivates individuals to transform their lives and turn challenges into opportunities for growth and creativity?
Matthew Poprocki does what he loves. Formally a visual artist, he is now a movement artist who likes to play and overcome obstacles. He discusses the challenges he’s faced and how he rediscovered his artistic expression through Parkour.
I realized after a few years, I didn’t lose it, I’m still an artist, I’m a Life artist.
~ Matthew Poprocki (7:16)
The conversation explores the profound journey of an individual who transitioned from a career in graphic design to becoming a movement artist and coach. Struggling with dissatisfaction in a desk job, addiction, and health challenges, Matthew found solace and purpose in Parkour. This shift allowed him to embrace creativity and play, not only as an outlet but as a way to teach and inspire others.
Key topics include the philosophy of overcoming obstacles, the transition from visual to movement arts, and the role of Parkour in cultivating resilience and mindfulness. Through personal anecdotes, Matthew shares insights on viewing challenges as opportunities and finding joy in being present, creative, and connected to life.
Takeaways
Creativity through movement — Parkour offers a new medium for artistic expression and personal fulfillment.
Life as art — Redefining artistry by integrating creativity into daily activities and experiences.
Resilience in adversity — Viewing life’s challenges as opportunities to demonstrate strength and adapt.
Philosophy of play — Rediscovering joy and presence through movement and coaching.
The transformation of perspective — From seeing obstacles as burdens to viewing them as opportunities for growth.
Impact of mindfulness — Being fully present enhances life experiences and fosters creativity.
Redefining success — Prioritizing passion and fulfillment over societal expectations of work and productivity.
The role of Parkour in teaching — Empowering others through creative coaching and sharing lived experiences.
Resources
Parkour Generations — Mentioned as a movement-focused community and training resource.
(Written with help from Chat-GPT.)
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