The Real Revolution
I still think the [real] revolution is to make the world safe for poetry, meandering, for the frail and vulnerable, the rare and obscure, the impractical and local and small.
– Rebecca Solnit
Quotes
Thriving surviving struggling in crisis
Thriving: “I got this”
- Calm and steady with minor mood fluctuations
- Able to take things in stride
- Consistent performance
- Able to take feedback and to adjust to changes or plans
- Able to focus
- Able to communicate effectively
- Normal sleep patterns and appetite
Surviving: “Something isn’t right”
- Nervousness, sadness, increased mood fluctuations
- Inconsistent performance
- More easily overwhelmed or irritated
- Increased need for control and difficulty adjusting to changes
- Trouble sleeping or eating
- Activities and relationships you used to enjoy seem less interesting or even stressful
- Muscle tension, low energy, headaches
Struggling: “I can’t keep this up”
- Persistent fear, panic, anxiety, anger, pervasive sadness, hopelessness
- Exhaustion
- Poor performance and difficulty making decisions or concentrating
- Avoiding interaction with coworkers, family and friends
- Fatigue, aches and pains
- Restless, disturbed sleep
- Self-medicating with substances, food, or other numbing activities
In Crisis: “I can’t survive this”
- Disabling distress and loss of function
- Panic attacks
- Nightmares or flashbacks
- Unable to fall or stay asleep
- Intrusive thoughts
- Thoughts of self-harm or suicide
- Easily enraged or aggressive
- Careless mistakes and inability to focus
- Feeling numb, lost, or out of control
- Withdrawal from relationships
- Dependence on substances, food, or other numbing activities to cope
-- Stress First Aid for Firefighters and Emergency Services Personnel. National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.
Two Kinds of People after Dinner
There are two kinds of people after dinner:
Those who ask, “Can I help?” And those who are already doing the dishes.
One sounds helpful. One is.
This plays out on every team every day. Don't wait for permission. Do the dishes.
-- Zach Klein
Ways To Make Money
"My father, who died in 1981, was an inexhaustible font of wisdom and wit. I don’t know when he told me this particular three-part rule, but I’ve never forgotten it. I tweeted it three years ago, but people keep asking for it in one place, so here it is. There are three ways to make a living:
- Lie to people who want to be lied to, and you’ll get rich.
- Tell the truth to those who want the truth, and you’ll make a living.
- Tell the truth to those who want to be lied to, and you’ll go broke.
The rest is commentary.
-- Jason Zweig
A Reminder
We are a caught in a perilous time and I wonder if we would listen to a reminder from one of our great Presidents, that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
-- Abraham Lincoln, November 19, 1863
Fred Rogers
To love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is, right here and now.
-- Fred Rogers
Adjectives
Adjectives in English absolutely have to be in this order:
opinion-size-age-shape-colour-origin-material-purpose Noun
So you can have a lovely little old rectangular green French silver whittling knife. But if you mess with that word order in the slightest you'll sound like a maniac. It's an odd thing that every English speaker uses that list, but almost none of us could write it out. And as size comes before colour, green great dragons can't exist.
-- Mark Forsyth, quote from The Elements of Eloquence: How to Turn the Perfect English Phrase
Five recipes for an exciting life (in my opinion)
- Spending enough time creating things with your hands (baking, drawing, scrapbooking, doodling, crocheting, journaling and so on)
- Keeping track of things like pretty skies, milestones, happy memories, appointments you're looking forward to
- Listening to music that genuinely makes you feel happy and energetic
- Making a habit of reaching out to people in a way that's comfortable to you (i send my dad songs he might like, my friend sends me monthly life updates)
- Being kind to all your five senses → like investing in a scented candle or essential oil dispenser or body mist, having a soft blanket or socks (or a soft animal to pet), listening to birdsong or the rain, looking at the sky more often, and having your favorite foods enough times