noun : an accumulation of loose stones or rocky debris lying on a slope or at the base of a hill or cliff.
Quid and I have struck a deal. Every morning she flies up the stairs, leaps onto our bed, and attacks my nose with her sharp little teeth. And I am awakened.
~ Alexandra Horowitz from, What Do Dogs Know About Us? – The Atlantic
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You had me at, “dogs.”
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How does one navigate the challenges of fostering creativity and sharing personal experiences through podcasting and storytelling?
The conversation explores how creative transformation impacts personal identity and professional pursuits.
I made a very drastic leap. I quit my job, sold my car, divorced my husband, and moved over to Ireland because I thought I needed to completely remove myself to start over as this artist.
~ Tricia Rose Burt (3:24)
The discussion centers on creative transformation and the courage required to embrace a life of artistic expression. Tricia shares her journey of leaving a conventional life to pursue a career as an artist and storyteller. She reflects on how discovering their creative identity in midlife reshaped their perspective and drove her to inspire others to take similar leaps.
The conversation also explores the challenges and rewards of podcasting as a medium for storytelling. Topics include the importance of maintaining focus on a central theme, the intimacy of podcasting, and the difficulties of not receiving immediate audience feedback. Practical strategies are discussed, such as tailoring content to serve the audience while balancing personal vulnerability with broader themes.
Takeaways
Transformative power of embracing a creative identity — how shifting to an artistic career can redefine life’s purpose.
Breaking away from conventional expectations — requiring significant personal and professional changes.
Central theme in creative work — guiding content choices and maintaining focus.
Courage required for new mediums — navigating unfamiliar processes like podcasting.
Value of storytelling — as a tool for connection and inspiring others to pursue creative paths.
Role of audience perspective — shaping how personal narratives are shared to serve others.
Balancing technical hurdles in podcasting — with a focus on authenticity and quality.
Resources
Tricia Rose Burt’s website — Contains her blog and links to her creative works.
How to Draw a Nekkid Man — A storytelling performance video by Tricia.
The Memoir Project — by Marion Roach Smith, a guide to writing memoirs, referenced for its advice on personal storytelling.
(Written with help from Chat-GPT.)
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The answer depends on whether he recognizes that though he may have subdued his external obstacles and enemies, he must overcome psychological foes — depression, anomie, angst — which are no less formidable for their ethereality. He must embrace the fact that though this world may be thoroughly charted, explored, and technologized, there remains one last territory to conquer — himself.
~ Brett McKay from, Sunday Firesides: Man’s Last Great Conquest — Himself | The Art of Manliness
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I would argue that all the external conquering and subduing was the easy part. That existential dread? That’s not so easy. The first part of solving that problem is of course realizing it is a problem for oneself. Yeah, I’m working on that.
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Unlike chronic diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease, the “cure” for traffic fatalities will depend more on technology and policy than on medicine and health science. On the plus side, we as a society already have pretty clear evidence of effective strategies for improving the problem – e.g., stricter speed limit enforcement, restrictions on commercial and residential building along arterial roads, and mandates for safety features such as automatic emergency braking. On the minus side, we as individuals are very limited in our power to enact those strategies.
~ Peter Attia, from The Epidemic on the Road
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The article is about traffic fatalities in the context of the COVID pandemic. I’m focusing simply on the fact that more than 40,000 people died in 2021 in traffic fatalities. Sure there are lots of causes, but you know what the single most easily implemented change is? Of course you do. Slow down. Me? You’ll find me doing about 5-over-the-limit on the highway (so people don’t literally shoot me) and usually a little below-the limit otherwise. Often with the cruise control set. How about you?
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But in our Physics Project we’ve developed a fundamentally different view of space—in which space is not just a background, but has its own elaborate composition and structure. And in fact, we posit that space is in a sense everything that exists, and that all “things” are ultimately just features of the structure of space. We imagine that at the lowest level, space consists of large numbers of abstract “atoms of space” connected in a hypergraph that’s continually getting updated according to definite rules and that’s a huge version of something like this…
~ Stephen Wolfram from, On the Concept of Motion—Stephen Wolfram Writings
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I’m not sure what to say about this. I am certain that Wolfram is not crazy and that he is brilliant, but he’s pretty far beyond what I can understand. (Picture me doing that slightly askew, squinting thing.) On the other hand, if they really are making the progress they seem to be… it’s going to be a neat time to be alive, in another decade when they get things sorted out.
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There was, however, a big difference between what he did and what we “real movers” were doing. The baseball player did not perform this moment just to perform it. The player did it to solve the problem of having to catch a screeching line drive, probably traveling over 100 mph. He then rapidly returned to a strong throwing position and volleyed that ball to first base. His movement solved a problem, and a very difficult one at that.
