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
Tag: Inspiration
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:
- Living in accord with virtue
- Suspending judgement
- The view from above.
You can also read his excellent book, How to Think Like a Roman Emperor.
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. …
Seven obstacles to be mindful of, from Nicholas Bate:
(1) Worrying about what other people might think
(2) The distraction of trivia and melodrama
(5) Not having pen nor paper at all times
(6) Believing things should be fair
Photo by Owen Michael Grech on Unsplash
Michael Wade calls for a revival of proper correspondence…
Those odd things that you might spend a chunk of time writing and then you’d mail them and not expect an answer that afternoon. It might be a week or so before you’d seriously expect a reply. And when you received a letter, you might study the letterhead and the quality of the paper and, of course, the person’s signature.
Photo by Álvaro Serrano on Unsplash