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.

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Shifts with Eric Ayers →

Published April 13, 2022  ·  All posts on Apr 13

How can personal transformation and shifts in perspective influence creativity, community building, and personal growth?

Discover how shifting one’s perspective can lead to profound personal and professional growth.

It was a conscious shift. It was a change in my consciousness to where I can’t go back so I’m going to go forward and I’m going to bring everyone with me.

~ Eric Ayers (6:11)

The conversation explores how transformative personal experiences can lead to profound shifts in perspective and purpose. Eric reflects on his transition from viewing the world through a negative lens to embracing positivity after a pivotal conversation with his wife. This shift not only changed his approach to life but also influenced his podcasting journey, where he combines personal storytelling with interviews to inspire others.

Key themes include the power of perspective, the importance of community, and the role of persistence in achieving meaningful change. Eric also discusses his journey through self-discovery, dietary changes, and the impact of supportive relationships, highlighting the importance of celebrating small successes and nurturing growth. The conversation emphasizes how intentionality and kindness can inspire shifts in others’ mindsets.

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Playfulness →

Published April 13, 2022  ·  All posts on Apr 13  ·  ,

To be playful is not to be trivial or frivolous, or to act as if nothing of consequence will happen. On the contrary, when we are playful with one another, we relate as free persons, and the relationship is open to surprise; everything that happens is of consequence, for seriousness is a dread of the unpredictable outcomes of open possibility. To be serious is to press for a specified conclusion. To be playful is to allow for unlimited possibility.

~ James Carse

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A random proof →

Published April 13, 2022  ·  All posts on Apr 13  ·  

Here’s how I do things.

GIVEN…

  • I have a book that has 2,000 pages. (Curiously, it is exactly 2,000 pages.)
  • Life is finite, (and probably also “short.”)
  • It’s unlikely I can get through it front-to-back; I’d like to read as many pages as I can.
  • I’m a systems guy; I want to figure something out once and then never think about that same problem again.
  • I have a personal task management system; It can easily remind me to do things however I’d prefer.

I WISH, that I had an easy way to get a random page number. This strikes me as very easy to build. Therefore, because it is easy, because Internet, and because humans are awesome…

THEN, such a thing must already exist.

THEREFORE, I guessed, “!random”, would exist in my favorite search engine—here, you’re welcome—and quickly found my way to this: https://www.random.org/clients/http/

QED (Quite easily done, yes; But, no.)

All that remains is to skim their simple API docs, and then type this simple URL: https://www.random.org/integers/?num=1&min=1&max=2000&base=10&format=html&col=1

This enables me to create a repeating task which has that URL. I click the link, and flip to that page. You’re thinking, “holy shit no.” And I’m thinking, “tiny building blocks, well placed, get shit done.”

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Interior stability →

Published April 12, 2022  ·  All posts on Apr 12  ·  

To listen is very hard, because it asks of us so much interior stability that we no longer need to prove ourselves by speeches, arguments, statements or declarations. True listeners no longer have an inner need to make their presence known. They are free to receive, welcome, to accept.

~ Henri Nouwen

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What do you know →

Published April 12, 2022  ·  All posts on Apr 12  ·  

Read that title in the Petulant Voice. (There are the 1st-person, 2nd-person, Narrator, Author, etc. voices; I’ve always thought failure to formally recognize Petulant Voice was a major literary oversight.)

Reasoned skepticism and disagreement are essential to progress and democracy. The problem is that most of what’s happening isn’t reasoned skepticism. It’s the adult equivalent of a two-year-old throwing a tantrum.

~ Shane Parrish from, The Distrust of Intellectual Authority

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As in this article, the majority of what I’ve read—in the 32 years I’ve been reading stuff on the Internet—has been about the skeptic in the skepticism/disagreement relationships. But the responsibility is actually with the side claiming authority.

Always.

Because that’s the moral high road. (The high road is always less crowded.) If one wants to hold oneself out as an authority, then one is responsible for reaching down and helping others up. (Also, is “Tortured” a recognized voice?) One is not responsible for the skeptics whose attention you do not have. But one is responsible for those whose attention you do have; Those skeptics see you. There’s your chance to do good work.

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Painting a masterpiece →

Published April 11, 2022  ·  All posts on Apr 11  ·  ,

You can’t really decide to paint a masterpiece. You just have to think hard, work hard, and try to make a painting that you care about. Then, if you’re lucky, your work will find an audience for whom it’s meaningful.

~ Susan Kare

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Sapiens →

Published April 11, 2022  ·  All posts on Apr 11  ·  

About 70,000 or so years ago, our DNA showed a mutation (Harari claims we don’t know quite why) which allowed us to make a leap that no other species, human or otherwise, was able to make. We began to cooperate flexibly, in large groups, with an extremely complex and versatile language. If there is a secret to our success—and remember, success in nature is survival—It was that our brains developed to communicate.

~ Shane Parrish from, Yuval Noah Harari: Why We Dominate the Earth

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Sapiens by Y N Hurari has been on my to-read pile for ages. It’s currently aged its way to the no-seriously-I’m-not-kidding pile of books that are near my desk. The run-of-the-mill to-read pile is several bookcases that live in another room.

And the clock is ticking. The weeks—if one lives to 76, one gets 4,000 weeks—tick by and my collection of to-listen-to podcast episodes (I’ve given up; There are no shows that I subscribe to, pretending I’ll listen to every episode) and my to-read books continues to grow. I need to stop screwing around trying to do things and make a living, and instead get back to listening and reading. Chicken and egg problem, that is.

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Connectedness →

Published April 10, 2022  ·  All posts on Apr 10  ·  

The essential challenge is to transform the isolation and self-interest within our communities into connectedness and caring for the whole The key is to identify how this transformation occurs. We begin by shifting our attention from the problems of community to the possibilities of community.

~ Peter Block

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Change is good →

Published April 10, 2022  ·  All posts on Apr 10

Total efficiency constrains us. We become super invested in maintaining the status quo because that is where we excel. Innovation is a threat. Change is terrifying. Being perfect at something is dangerous if it’s the only thing you can do.

~ Shane Parrish from, Getting Ahead By Being Inefficient

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Change is good. (Although, Don Draper’s comment stands, making a different point.) Today I’m making a big change to some of my personal routines. I want different results than I’m currently getting… or pessimistic-me would say, I want some results rather than the none I’m currently getting. I’m not going to dive into what exactly I’m changing.

Instead, I want to touch on the how I’m changing things. I imagined a blank slate— a day with nothing. Then, what’s something I’d like to do? Okay, let’s put that into my day, (or week, month, life, etc..) Then, what’s something I keep “falling into?” …some habit that I see repeating, which I want to avoid. Okay, put something in which blocks that habit. One might have some non-negotiable blocks. (I’ll point out that those are not truly non-negotiable. They’re just costly to change.) Okay, I’ll put those back into my day.

The hard part is not putting too much back in. It’s the same as with packing my bag for a trip. I set out what I want to take. Then I pack the bag. I assess the degree of over-stuffage. (Notice the verb “to lug” lies within “luggage.”) Next, I unpack the bag, and reduce things. Finally, I repack the bag.

So, when is the last time you dumped out your luggage?

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