~ Rafe Kelley from, «https://www.evolvemoveplay.com/the-4-primary-movement-problems/»
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A blog post from Kelley is more rare than his Evolve Move Play podcast. He’s definitely someone whose ideas resonate with me. His through-line, not just in this article but in all of his more recent work, is definitely the right way to look at things. I like the phrase “fit for purpose” and that’s a line of enquiry Kelley is often chasing down.
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Later, when the Doritos were reduced to crumbly fragments barely worth fishing out of the bag, I reflected on what had gone wrong, and remembered something I discovered years ago about resolutions but forget constantly.
~ David Cain from, You Don’t Need a Promise, You Need a Plan
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The other day, I finished off the remaining more–than–half of a can of Cool-Whip. To be clear: I mean that I ate it directly. It’s not terrible as far as things go. But it’s absolutely not the sort of “food” that I want to eat. It definitely doesn’t move me towards my goals. I knew I was going to do it, weeks ago when the can appeared in my refrigerator to be used with some dessert or other. I knew I was going to do it when the can went back in the fridge after dessert. Sure, it took a couple of weeks, but then after an entire day of being stressed out, things played out just as I knew they would. Cain has a plan. I should probably get a plan before the next can of Cool-Whip is left like a lamb for slaughter.
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Sometimes, our heads won’t stop thinking about something. Our thoughts will spin around and around, not willing to let go, obsessing. It might be about another person, a big event coming up, or about ourselves. It might be overthinking a decision, big or small.
~ Leo Babauta from, How to Let Go of Obsessive Overthinking – Zen Habits Website
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I read this the other day after its being queued for ages. It was eerily apropos of a really bad mood that I was in. Except I read it just after I had deployed Babauta’s “face the fear” strategy that he describes. It definitely works. And for some reason, Yoda’s admonishment that, “named your fear must be, before banish it you can,” sprung to mind.
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Don Cheadle | Off Camera with Sam Jones
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This is awesome cover-to-cover. About midway, this turns into a masterclass on “doing the work”. If you like—or haven’t yet seen—the movie Miles Ahead, about Miles Davis, this gets into that in the later 1/3.
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How do we navigate the balance between starting, sustaining, and stopping creative or personal endeavors?
The conversation examines the tension between perfectionism and the courage to share unfinished work.
It’s such a shame to have all these [things] on the shelves in the back of our minds or folders in our computers, all these things that we’ve kept back because they’re not perfect, or because we think they might not be right— We never know who will be changed by the things we make.
~ Robbie Swale (22:35)
The discussion covers challenges in managing creative processes and personal goals, focusing on a mission to appear on 100 podcasts. The complexities of handling output from such a challenge and the importance of deciding when to stop or persist are examined. This is tied to the broader question of balancing effort with strategic decisions in any endeavor.
Another key topic is overcoming perfectionism and fear of sharing creative work. Using quotes from poets and authors, the conversation emphasizes the importance of releasing work even if it feels incomplete. The necessity of starting projects and creating habits that reduce resistance to action is also highlighted. Tools like activation energy adjustments and reminders are presented as practical aids for staying focused and intentional.
Takeaways
Importance of starting — Even the hardest creative projects begin with the first step.
Navigating perfectionism — Releasing work imperfectly can still provide value to others.
Concept of “above or below the line” — A framework for self-awareness and decision-making.
Activation energy — Raising or lowering activation energy to influence habits effectively.
Sharing work — Withholding creativity can deprive others of valuable insights.
Practical tools for reflection — Using reminders and notifications to stay mindful.
The value of abandoning over-polishing — Deciding when a project is “good enough” to share.
Resources
The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership — by Jim Detmer, Diana Chapman, and Kaley Klemp; A guide to living with intentionality and focus.
The Practice — by Seth Godin; A book emphasizing the value of creativity and shipping work.
David Gemmell’s posthumously released books — Novels that captivated audiences even after the author’s passing.
The Quitting Quadrant — by Sara Wheeler; A tool to evaluate decisions about quitting.
Lead, Learn, Change Podcast — by David Reynolds; A podcast about education and leadership.
“Remind Me” and “Mind Jogger” — Apps for creating random notifications for mindfulness and presence.
(Written with help from Chat-GPT.)
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That’s the thing about aggregation: one can understand how it works, and yet be powerless to resist its incentives. It seems foolhardy to think that this might be true for economics and not true for ideas, even — especially! — if we are sure they are correct.
~ Ben Thompson from, The Current Thing – Stratechery by Ben Thompson
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Sometimes I read things on the Internet and I want to throw my keyboard (my title is a reference to 1980s console games where one might get furious, and rage-quit by throwing the game’s controller.) Partly, my urge to rage-quit is from exasperation that Thompson keeps cranking out these great articles (and his podcasts Dithering and Exponent and this other thing he did that is awesome but you wouldn’t understand because I can’t explain it well) while I’m over here plinking away writing snarky blog posts when I should be earning a living.
