#194: Late night musings on the longest day of the year
small truths and other surprises
Dear reader,
Today was the Summer Solstice, and changes are underway.
For the past week, I’ve been learning how to improve the way I use Notion and reshaping my entire life admin system. I’ve never felt this much love and joy in organizing my life. So much follow through is happening (finally), and it’s not the same amount of effort or stress as before. I feel so light and on track suddenly. I highly recommend checking it out if you haven’t already.
A dear friend who was staying with me for the past week left and my home can feel it. But instead of allowing the vacancy to fill my head, I’ve instead spent the evening putting up old sketches on my walls, changed up the lighting, brought some plants into the space, and it’s feeling cozy and warm again.
A few random thoughts that floated through my mind while writing this:
I really like boiled corn with a dab of butter
Make it, and then own it. Don’t fake it.
My room smells of redwood tonight.
I am the seed, the plant, the gardener, and the garden.
I wonder what my power pose is.
I want cheese popcorn.
Co-Star is eerily accurate today.
I hope the baby squirrel returns to my balcony tomorrow morning.
Where do ideas blossom?
Three lovely poems to read on a Tuesday in June
1. Being a Self Part I by Julia Fiedorczuk
Translated from the Polish by Bill Johnson
I awoke
and was a woman
from my feet to my hair, in which
a mass of good spirits were tangled, since
I had had good dreams that night.
I rose and had
feet
and for some reason ten
funny little toes.
the cold rain of the air
the blue mug
the rectangle of the world
clouds, cars, even the wind
all were about me
and I came
to tell you
because this
is splendid news—
2. On a train by Wendy Cope
The book I’ve been reading
rests on my knee. You sleep.
It’s beautiful out there -
fields, little lakes and winter trees
in February sunlight,
every car park a shining mosaic.
Long radiant minutes,
your hand in my hand,
still warm, still warm.
3. Twenty Reasons for Being by Maria Popova
To celebrate the magic that is Krista Tippett’s On Being completing twenty years, Maria Popova composed a twenty-line pastiche poem, made from the titles of On Being episodes that have aired sometime in the past twenty years. Read the poem below, with each line linking to the episode it came from:
notice the rage
notice the silence —
silence and the presence
of everything:
small truths
and other surprises
what we nurture
how we live with loss
saved by the beauty of the world
seeking language
large enough
a life worthy of our breath
when no question
seems big enough:
this tiny slice of eternity —
mathematics, mystery,
and the universe —
this fantastic argument
of being alive.
Music to vibe to
Blue Tokai put out a World Music Day playlist
Kukido b2b TMPST | Boiler Room: Pakistan (Asfandyar Khan aka TMPST composed the beautiful album The North Wind a decade ago. Fascinating to see his Boiler Room set and know that it’s the same person)
Links to check out
Tokachi Millennium Forest in Hokkaido, Japan has a 1000-year vision
Tinder for Cats (lol)
Tip of My Tongue helps you track down the word you’re thinking of.
Words I resonated with
“Your eyes need
time to taste.
Your soul needs
room to bloom”
-from How to Read a Book by Kwame Alexander“As a caterpillar prepares to transition, almost every cell in a caterpillar’s system starts freaking out, because suddenly the system is failing, nothing seems to work, and it’s clear that everything the caterpillar understands about how its world works is now unsustainable and obsolete. At this critical moment, the imaginal cells awaken, to show everyone else how to become a butterfly. At first, these individual imaginal cells are attacked as heretics by the caterpillar’s immune system. But the imaginal cells find one another, and when they do, they cluster together in the same place, and grow stronger together. They don’t wait for permission, they just start creating a butterfly. Finally, as the rest of the caterpillar dissolves into goo, it stops attacking the imaginal cells, and begins to follow their lead. In the darkest hours, the imaginal cells can not only inspire others, but they can create and execute a plan to make the future more beautiful than anyone else can possibly imagine.”
-found on the latest The Sunday Soother newsletter“…my focus on daydreaming and deeper, more satisfying human connections led me to reimagine some of my friendships as more important and intimate than I’d allowed them to be before. I could romanticize friendships the same way I’d always romanticized crushes or boyfriends.”
-from Heather Havrilesky’s Ask Polly column Daydreaming with Leslie Jamison“To be in the present as a listener is a revolutionary act. We absolutely need it, to be grounded in that way.”
– Hildegard Westerkamp“Rarely, if ever, are any of us healed in isolation. Healing is an act of communion.”
-bell hooks | All About Love: New Visions
I leave you with a few new words I discovered recently:
Laughback: When you remember something funny from the past and laugh at it like it's currently happening.
Atelophobia: The fear of imperfection or not being good enough; An extreme fear of failure to achieve perfection.
Abendrot: The color of the sky when the sun is setting.
I’d love to learn some new words you’ve come across at thealiporepost@gmail.com.
Wishing you discovery and joy this week,
Rohini
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