Sunday Link Roundup
Table of Contents
I'm continuing to work on my relationship to this blog / personal website.
One thing I notice is that I have some resistance toward my original intention, which is making it whatever I want.
Essentially, I want to feel free to post anything that interests me, even it's just a link or a few sentences of thoughts on a subject.
But I often continue to feel as if each little piece of inspiration I pick up along the way needs to be a fully fleshed out article.
It doesn't.
I'm collecting my thoughts and inspirations efficiently (which is progress), but they're just piling up higher and higher, because it's taking me too long to process them - I'm not likely to ever write a complete article for each one.
So for now, at certain risk of going way too long, I'm too flush out the pipes and unload a good portion of this week's notes here.
We'll see how this strategy evolves over time.
🕺🏽 FAVORITE INSTAGRAM PERSONALITY OF THE WEEK
Mark Hogben
This guy has Parkinson's and lives off-grid in Quebec, Canada.
He posts about twice a day to social media.
He's shaky, sincere and endearing.
Also, he often uses the Boards of Canada's music (one of my all time favorites) in his videos.
He has garnered quite a following in the past year or so.
Great story.
✍🏼 QUOTES
Anthony Hopkins
Lately I keep coming across nice bits of wisdom from the actor Anthony Hopkins.
The last one I came across was a good one about sobriety.
This one is about relationships:
Let go the people who are not prepared to love you. This is the hardest thing you will have to do in your life and it will also be the most important thing. Stop having hard conversations with people who don't want change.
Stop showing up for people who have no interest in your presence. I know your instinct is to do everything to earn the appreciation of those around you, but it's a boost that steals your time, energy, mental and physical health.
When you begin to fight for a life with joy, interest and commitment, not everyone will be ready to follow you in this place. This doesn't mean you need to change what you are, it means you should let go of the people who aren't ready to accompany you.
If you are excluded, insulted, forgotten or ignored by the people you give your time to, you don't do yourself a favor by continuing to offer your energy and your life. The truth is that you are not for everyone and not everyone is for you.
That's what makes it so special when you meet people who reciprocate love. You will know how precious you are.
The more time you spend trying to make yourself loved by someone who is unable to, the more time you waste depriving yourself of the possibility of this connection to someone else.
There are billions of people on this planet and many of them will meet with you at your level of interest and commitment.
The more you stay involved with people who use you as a pillow, a background option or a therapist for emotional healing, the longer you stay away from the community you want.
Maybe if you stop showing up, you won't be wanted. Maybe if you stop trying, the relationship will end. Maybe if you stop texting your phone will stay dark for weeks. That doesn't mean you ruined the relationship, it means the only thing holding it back was the energy that only you gave to keep it. This is not love, it's attachment. It's wanting to give a chance to those who don't deserve it. You deserve so much, there are people who should not be in your life.
The most valuable thing you have in your life is your time and energy, and both are limited. When you give your time and energy, it will define your existence.
When you realize this, you begin to understand why you are so anxious when you spend time with people, in activities, places or situations that don't suit you and shouldn't be around you, your energy is stolen.
You will begin to realize that the most important thing you can do for yourself and for everyone around you is to protect your energy more fiercely than anything else. Make your life a safe haven, in which only ′′compatible′′ people are allowed.
You are not responsible for saving anyone. You are not responsible for convincing them to improve. It's not your work to exist for people and give your life to them! If you feel bad, if you feel compelled, you will be the root of all your problems, fearing that they will not return the favours you have granted. It's your only obligation to realize that you are the love of your destiny and accept the love you deserve.
Decide that you deserve true friendship, commitment, true and complete love with healthy and prosperous people. Then wait and see how much everything begins to change. Don't waste time with people who are not worth it. Change will give you the love, the esteem, happiness and the protection you deserve.”
-Anthony Hopkins
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ouch.
This inspired some self-reflection.
David Goggins is a nut.
An inspirational nut, but a nut.
The money frequency
Interesting perspective - thinking about money as a frequency.
Sobriety
I always like hearing people's perspectives on sobriety when they are able to articulate it well.
Here's a good one from John Mayer.
How to love
Words of wisdom from Thich Nhat Hanh, one of my all-time favorite teachers.
Advice on starting a business
I like this guy Matt Gray.
Seems like a good guy and has a good business going putting out inspiration "solopreneur" type content.
Keeping it real
Love this story from Ethan Hawke.
Forget about what other people think
This guy comes across as a bit "other" with his ayahuasca-drenched perspective, but he's often articulating some good insights.
Do it anyway
A secret that is about as simple as it gets.
Life changed by an Instagram post
The only reason I'm sharing this here is that this woman has a good inspirational story.
She posted this one video on her Instagram account and it brought her the job and the relationship she had been dreaming for.
Frivolous, excessive lawsuits in the U.S. have got to stop
📹 YOUTUBE
Turn anxiety into an ally
I mentioned this one before, but I'm going to mention here again.
Who is going to carry the boats?
David Goggins!
🎙️ PODCASTS
Here's another one I've mentioned before, but it bears repeating:
Heavyweight Podcast
🎵 MUSIC
This isn't at all typical listening for me, but I heard this one the other day, and it just sounded authentic to me FWIW.
🔗 LINKS
Interesting list of recommended apps to help you shoot a documentary film.
🚚 TRAVEL
On my drive home from Florida, I stopped by Ginnie Springs.
This is a great spot to stop for a night or two.
With one major caveat: NO PETS.
They won't even allow you on the property if you have pets in your vehicle.
They've got quite a few large spring pools.
They're not hot. I'd say they are warm. I believe they stay around 70-71 degrees year round.
It's a popular destination for cave diving.
These people get scuba gear and go up to about 7,000 feet into underwater caves.
The depth is up to 100 feet, but from what I gather, it's less about the depth and more about how far into the cave you are.
You might have to swim back out a mile before you can get above the water to breathe.
I learned that north Florida has some of the best underwater cave diving in the world, and people come from all over the globe to do this here.
📝 JOURNALISM
With all the attention on Jeffrey Epstein again this week from the release of documents from his court case, I did a little research and found articles on him from before he got in trouble.
They had quite a different tone.
Note: If you're browser is blocking one of them, you can get around it by turning off javascript in your browser.
New York Magazine
October 2002
Landon Thomas Jr.
Vanity Fair
March 2003
SOFTWARE AS A SERVICE
Clever SaaS / web app.
I was looking into Umphrey's McGee the other day and saw they have a pretty extensive website tracking their setlists:
It seemed nicely functional so I looked into how they put it together, and it turns out they're using a subscription web app called Songfish. It's a "setlist engine" that does exactly what a "jam" band needs as far as providing an interface for keeping track of what songs were played in each show.
🔥 CONCLUSION
Ok, I think that's enough for now!
Hope you are enjoying your Sunday.
We'll be back next week and this newsletter will continue to evolve...
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