What I’ve Been Reading
Tribes, by Seth Godin
While I’ve been aware of Seth Godin for quite a few years, I only read his work recently. Late last year I read The Dip and then this past month Tribes. I struggled a little with his writing style and formatting, it seemed like a random collection of ideas. Each section might be a paragraph to a page long and do not connect together very much. While this makes it highly accessible, it also felt too broad. There were a few ideas that I wish he had spent more time exploring. But overall, it was certainly an interesting read with some good insights. I have some ideas for a longer post about it, so that’s all I’ll say for now.
The Comprachicos, by Ayn Rand
This is a short essay on education, it is actually available free online as a PDF. I would highly recommend reading it. It is a very powerful piece that will give you a very different perspective on modern education and what learning should be. Here are a couple excellent quotes, I share this in the hopes that it will inspire you to take a look at the full text:
“The process of forming, integrating and using concepts is…not an innate, but an acquired skill; it has to be learned—it is the most crucially important part of learning—and all of man’s other capacities depend on how well or how badly he learns it.”
“Man’s mind is his basic means of survival—and of self-protection. Reason is the most selfish human faculty: it has to be used in and by a man’s own mind, and its product — truth—makes him inflexible, intransigent, impervious to the power of any pack or any ruler.”
One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
This felt like an appropriate time to read Love in the Time of Cholera, but since I don’t own that, I had to make do with another book by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. One Hundred Years of Solitude never ceased to surprise me. And for that, I would recommend it because it is so rare to find a novel that is completely unexpected. But also, if you do choose to read this, make use of the family tree printed at the beginning. This was invaluable, as the characters’ custom of naming everyone in the family with the same two names became very confusing.
What I’ve Been Listening To
Reimagined, by Audiomachine
This album takes famous classical pieces and turns them into epic versions. My favorite is Lacrimosa, although Jupiter is a close second.
Deep Water, American Authors
This song inspired one of my recent articles on Medium.
Follow Your Fire, Kodaline
While a very different sound from their older albums, this song has become one of my favorites.
What I’ve Been Doing
For the past few years I’ve attempted to keep some plants indoors over the winter, but this is the first year it has really worked out. My husband gave me an indoor greenhouse for Christmas, along with a kit for growing herbs. The whole setup has expanded to include sweet potato slips, flower seedlings for my gardens, and a sprouting avocado seed.
I recently acquired our family piano from my parents and am getting back into practice. One reason I enjoy playing piano is that it helps quiet my mind and I can be in a very “present” state. In a way, it is a kind of meditation. Since it has been so cold outside recently and I can’t take my daily walks, it has been very helpful.
What I’ve Been Thinking About
How is playing the piano a good metaphor for learning any art? Having taken lessons for about 10 years, I have a healthy mindset around how to play the piano. I know it will take lots of practice to reach the level I had been at before. As I start to learn a new song, I know how to break it down into manageable pieces and slowly study each element. These habits seem applicable to any skill or art that is unfamiliar. It seems like we all struggle with unrealistic expectations about mastery, and perhaps leaning on experience from one discipline can provide insight into any other new area.
Even in a time of uncertainty and quarantine, there still is such pressure to perform. Every day I struggle with the thought, “what should I be doing? Am I being productive enough?” I think this is a good time to really dig into why we have these thoughts. What makes us feel inadequate? Why do we feel like a failure if we don’t accomplish some arbitrary number of tasks in a day? Why don’t we give ourselves credit for how much energy it takes to simply show up to life in this uncertain time? What are the deeper narratives that run through our mind, making us think we can never be enough?
