Quote I was thinking about:

It is not a bad thing in a tale that you understand only half of it.

Isak Dinesen

Book excerpt that made me think:

“So it came as a surprise relatively late in life, in fact only in the past year, that if you want to change the world, you have to enroll others in your plans and vision. Not only that, but the immense pleasures and satisfactions that can be derived from focusing on others, and the surprising discovery that the more I gave to others—which I’d always done—the more the universe gave me back in return.” (Adam Robinson in Tribe of Mentors)

The birds are outside:

Great little essay on life with kids during lockdown, and the good distractions and new opportunities that arise as a result

A great little ski-venture film:

Watching this made me want to travel and go skiing again. This made my morning. Great music and feeling throughout. Worth the 25 mins.

The prevailing climate threat has made a bunch of Swedish extreme skiers and snowboarders travel with trains and boats from Stockholm through Russia all the way to Japan, in search of deep powder and the adventure of a lifetime.

Thelonius Monk’s 25 tips for musicians:

Entertaining short video with some good food for thought on being creativity.

Stay in shape! Sometimes a musician wants for a gig and when it comes, he’s out of shape and can’t make it.

You gotta always be in practice, no matter what your craft.

Whatever you think can’t be done, somebody will come along and do it. A genius is the one most like himself.

5 Boring Ways to Become More Creative:

Thoroughly enjoyed this. It’s been said before but it’s worth revisiting and this is very readable.

Perhaps the most boring of boring ways to be less boring and more creative is… boredom itself.

Staring at the blank page when you’d rather stare at your phone. Sitting in front of the canvas when you’d rather sit in front of the TV. Coding apps when you’d rather eat apps at Outback Steakhouse.

Plato wrote that boredom is the mother of all invention. Our minds become creative because it helps us avoid the inherent anxiety of our own existence.

When you’re bored with nothing else to do, you’re faced with the realization that you have the agency to choose what your life will be in that moment. And as empowering as that thought might seem, it’s also really fucking scary.

When leveraged into action, anxiety can be one hell of a creative muse if you stare it in the face.

https://markmanson.net/boring-ways-to-become-more-creative

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