Hi friends 👋
It’s my last full week of Write of Passage and I am already sad that it’s ending. I’m coming away with not only a community of like-minded writers to continue to learn with, but a toolkit for approaching writing like never before. I’m exploring a few ideas for the next phase of my sabbatical, and excited to share as they progress.
Here a few things I’ve been interested in this week and think are worth sharing.
Setting a timer ⏱️
From a 60-minute writing session or meditation, to 5 minutes of prayer before I run out the door for a bike ride, I find using a timer helps me focus. The limit of time helps my mind be present. I’m not thinking about the tires that I need to pump up, the appointment I made next Thursday or the messages I haven’t responded to yet. I know that for the next X amount of time I can set those things aside. It sounds silly, but it works for me!
The Rise of the Shaman Bro (and his eventual demise)
As Bitcoin climbed to new heights after the election at over $77,000 this article became a little more evergreen — for both a deep belly laugh and it’s little crystal-blockchain-ball storytelling.
I love tennis. I’d play on the courts in Santa Monica until the sun dropped into the ocean, lost in the rhythm and sounds of the game. My grandpa played well into his 80s, and I grew up indoctrinated with his lofty claims about the superiority of the sport for mental and physical health. Turns out, science agrees with Grandpa.
A study in Copenhagen found recreational tennis players will live an average of 9.7 years longer than if they had not played.
I’m writing my last essay for class on how meditation brought me closer to God.
As the ancient practice of meditation turned into a trend, trickling out of incense-tinged yoga classes and into the open seating plans of SaaS companies, I never thought I needed it. Prayer and journaling are my meditation, I’d explain as friends asked if I had tried Headspace or some other new meditation app. I already knew how to find the claimed benefits of meditation– peace of mind, clarity, calm, a connection to self. What did I need meditation for, let alone another app on my phone?
Long story short, turns out I was wrong and meditation is great. Full essay coming soon.
I’m dropping Strange Rites. I’m a big believer in not finishing books. This one started strong with thought provoking insights and storytelling, but the second half is getting way to niche and repetitive. The overall concept (which is quite fascinating) is summed up nicely in this quote:
We do not live in a godless world.
Rather, we live in a profoundly, anti-institutional one, where the proliferation of internet creative culture and consumer capitalism have rendered us all simultaneously parishioner, high priest, and deity.
America is not secular but simply spiritually self-focused.
No less than the rise of Protestantism, which was inseparable from the invention of the printing press and the spread of mass literacy, this shift is deeply rooted in the technological changes of the twenty-first century. Anti-institutional, intuitional self-divinization is, at heart, the natural spirituality of Internet and smartphone culture.
That’s what’s been on my mind! What have you been curious about this week?
Much love,
Alivia
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