For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.
~ H. L. Mencken
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Clear and simple →
7 — Walk →
Amazing weather today. Still walking. The part I most dislike about doing these many-day activity challenges is taking a photo. Here’s a photo of the sheets I use to track activity and goals.
Holidays →
One of the most reliable signs that you need a holiday is the conviction that you cannot possibly spare the time to take one.
~ Bryan Magee
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8 — Stiiiill walking →
Frankly, if I just walked every day it’d probably be a win. :) Tomorrow: should probably include some actual running though.
Connection →
Effort isn’t the point, impact is. If you solve the problem in three seconds but have the guts to share it with me, it’s still art. And if you move ten thousand pounds of granite but the result doesn’t connect with me, I’m sorry for your calluses, but you haven’t made art, at least not art for me.
~ Seth Godin
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09 — Walking →
Still nursing my achilles from sprints. Really didn’t feel like I was running that hard… must have not warmed up sufficiently.
Imagination →
We think we understand the rules when we become adults, but what we really experience is a narrowing of the imagination.
~ David Lynch
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10 — Yard work →
Solid couple of hours at my favorite local gym, Le Yard. I don’t “love” yard work, but I very much prefer this free gym membership to any other sort of “go and exercise.” Tomorrow: walking (still recovering achilles from sprints)
Feeling →
We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness.
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11 — Intervals →
I was reminded we have access to our school district’s track. 8 laps with 100m dashes. Unfortunately after 3 dashes one achilles’ tendon said ‘stop that’. But still, if that best, 6’32”-mile pace is right… I’m stunned!
August 27, 2023 — #47 →
Reading time: About 5 minutes, 1100 words
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This issue is https://7forsunday.com/47
Calmness is needed →
There is a time and place for maximum effort—yes, that’s a Deadpool reference—and there’s a time and place for stillness and calm. I’m fascinated by the relationship and interaction between physicality (as movement versus stillness) and mentality (as agitation versus calmness.) I’ve had transformational experiences at both extremes of physicality, with mental calmness. I do get mentally agitated. But I fear that too many people experience calmness far too rarely, possibly never.
This often means working more thoughtfully, and maybe even more slowly. Slow work is not unproductive work. What we lose in speed we more than make up for in deliberateness—as well as in undistracted attention, a critical factor of productivity.
~ Chris Bailey from, The productivity payoffs of a calm mind – Chris Bailey
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Sometimes people ask me about Stoicism, and I suck at explaining it. Thinking and writing about calmness today, I’m struck that I should probably mention eudaimonia (eu̯-dai̯-mon-ía). Eudaimonia is a key value Stoicism advocates striving for.
[…] is a state of being and consciousness that is consistent with the active, effective activity of ideal agency and in general is characterized by the calm (equanimity; tranquility) that comes from the absence of further moral struggle and the absence of retrospective regret or prospective alarm about things outside one’s control, together with the confidence that comes from the effortless persistence of moral purpose.
~ Lawrence Becker from, A New Stoicism p91
2.5 millenia later… calmness, equanimity, tranquility?
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Transformative →
I’ve never seen any life transformation that didn’t begin with the person in question finally getting tired of their own bullshit.
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12 – Run →
Our nearby short, flat lollipop loop. Tomorrow: Discussion of running some dashes on the track.
Love and loyalty →
It’s easier to desire and pursue the attention of tens of millions of total strangers than it is to accept the love and loyalty of the people closest to us.
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Which spiral? →
To this day, if I realize I’m in a downward spiral I bring my attention to my next decision. (“Realize” being the important word there. I am too often actually in a downward spiral without realizing it is so.) Left foot, or right foot next? Take a nap, or continue what I’m doing? What’s the smallest next thing I can do, which would be a positive? Maybe the best thing I can do is to simply cease everything and pause.
Bodies start to hurt when they aren’t moved enough, but also because when they are moved, some parts aren’t moving with ease. This then makes it harder to move enough, and our movements get more diminished, immobility and pain arises, and we think it’s all inevitable.
~ Katy Bowman from, Book Excerpt: Rethink Your Position – Nutritious Movement
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I find it empowering to know that making small, simple decisions about movement can profoundly affect my overall health and mobility. I’m not taking Bowman’s word for it though (she does have lots of great things to say about movement) I’ve simply taken note of what happens. Sometimes (often?) the better, small choice is the slightly more difficult now option. As Jerzy Gregorek put it, “easy choices, hard life. Hard choices, easy life.” Choose wisely.
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13 – Trail walk →
3 miles out and back. Got a little cardio in on the steeper bits. Tomorrow: Running (probably?)
Malice →
Any sufficiently advanced negligence is indistinguishable from malice.
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