Hello there!
How’s your summer going? Climate change may be rearing its ugly head, but at least it’s sunny, right? My summer has been busy. Especially busy, in contrast to the spring in lockdown.
I began the month celebrating the long weekend camping with friends. Then I was off to Vancouver to spend a week with my friend, Jason. We ferried over to Vancouver Island to explore its east coast up the Oceanside Highway. We drove from Nanaimo up to Campbell River and played a lot of disc golf. I returned to a smoky Calgary last week, and I can’t believe it’s already time to send out another newsletter.
I hoped to have some content to promote, but the month got away from me. I’ve spent a lot of time with a camera in my hand but not much time sitting at my computer. I hope to even out that equation in the coming weeks.
Until then, here are some things I found interesting this month.
I. PODCAST that lifted my spirits with its’ radical honesty
Tim Ferriss Show #522 with Anne Lamott
Anne Lamott is the author of one of my favorite books, Bird By Bird. I find her to be courageous in her honesty and general views on life. She lives intentionally and doesn’t shy away from the darker aspects of life. I found this podcast to be cathartic in a strange way. Hearing of her struggles throughout life and how she contends with them put my own struggles into perspective. It has good advice on writing and living a creative life.
This was the passage that stood out most to me:
“The ancient Greeks called God or thought of God as the really real, which is certainly not something that modern day religion is very interested in. But boy, that really real, you know when you’re in the presence of it, and it is a battery pack, and it is — oh, it’s so revitalizing. It’s thrilling. It’s thrilling to be with the really real, whether it brings tears to your eyes or it makes you stop for a minute and then throw back your head and laugh.”
Here is the transcript of the podcast if you’d like to read along as I did.
II. ARTICLE that reminded me nobody cares
Nobody Cares by Florent Crivello (5 minute read)
One of my favorite quotes is: “You will become way less concerned with what other people think of you when you realize how seldom they do.” (David Foster Wallace). In this hyper-digitized world, it’s difficult not to compare yourself to the greats in any given discipline when sharing creative work. I have a tendency to overthink most of what I create and choose to share. I judge the work as inadequate because it doesn’t stack up to what I consume. But, as the saying goes, compare and despair. I am playing on a different level of the game. I am in the experimentation stage, trying to find my voice. I need not overthink what I am producing because the people that care will appreciate the effort, and the people that don’t, won’t care for long.
III. INFOGRAPH that made me realize how biased I am
50 Cognitive Biases in the Modern World by Marcus Lu
I am curious about many things in the realm of psychology. Near the top of that list of curiosities is the topic of cognitive dissonance. We are all operating on a long list of stories we tell ourselves. Most of those stories are built upon tiny nuggets of information that are probably not entirely true. This list of biases shows how little of our perception is truly under our conscious control. Some of my favorites are the Fundamental Attribution Error, Spotlight Effect, Dunning-Kruger Effect, & Sunk Cost Fallacy.
Quote To Consider
“The art of life is to know how to enjoy a little and to endure much.”
— William Hazlitt
Photos of the Month
You’re welcome to email me questions or simply say Hello. Let me know of a good book, podcast, video, or anything else you think I’ll find interesting.
I hope you have an audacious August!
Until then,
Scotty