But also because of the point of the article which is found in my pull-quote of the entire final paragraph.
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That’s not because Rudin did a bad job. It’s because there ain’t no way to re-write mathematical analysis as a “list”. When you do write a list, you are promising that you’ve figured out a way to cover the subject in that way without losing essential detail. Provided that you deliver on that promise, it’s a powerful thing.
~ “Dynomight” from, How I learned to stop worrying and structure all writing as a list
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Building models is a fundamental part of trying to understand the world in any systematic or organized way. The world has too many details and complexities to be taken in all at once. In order to really understand a particular phenomenon, we need to focus on certain essential details while ignoring others.
~ Todd Hargrove from, Models of Pain and Movement — BETTER MOVEMENT
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I often remind myself that all models are wrong, but some models are useful. Maps, metaphors, similes, and even some storytelling are all models.
Two things top of mind: Why oh why!? doesn’t similes pluralize via -ies? (Say the singular and plural forms of smile and simile… wth English?) And second, I use a related-to-models test for what I mean by, “I always tell the truth.” (To tell the truth, I always say the thing which helps the other person build an accurate model of reality.)
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Wow. Here’s the 1,000th quote added to my collection:
The world is like a ride at an amusement park. And when you choose to go on it, you think that it’s real because that’s how powerful our minds are. And the ride goes up and down and round and round. It has thrills and chills, and it’s very brightly coloured, and it’s very loud and it’s fun, for a while. Some people have been on the ride for a long time, and they begin to question – is this real, or is this just a ride? And other people have remembered, and they come back to us. They say ‘Hey! Don’t worry, don’t be afraid, ever, because, this is just a ride.’ And we… kill those people.
~ Bill Hicks
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I don’t “use” the numbers in simple 1, 2, 3, … order. Often I find several quotes from one person at the same time. I don’t want 20 quotes in a row from Leo Tolstoy in the daily quotes podcast. I space them out and end up with a smattering of numbers used out of order. So I keep a little list:
Each time I find a quote, I look to find the next number. When I used 999 for a proverb I thought, “I wonder what quote will be next?” And promptly forgot all about the milestone.
Today I bounced on my take-me-to-a-random-post link (see About this site) and landed on a very old post from 2013. It was a very large block of text, much longer than what I usually quote. I trimmed it down to what’s show above and copied it into my collection. I looked up the number and …surprise! 1,000.
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We all have a duty to look after our physical health. The body is your vehicle through which your mind and spirit travel in and act through, throughout your life. We’re lucky to have abundant information, resources, and teachers to help us for caring for our body, but without personal responsibility and action, progress is left to chance. Ancient medicine taught us to be active participants of our own health, modern medicine encourages us to be passive recipients of health. We can make the best of both by placing more attention and energy on observing our body, environment, and taking daily action to create energetic surplus through moderating stress, practicing movement, good nutrition and quality rest.
~ Soisci Porchetta from, «https://www.humanpatterns.net/blog/2018/6/22/what-is-movement-practice»
I suspect that a lot of people reading my musings are already steeped in the wisdom of movement generally. It’s simply nice to find things like this on the big ‘ol Internet; A large article written by someone who’s clearly thought a lot, moved a lot, and thought a lot about moving. There’s a wonderful quote that feels parallel to this article’s sentiments:
No citizen has a right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training … what a disgrace it is for a man to grow old without ever seeing the beauty and strength of which is body is capable.
~ Socrates
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With every government initiative in education there are unforeseen consequences. The current drive to build character through sport (and other activities) is having, in my opinion, an unforeseen negative impact on curriculum PE. Staffing, finances, facilities and time are being redistributed from PE provision to school sport provision. Now this might not necessarily be a bad thing, but it has to be provision beyond the current narrowness of school sport which tends to be traditional team games focused on winning competitions for the purpose of bringing prestige to the school. This reduction in PE which focuses on movement for all in favour of school sport which focuses on competition for some worries me.
~ “Sporticus” from, The physically educated person – drowningintheshallow
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It’s always nice to see someone else talking about sport as a subset of movement. “PE” is so entrenched as a thing; does anyone still wonder what should physical education even be? Apparently, fortunately, the answer is “yes.”
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Nous abordons toutes les dimensions de la pratique depuis l’histoire jusqu’au flow, en passant par les entrainements physiques, la technique, le mental, les valeurs … Tout ce qui vous permettra de mieux comprendre et ressentir le mouvement pour pouvoir aller plus loin.
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I’m really excited about this. Two friends of mine, after very much work over several years, have finished a book. It’s in French (there’s discussion of doing an English version next) and available as a digital file if you’re not in France. Two things…
I had a conversation with Stany Boulifard Mallet (one of the authors) back in 2018.
