#076 Consider This!
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Common Discourse is a project designed to help others (and ourselves) think through creativity, focus, and intentional work—from Alex Tan & Alice Otieno.
Every Tuesday we share words from a journal, a few ideas, a quote from somebody else, and links worth sharing. On Fridays we invite a guest to share images from their camera roll and a sound that resonates with them. Words from the Journal come on the first of every month.
A few ideas, a quote, and links worth sharing for your consideration on another Tuesday.
Here is a list of things I’m currently spending time with and would also recommend to others.
📖 Open: An Autobiography by Andre Agassi
🌯 Papas y Chorizo breakfast burrito at Tacos Villa Corona
😴 Magnesi-Om by Moon Juice
🎷 Jazz Samba Encore! by Stan Getz and Luiz Bonfá
— Alex
A few ideas
I. DISAGREEABLE
There are two kinds of disagreeable people.
We all know this one: The one who always has something to say. The one that makes life hard. The one that presents obstacles but no solutions. The one that is kind of a jerk, hard to love, and difficult to communicate with.
Then there’s this one: The one who thinks for themselves. The one who makes their own choices. The one who quietly chooses the path less popular. The one who is willing to forget about what everyone else is doing. The one who went first first, who changed things, who was weird, who turned left when they turned right, who asked questions when they all agreed. The one who made a difference.
A disagreeable person can either be cancerous or a catalyst for transformation, it just depends which definition of disagreeable you want to live by.
II. “WE HAVE TO PAY”
But what if we get to?
Imagine looking at the exchange of money as an alternative way to say things like:
Thank you!
Please keep going.
My life is better with this in it.
A signal of gratitude carries more weight than a forced action
III. ONLY YOU
Many of us are spread thin over a number of tasks that we’re only mediocre at.
Ask yourself this:
What are the things that only you can do?
What would happen if that’s the only thing you did today?
A quote from somebody else
“I too have wanted to become indecipherable, rather than reduce myself to any single formula.
But if I refuse to describe myself at all, then I’m left unable with no means to understand myself. Maybe that’s fine? But I suspect this makes it harder not only for others to connect to me, but for me to learn what I want, what I’ll enjoy and appreciate, what might challenge me, and so forth.
Maybe the solution is to be pluri-decipherable — like Iris Murdoch or Fernando Pessoa — rather than indecipherable. Let oneself play many roles and be interpreted through many different dimensions, without being committed to any one position.”
Links worth sharing
🩰 Body Movement Language is a collection of experiments created during a two-way residency between award-winning choreographer Bill T. Jones and Google Creative Lab. The collaboration uses AI to invite users to explore the creative possibilities of speech and movement.
🌀 Carving your own path forward with Bozoma Saint John via What’s The Point? Podcast
🗑️ The Junkification of Amazon, Why does it feel like the company is making itself worse? Intelligencer
💭 Why Dreams Matter, The Pamphlet
Thanks for consuming!
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