I like your resolutions. I liked your article in NY Times Clutter Is Good for You. I wrote them a letter which they considered publishing but then didn’t.
I am comforted by Mr. Walkers’s. Essay “Clutter Is Good for You.” Since my husband died over a year ago, I have felt mounting pressure to declutter and at the same time a strong resistance to change the way our rooms mostly looked on the day he passed. All the objects in my field of view that I shared with him over 50 years are like friends still alive with stories. Why should I want to throw them away? They have silently borne witness to our life together—the happy times and the sad. They make me feel his spirit is still here and help me go forward each day without him. Why should I want to exchange my inimitable melange for rooms that look like advertisements for minimalist kitchens and living rooms so devoid of human life, personality, and as he rightly says, uniqueness?
As someone who is not a fan of NY resolutions, I loved this list! Being conscious and aware is so powerful, and although I am getting more intentional with it, I still often find myself giving my attention to the same old things in an uncomfortable way. Which is why I love the title and intention of the art of noticing. Cheers.
Absolutely brilliant. I'm starting a new job tomorrow and am looking to reinvent myself a bit - these will certainly be helpful habits. The stranger the world, the better!
It seems to have become trendy to NOT make resolutions, so of course I have been making resolutions like crazy this New Years, just to be a REBEL.
My favorite suggestion from Mr. Zweig is “Introduce yourself to all the people at your job whom you see every day but haven’t met yet.” I don’t have a job, but I can for sure do this in my apartment building!
Looking forward to listening to the playlist.
And I didn’t know about this best advice show round up! Very cool!
“It is a special kind of enlightenment to have this feeling that the usual, the way things normally are, is odd—uncanny and highly improbable. G. K. Chesterton once said that it is one thing to be amazed at a gorgon or a griffin, creatures which do not exist; but it is quite another and much higher thing to be amazed at a rhinoceros or a giraffe, creatures which do exist and look as if they don’t.”
― Alan W. Watts, The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are
Best resolutions ever, and a big YES to making the familiar strange! That’s what I try to do with my photography (my tag line: “seeking the extraordinary in the ordinary and finding beauty in unexpected places”). Your posts and links always give me fresh material to ponder and be inspired by, for which you have my ongoing gratitude and appreciation. Also for your epic 9-hour playlist - wow! I can’t wait to listen to it and discover all kinds of new music (at least new to me)!
I am thinking this year more in terms of "solutions" versus "resolutions". (re-solutions, repeat solutions). If I can solve something this year, I won't have to re-solve it next year?
I like the idea of practicing gratitude in the shower, although I also like to practice it with my clothes on.
My New Years Solutions include, but are not limited to: making at least one person laugh a day, and making at least one guy blush a day. So far, I am on track.
Your story on clutter was great, it is nice how you honor your connection with your Mom!
Loved th pic you took for your Reader! Looking at your "subject" with the googly eyes and a lampshade on its head, I am thinking maybe somebody partied a little to much on New Years Eve!!
Thank you Michael. Your words were something to remember. I've made some changes. Don't know if they are good. But I'm taking some time for myself and friends. Other avenues
Hi, Resolution
I like your resolutions. I liked your article in NY Times Clutter Is Good for You. I wrote them a letter which they considered publishing but then didn’t.
I am comforted by Mr. Walkers’s. Essay “Clutter Is Good for You.” Since my husband died over a year ago, I have felt mounting pressure to declutter and at the same time a strong resistance to change the way our rooms mostly looked on the day he passed. All the objects in my field of view that I shared with him over 50 years are like friends still alive with stories. Why should I want to throw them away? They have silently borne witness to our life together—the happy times and the sad. They make me feel his spirit is still here and help me go forward each day without him. Why should I want to exchange my inimitable melange for rooms that look like advertisements for minimalist kitchens and living rooms so devoid of human life, personality, and as he rightly says, uniqueness?
Is decluttering just another pressure to conform?
As someone who is not a fan of NY resolutions, I loved this list! Being conscious and aware is so powerful, and although I am getting more intentional with it, I still often find myself giving my attention to the same old things in an uncomfortable way. Which is why I love the title and intention of the art of noticing. Cheers.
Absolutely brilliant. I'm starting a new job tomorrow and am looking to reinvent myself a bit - these will certainly be helpful habits. The stranger the world, the better!
It seems to have become trendy to NOT make resolutions, so of course I have been making resolutions like crazy this New Years, just to be a REBEL.
My favorite suggestion from Mr. Zweig is “Introduce yourself to all the people at your job whom you see every day but haven’t met yet.” I don’t have a job, but I can for sure do this in my apartment building!
Looking forward to listening to the playlist.
And I didn’t know about this best advice show round up! Very cool!
Happy New Year!!!!
That's an awesome article. I've tried my best to live by it on my own. Yes things are very strange now. I'm embracing it though. Thank you
“It is a special kind of enlightenment to have this feeling that the usual, the way things normally are, is odd—uncanny and highly improbable. G. K. Chesterton once said that it is one thing to be amazed at a gorgon or a griffin, creatures which do not exist; but it is quite another and much higher thing to be amazed at a rhinoceros or a giraffe, creatures which do exist and look as if they don’t.”
― Alan W. Watts, The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are
I love it.
Best resolutions ever, and a big YES to making the familiar strange! That’s what I try to do with my photography (my tag line: “seeking the extraordinary in the ordinary and finding beauty in unexpected places”). Your posts and links always give me fresh material to ponder and be inspired by, for which you have my ongoing gratitude and appreciation. Also for your epic 9-hour playlist - wow! I can’t wait to listen to it and discover all kinds of new music (at least new to me)!
I'm biased because my dear friend wrote this, but I really do think you'll love it: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/04/arts/design/petroglyph-hunters-norway.html
Happy New Year!!!
I am thinking this year more in terms of "solutions" versus "resolutions". (re-solutions, repeat solutions). If I can solve something this year, I won't have to re-solve it next year?
I like the idea of practicing gratitude in the shower, although I also like to practice it with my clothes on.
My New Years Solutions include, but are not limited to: making at least one person laugh a day, and making at least one guy blush a day. So far, I am on track.
Your story on clutter was great, it is nice how you honor your connection with your Mom!
Loved th pic you took for your Reader! Looking at your "subject" with the googly eyes and a lampshade on its head, I am thinking maybe somebody partied a little to much on New Years Eve!!
Peace and Joyous Maximus in the New Year!!
Thank you…. Great way to start a new year!
I'm not quitting any of my bad habits this year.
No one likes a quitter 🦾
Thank you for this. it really got me thinking cheers !!
Beautiful list, thanks for sharing! Happy New Year
Thank you Michael. Your words were something to remember. I've made some changes. Don't know if they are good. But I'm taking some time for myself and friends. Other avenues
True, honest listening is profoundly rare in our time.
Michael Mohr
‘Sincere American Writing’
https://michaelmohr.substack.com/