The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature.
Joseph Campbell (1904 – 1987), quoted in Reflections on the Art of Living: A Joseph Campbell Companion
Photo by Bailey Zindel on Unsplash
Here’s an interview with Douglas Murray about Roger Scruton and a new edition of Scruton’s Confessions of a Heretic…
Nicholas Bate suggests seven things to choose. What else could you possibly need?
(though I might add forests)…
5. Creativity
6. Music
7. Mountains & Coast
Image: Andrew Munro
This is good. Stoicism and salesmanship, especially as it relates to creatives and reluctant sellers.
Being published in indie publishing is a lot like starting in acting, none of us are experts, everyone is trying to get noticed, and it’s not at all glamorous. Although it is an honor and privilege to be published, to get your book in the hands of the people, to find your readers, takes some elbow grease. This means…you become a salesperson.
Treat with respect the power you have to form an opinion. By it alone can the helmsman within you avoid forming opinions that are at variance with nature and with the constitution of a reasonable being.
Marcus Aurelius (AD 120 – 180), Meditations (3.9)
Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.
William Morris (1834 – 1896), Hopes and Fears for Art: Five Lectures Delivered in Birmingham. London and Nottingham, 1878-1881
Photo: Andrew Munro
Donald Robertson outlines three simple and practical Stoic exercises … so we can all start to think like Marcus Aurelius:
You can also read his excellent book, How to Think Like a Roman Emperor.
Ape to Gentleman is a fantastic blog for tips on men’s style.
Here’s a guide to the summer shoes all men should own, from white canvas sneakers to suede derbies.
…though, in fairness, it’s a little short on socks.
Elsewhere, it has a guide to summer shirts, matching shoes to shorts and much more.
Well worth a regular read.
Without energy, you are nothing. Great ideas get fuzzy and die, good intentions collapse in a withered heap.
Nicholas Bate has essential guidance…
1. To do the things you want to do, you need energy.
2. Level 1 Energy is dependent upon MEDS, meditation, exercise, diet and sleep.
3. Take time out; move/take stairs/dance/carry; eat wide (variety) and deep (local, in season, simple); sleep.
4. …
This insightful quote from JRR Tolkien comes via the always rich and fascinating Hammock Papers…
It is precisely the colouring, the atmosphere, the unclassifiable individual details of a story, and above all the general purport that informs with life the undissected bones of the plot, that really count.
Photo by roberto saltori on Unsplash