And if you just thought, “lart du depla-what?!” and you’re the curious type, see my Art du Déplacement tag for my blog posts related to this beautiful movement community and its French roots.
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What are the challenges and strategies for managing the technical, creative, and promotional aspects of podcasting effectively?
Audio engineers are adapting traditional skills to modern tools like Descript, reshaping collaboration in podcasting.
There’s a value in the creative work, there’s a value in the hard work, there’s a value in story, there’s all these values about doing the thing, but what do you think having it be published would add for you?
~ Mark Tweddle (17:57)
The conversation covers challenges in podcast production, focusing on integrating traditional audio engineering with modern collaborative tools like Descript. Descript’s transcription and editing features facilitated collaboration for a multi-host podcast, enabling efficient feedback and editing processes. The discussion also explored the creative synergy between music, storytelling, and podcasting, particularly through the unique production dynamics of live recordings and audience interactions.
Another major topic is the difficulty of balancing creative work with the practicalities of podcast promotion. Despite producing compelling content, finding the right audience and ensuring the podcast reaches them is a persistent challenge. Mark reflects on how personal values and satisfaction drive creative efforts, questioning what publishing adds to the creator’s sense of accomplishment.
Takeaways
Evolving role of tools — Collaborative podcast production and tools can streamline feedback and editing processes.
The challenges of transitioning from virtual to live podcast recordings — live shows demand different preparation and adaptability.
The importance of storytelling in various mediums — storytelling connects creators and audiences through shared narratives.
The intersection of music and podcasting — creative integration of music can enhance storytelling and audience engagement.
The difficulty of podcast discovery and audience targeting — even high-quality content may struggle to find its ideal listeners.
Balancing creative and technical demands — creators need to manage their time and energy effectively.
The role of pre-planning in podcasting — effective preparation ensures smoother production, particularly for live events.
Resources
Descript — A transcription and editing tool for podcasts and audio production.
Sauce Productions — Neil Harrington’s audio production company, specializing in podcasts and advertising.
Intimate Fame Podcast — A dramatized podcast focusing on historical figures; upcoming episodes explore Marilyn Monroe and Wallace Simpson.
Hindenburg Pro — Audio editing software for podcast production.
Edinburgh Festival — Venue for live podcast recordings discussed in the conversation.
(Written with help from Chat-GPT.)
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But then [Seneca] gives the real reason: “The body should be treated more rigorously that it may not be disobedient to the mind.” I think about that every morning just before I crank the knob. Who is in charge? The courageous side of me or the cowardly side? The side that doesn’t flinch at discomfort or the side that desires to always be comfortable? The side that does the hard thing or the side that takes the easy way?
~ Ryan Holiday from, You Actually Should Do Something That Scares You Every Day – RyanHoliday.net
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This made me think. Usually, I share others’ writing because I thought highly of it. In this case, I’m hesitant to say this, however: I’ve never thought my body was in charge.
Certainly(!) I have reflexes and bodily functions or urges which my mind has no control over. Certainly flinching (under cold water for example) is something you can learn to reduce. I’ve always thought of my mind as the one who’s not always the best captain of the ship. I don’t need to train to put my mind in charge of my body.
Recently I hurt my back. The story begins with my doing some truly pathetic, free-weight exercises to strengthen my back. I over did it. Then I ate poorly and wound up bloated and a few pounds heavier. Then I went rock climbing and worked on a problem (a challenging combination of moves and skills, in an easy to access location rather than 2 hours up some mountain, so one can spend time with it) that involved maximum–strength pulling with my arms while pushing with my legs. Boink! Ow, my back. I managed to calmly pack my 20 pounds of things into my pack, walk back to the car and drive myself 3 hours home. There were a myriad of things that could have set me off in the moment, on the drive, and in the coming days: acute pain, inability to sleep well, the inability to reach my feet or wipe my butt, the fact that I did it all to myself while trying to improve my body, drivers on the highways and people who tried to talk to me, the overall setback, … so many things. But instead, I was reasonable with everyone. I did what I could do, rested and recovered. A week later—just as I knew I would be—I’m back to where I was before I picked up the free-weights. Ready to try again at improving myself (and planning an even more gradual start.)
So I’m inclined to say: My mind is clearly in charge, even under duress.
What I was thinking about, in that first sentence here, was if I have trained to put my mind in charge, that means there’s room for more training.
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Because sometimes I experience small periods of blissful serenity. I’d particularly like to be able to go there on a more regular basis. It seems to me that spending about 10 days doing nothing but meditating in silence would be a delightfully mind-altering experience.
~ Me from, Waiting for the next one – Craig Constantine
I’m a process maniac. I have automation that feeds me links to my historical blog posts. This one from three years ago was something I really needed to reread (and was therefore very glad I was given the nudge to do so.)
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