🇹🇷 My home country, Turkey, has been hit by two earthquakes with the magnitudes of 7.6 and 7.8.
While 10 provinces were severely affected by the earthquake, the death toll exceeded 20,000 on its 5th day. May God have mercy on those we have lost. I wish our wounded to recover as soon as possible.
If you want to help your Turkish friends, this post will help you find credible sources to donate.
Link Bundle
1️⃣ We get used to saying we are depressed. It is easy to say but we do not know exactly what it is and how we can help those who are really in depression. This article came quite handy realizing how little I know of depression.
2️⃣ What research has revealed on living the good life:
Simply put, living in the midst of warm relationships is protective of both mind and body.
Warm, connected relationships protect against the slings and arrows of life and of getting old.
Once we had followed the people in the Harvard Study all the way into their 80s, we wanted to look back at them at midlife to see if we could predict who was going to grow into a happy, healthy octogenarian and who wasn’t. So we gathered together everything we knew about them at age 50 and found that it wasn’t their middle-aged cholesterol levels that predicted how they were going to grow old; it was how satisfied they were in their relationships. The people who were the most satisfied in their relationships at age 50 were the healthiest (mentally and physically) at age 80.
3️⃣ I am into learning more about Marxism and Socialism and political theory in general. David Harvey’s lessons have been a huge help for me. There will be a writing on what I have learned in this process in a later post.
4️⃣ Jean-Marc Côté gathered people around and asked them how would they imagine 2000s would look like. Depictions are staggering. I do not know why human race is so obsessed with the idea of flying and flying things though.
Imagine a future where flight is commonplace, and the skies are full of flying people, including police officers, fire fighters, postman, and countless others, zipping around above our heads. That’s what a group of artists led by Jean-Marc Côté dreamed up in 1899 when asked to imagine light-hearted inventions that would contribute to the future. The result was a series of nearly 90 vignettes called En L’An 2000, which means In the Year 2000. The pieces were originally printed as cigarette cards, and later made into postcards. They include a variety of subjects, with a distinct focus on flight and flying machines.
Here are my favs:
Air hunters:
Rural postman
School still looks like a prison. It is sad:
5️⃣ Here is a good book suggestion engine for you. You can browse thousands of books suggested by people all around the world. The site also refers you to the books mentioned on Instagram and Twitter. There expands my never-ending to-read book section of home library.
6️⃣ Let’s take a ride through the best films of the history with the help of best lines.
All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.
Roads? Where we are going, we do not need roads.
7️⃣ This is a post to end all other procrastination blog posts. Save it and refer it back when needed. My fav strategies to end procrastination:
Schedule a 5- to 10-minute daily review session
Pick 3 MITs (most important tasks) at the beginning of each day
Use reminder apps : Streaks and TickTick are my besties
Create accountability. If you are planning to write a book, tell your loved ones about it and ask them to follow up on you. Each time they ask you are going to be forced to create some work.
Just do it. Starting is the hardest thing. After the start it comes easier. Just start.
8️⃣ I am a firm believer that you have to define your principles and values in order to direct your life and decision. This post by Durmonski gives detailed explanation and examples. My utmost important values from the list in the post:
Freedom
Curiosity
Friendship
Growth
Empathy
Wisdom
How does deciding my important values help me? Every time I tackle a project or make a decision I try to ask questions like the ones below:
Will this provide me with more freedom?
Will this make me wiser?
Will this challenge me to become a better version of myself?
Will this benefit someone else other than me?
How can I use this to help my loved ones?
How can I create extra opportunities out of this?
What are your values? Reply to this email.
📚Book Summary
Creative Act- Rick Rubin
For those of you who might not know Rick Rubin this video will help:
Do you believe there is a reason to everything? It seems so deterministic for me and it bothers me to feel like what I think or do is meaningless.
I believe the most important lesson for me was this: We have to raise our attention spans. We need to look deep down in the sources of things. Every thing from nature and our surroundings could be turned into an inspiration, art and love. Creativity is not gifted for select ones, it is in every one of us.
As artists, it is our job to draw down this information, transmute it, and share it. We are all translators for messages the universe is broadcasting. The best artists tend to be the ones with the most sensitive antennae to draw in the energy resonating at a particular moment. Many great artists first develop sensitive antennae not to create art but to protect themselves. They have to protect themselves because everything hurts more. They feel everything more deeply.
