Conditions I Don’t Want

“How am I complicit in creating the conditions I say I don’t want?”
Jerry Colonna

Do It Poorly

This is powerful in its simplicity.

(via Chris)

Digital Love Languages

I love the idea of Digital Love Languages. I always appreciate receiving a “this makes me think of you” texts.

She’s a Bit Much

This hit a nerve.

Shall We Talk about Dating Apps?

Yesterday I posted ideas on how to meet a romantic partner, outside of soul-sucking dating apps. Here is my post on Instagram. 2,830 likes and 261 comments later it’s clear this hit a nerve. Reposting it here with some resources my readers shared:


Can we talk about dating apps? Yeah, let’s not.

I can’t help but think there has to be a less soul-sucking way to meet someone!?

– what if we all tried to level up as friends and played matchmaker once a month?

– what if the dogpark had an unofficial singles section?

– what if there was a piece of clothing/accessory that indicates someone is single and open to meeting someone?

– what if friend groups pull together and create a database with their most awesome single friends and write a pitch about them?

– what if the first train on any subway train is only for singles?

– what if in giant high-rise buildings certain elevators are reserved for singles

– what if we organized events where everyone who is invited is single but nobody knows they are attending an undercover singles event. (And the group is recommended by friends aka vetted.) @hugc, @lessthanamazing and I organized such an event a few years back. Should I bring it back?)

– what if there was an event where people made presentations on their single friends. “PYF” (Pitch Your Friend)

– coffee shops have differently colored coffee cup lids for singles

– once a month singles dress monochromatically, all red for the day. (Gaaaah sooo fun!)

(Granted some of these ideas could possibly be very awkward. But ideas beget ideas!)

Do you have ideas to add or have you met your partner in an unexpected, fun way? Please share!


In the comments I learned that:

Apparently in Norway when you go hiking in the mountains, green buffs or hats mean you are single, and red mean you are in a relationship. SO GOOD!

In Bavaria, Germany, it all comes down to how you tie your bow on your Dirndl that indicates if you’re married, taken, single or even widowed.

Dating services, events some of my readers shared:

Meet The Otter
Paired by the People
You Should Date

Have an interesting story on how you met your partner? Have additional ideas to add to the above list? Comment below!

Human Aura Recordings

Embedding is unfortunately disabled, click through to see the video over on Youtube. Fascinating!

The above clip from the 80s shows the human energy field radiating outward from the body. “The aura” has been captured with specialized cameras and film, noting how it changes based on feeling states, physical conditions, the interaction with energy radiation from objects and living things. Fascinating!

(Via)

Unselfing

“We are living through a pandemic of selfing — rampant self-celebration that mistakes applause for connection, likes for love. There must be another way — a way to unself just enough to remember each other, to grow a little more…”

Thank you Maria for this gift. I am all for unselfing.

Make You Feel

I don’t believe that life is supposed to make you feel good, or to make you feel miserable either. Life is just supposed to make you feel.
– Gloria Naylor

(via)

Notable People

Using data from Morgane Laouenan et al, the Notable People Map is showing birthplaces of the most “notable people” around the world. Data has been processed to show only one person for each unique geographic location with the highest notability rank.

(via Dense Discovery)

Go Be Weird

(Thanks Alex!)

Don’t Just Write Words. Write Music.

(via Tim Ferriss)

Let People Live

Thank you, Adam JK.

Shattered Glass

Last week was unusually ‘full’. I had no brain space to post here. I can’t remember the last time that happened other than after my kids were born.

And then, as I was swinging from one to-do-item-vine to the next, running from lots of Zoom meetings filled with men wearing blue shirts and khaki pants, my giant glass patio door shattered.

S-H-A-T-T-E-R-E-D-!

It was a startling moment.

It was mesmerizing to hear the glass crackle for a good 10-15minutes before it eventually settled in its broken beauty.

What’s the lesson of this all?

– Check for rocks in your lawn before mowing the lawn, fellow homeowners!

– There is beauty in the breakdown.

– ….. what else?

The Best Way To Answer “So What Do You Do?”

This is an inspiring talk. Definitely made me think about how I talk about what I do. Thank you Clay Hebert.

The American Scam

“Everyone knows how productive you can be when you’re avoiding something. We are currently experiencing the civilizational equivalent of that anxiety you feel when you have something due the next day that you haven’t even started thinking about and yet still you sit there, helplessly watching whole seasons of mediocre TV or compulsively clicking through quintillions of memes even as your brain screams at you — the same way we scream at our politicians about guns and abortion and climate change — to do something.”

It’s Time to Stop Living the American Scam, by Tim Kreider

Hidden Gems

Click through to discover gems of websites.

The Last Human

Kevin Kelly Tweeted about this short animation. Well worth a watch.

One Time Secret

My super-smart developer friend John told me about One Time Secret. It helps you keep sensitive info out of your email and chat logs. Helpful!

PS: Apparently you can send one-way secret messages through Slack as well.

A Poem for Someone Who is Juggling Her Life

This is a poem for someone
who is juggling her life.
Be still sometimes.
Be still sometimes.

It needs repeating
over and over
to catch her attention
over and over,
as someone who is juggling her life
finds it difficult to hear.

Be still sometimes.
Be still sometimes.
Let it all fall sometimes.

– Rose Cook

(From Notes From a Bright Field)

The Art of Life

A documentary about the art of living outside of conventions, in deep integrity with one’s essence.

Born Into Communities

“Once upon a time people were born into communities and had to find their individuality. Today people are born individuals and have to find their communities.”
— K-Hole

(via Nalden)

This Corner on The Internet Turns 17 Today!

17 years ago today I started publishing on here with this post. Somehow I am still standing. 18,679 posts in. Still enjoying it. Thank you for visiting my little garden on the internet. I appreciate you stopping by.

Happy my blog birthday to you!

Where Am I? [ Conscious Leadership ]

A question I ask multiple times a day at this point: Where am I? Above the line (open, curious, committed to learning) or below the line (committed to being right, defensive, closed)? Such a helpful tool. If you want to hear more, listen to this podcast I posted about last week.

The video above is from Concious Leadership Group.

(Thank you Noah)

Leading Above The Line

This episode of the Farnham Project Podcast is pure gold. Listen to Jim Dethmer, founding partner at the Conscious Leadership Group and the co-author of the insightful book, The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership, spew an impressive amount of wisdom. It’s so dense I had to listen to it twice, the second time with a pen and paper to take notes. Wow. Here’s to leading and parenting above the line.