Hope

The subtle vibration of a new day

I’ve created a few new designs for the Community Arts Center Kickstarter we’re launching in February. These will be two of the many images on some of the swag people will receive for donating to the center. We have a big number we are hoping to hit. If we don’t get it, we’ll have to recalibrate. I’m hopeful. The conversations I’m having with people around the center are invigorating, inspired, and heartfelt. Many of us are wanting to build a better world instead of fighting for a piece of the wretched one we have. Wretched might be too strong a word for some of us. For others, it’s an understatement.

Reading

I’m reading Journal of a Solitude by May Sarton presently, and it’s helping me slow down a bit and enjoy the light that falls over the quiet objects of my life. She writes in a way that is so still and contemplative that I just want to read everything she has ever written all at once. In essence, reading her writing helps me to feel less alone. I love writing like that.

Activity

I tried to go to a gym this week to work out with a friend. It reminded me how much I hate gyms, and that I actually do more physically than I do when I’m in a gym, sitting on a machine and moving my legs in ways which I don’t normally in the course of a day. I tried. I hated it. I will work out my muscles the way nature intended-on my bicycle.

FOOD

I have been eating less food. It feels better than eating too much. I sleep better too. Which is big. The older I get, the more I feel like sleeping and pooping are the pinnacle of human experience.

On Being Human

I wonder about how (or if), each person determines what type of a human they will be. How groups of people have the power to define humanity for the individuals in that group, and what that might communicate to and about the larger social order.

I have come to question that if humans are capable of more, if we are truly magical creatures, why is it that we spend so much of our collective effort attempting to control and oppress? If we have within us the ability to do great things, why is it that we waste our energy on violent behavior? If we don’t have the opportunity or the access to the best version of ourselves, do we turn to violent and destructive behavior as a way to express our angst over that fact? If we don’t have the time, space, and opportunity to be great, does it turn us into great monsters?

I met a man once who was very into energy exchange and moving energy. Unfortunately, his method of working with energy was to use other people’s without permission. Because he had no real idea how to harness or work with his own, he made a practice of moving energetically into other people’s spaces and exploiting it for himself.

This feels like a similar situation for some reason, and it also reminds me of the movie, No Country for Old Men. There are many ways to justify bad behavior. But there is no reason to allow it.

THINGS I LOVE

Image of my favorite sculpture of all time. Located in the suburbs of Chicago in the parking lot of a strip mall.

Don’t let the bastards get you down.