We need daily practices and habits. “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” I was reading about the writing routine of Murakami in parallel to this book. Murakami says “The repetition itself becomes the important thing; it’s a form of mesmerism. I mesmerize myself to reach a deeper state of mind.”
To support our practice, we might set up a daily schedule, where we engage in particular rituals at specific times every day or week.
The gestures we perform don’t need to be grand. Small rituals can make a big difference.
We can decide to take three slow, deep breaths upon awakening each morning. This simple act can set a course to start each day still, centered, and in the moment.”
And from Murakami:
When I’m in writing mode for a novel, I get up at four a.m. and work for five to six hours. In the afternoon, I run for ten kilometers or swim for fifteen hundred meters (or do both), then I read a bit and listen to some music. I go to bed at nine p.m. I keep to this routine every day without variation. The repetition itself becomes the important thing; it’s a form of mesmerism. I mesmerize myself to reach a deeper state of mind. But to hold to such repetition for so long—six months to a year—requires a good amount of mental and physical strength. In that sense, writing a long novel is like survival training. Physical strength is as necessary as artistic sensitivity.
Haruki Murakami, The Art of Fiction No. 182 | The Paris Review
Do not neglect spending time in nature. I was reading a lot about happiness while I was writing my book. This graph sums up best daily habits.
“The closer we can get to the natural world, the sooner we start to realize we are not separate. And that when we create, we are not just expressing our unique individuality, but our seamless connection to an infinite oneness.”
A nice creativity tactic I learnt from the book is thinking the opposite of what you are thinking right now.
For any rules you accept
of what you can and cannot do as an artist . . .
of what your voice is and isn’t . . .
of what’s required to do the work and what you don’t need . . .
it would be worthwhile to try the opposite.
If you’re a sculptor, for example, you might start with the idea that what you’re making has to exist in the material world. That would be a rule.
To explore the opposite would be to consider how a sculpture can exist without being a physical object. Perhaps your best work could be conceived digitally or conceptually, with no solid footprint. Or maybe it won’t be your best work, but the thought process might lead you somewhere novel and intriguing.”
Try to see as many perspectives as possible. Be open to any ideas that can broaden your worldview.
Listening without prejudice is how we grow and learn as people. More often than not, there are no right answers, just different perspectives. The more perspectives we can learn to see, the greater our understanding becomes. Our filter can begin to more accurately approach what truly is, rather than a narrow sliver interpreted through our bias.
Patience is required at every step
“If there is a rule to creativity that’s less breakable than the others, it’s that the need for patience is ever-present.”
Seek inspiration everywhere.
Epiphanies are hidden in the most ordinary of moments: the casting of a shadow, the smell of a match igniting, an unusual phrase overheard or misheard. A dedication to the practice of showing up on a regular basis is the main requirement.
An indication of being inspired is experiencing awe. We have a tendency to overlook many things and not appreciate them. How can we overcome our disconnection and numbness to the amazing marvels of nature and human-made creations that surround us?
To vary your inspiration, consider varying your inputs. Turn the sound off to watch a film, listen to the same song on repeat, read only the first word of each sentence in a short story, arrange stones by size or color, learn to lucid dream.
Break habits.
Look for differences.
Notice connections.
Most of what we see in the world holds the potential to inspire astonishment if looked at from a less jaded perspective. Train yourself to see the awe behind the obvious. Look at the world from this vantage point as often as possible. Submerge yourself.
Imitate then innovate:
The Beatles were inspired by American rock and roll, artists like Chuck Berry and the Shirelles. But when they played, it was different. It wasn’t different because they wanted it to be so. It was different because they were different. And the world responded.
BREAK THE SAMENESS MY FRIENDS
Small steps:
“To create movement for a musician who was blocked, we offered him a small task: write just one line every day. It didn’t matter how good or bad he felt about the line, as long as he committed to writing it. ”
Change the Environment
Change the stakes:“Besides changing the external environment, you can also change the inner. If a band imagines that this is the last time they’ll ever play a particular song, they’re likely to perform it differently than if it’s just another take.”
Change the context:
With one artist, I suggested singing a love song written to a woman as a devotional to God instead. We can try many different permutations while singing the same song, without changing any of the lyrics, to see which version brings out the best performance. To create movement for a musician who was blocked, we offered him a small task: write just one line every day. It didn’t matter how good or bad he felt about the line, as long as he committed to writing it.
Write for someone else:
“At times, I will ask the musician to select an artist whose lyrics and point of view are very different from their own, as a way to avoid the sameness that can occur in a career over time. If an artist is normally full of braggadocio, we may choose a more vulnerable, soft-spoken lyricist. If you tend to write in style x, it can be interesting to choose an artist who is the polar opposite of x. This doesn’t mean the song will be good. It’s just interesting to see where it leads. And sometimes it leads you right where you’re going.”
Change the variables
Generate, let go and regenerate.
“We are part of a constant, interconnected cycle of birth, death, and regeneration. Our bodies decay into the earth to bring forth new life, our energetic mind is returned to the universe to be repurposed.
Every victory in our lives or every defeat is not an endpoint in itself. If I learnt just one thing from life it is this: Life goes on.
The prism of the self :
Determining one's authentic self is a complex and possibly unattainable task. We are comprised of multiple versions of ourselves that can change over time. The advice to "be yourself" is too general and may not be practical. We may act differently as an artist, with our family, at work, with friends, during times of crisis or peace, and when alone.
Our internal factors such as moods, energy levels, self-talk, past experiences, and physical state also constantly alter our being. It's like looking through a kaleidoscope, where we have the power to adjust our perspective and obtain different results. We can choose to tap into specific aspects of ourselves, such as our darkest or most spiritual self, and create something authentic to those versions.
The more we embrace our ever-changing nature, the more freedom we have to express ourselves in various ways and trust our instincts while making art.
“You” are not one thing
“The “self” has many distinct aspects. It’s possible to create a piece, love it, and then look at it the next day and feel completely different about it. The inspired-artist aspect of your self may be in conflict with the craftsperson aspect, disappointed that the craftsperson is unable to create the physical embodiment of the inspired artist’s vision. This is a common conflict for creators, since there is no direct conversion from abstract thought to the material world. The work is always an interpretation.
Continue to ask every time : How can it be better?
Creating something is an essential thing for us. It is like breathing.
The reason we’re alive is to express ourselves in the world. And creating art may be the most effective and beautiful method of doing so. Art goes beyond language, beyond lives. It’s a universal way to send messages between each other and through time.
Live the chaos. Even in chaos there is a strong pattern. And unfortunately:
🦋 Poem of the Post
Mary Oliver, Storage
🧠 Nugget of the Post
I saw this on Twitter but forgot the find out the film name below the tweet ( if anybody knows please let me know )
There is a famous theory that grief has 5 stages :Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. I think it is bullshit, to cut to the chase. Anyone going through a strong grief knows that there is no “returning back to normal” after the grief.
You have a black hole inside, and try to cover it up with colorful and meaningless experiences with the time. You do not handle or solve grief, you learn how to become someone else. Grief becomes your character, you become grief.
On the other hand, the perspective below was interesting. Maybe the woman is right. There is no sense to it. After all as Epictetus said “ What is the point of suffering over the things we cannot control” right? Can you change anything with grief? What will happen after crying 2 months of grief? Nothing. Suprise: you cannot change what has happened.
I do not now if you agree or not, but I certainly think that it is something to think about. What else can we put into the place of grief? What else can grow us mentally and spiritually?
Let’s think on that while sipping your coffee and gazing at endless sea.
📽️ Film of the Post
A simple but a moving story from the only nation that calculates Gross National Happiness.
The shepherd song from the movie:
Like milk in a porcelain cup.
the heart is pure.
So pure that even if the cup breaks,
the milk remains milk.
Like water in a vase, the heart is clear.
So clear that infinite beauty is reflected in its depth.
Like bamboo dancing in the wind, the heart is humble.
So humble that it bends to the wind, yet it never breaks.
For such a pure, clear and humble heart happiness follows like a shadow.
happiness follows like a shadow.
By the way, I was curious (you know me) to look deeper into GNHI, here is the best summary of what Bhutan government measures.