Mindful Monday - June 8th
Good morning, good morning!
“When I became an artist, I threw away my watch.”
- Picasso
I suspect a few of us can relate to this. Perhaps not necessarily the artist bit but the throwing away of the watch. Have you noticed time moving slightly differently? I know I have.
Maybe you have become something else. To adapt, survive and possibly even thrive through these past couple of months, most of us have either taken on more – or given up – roles and responsibilities, which has changed us, perhaps even permanently.
What have you become? What else would you like to become? And, just as importantly, what do you now know you don't want to be or become? It's not often (thankfully?!) that we're thrust into a melting pot of chaos, volatility and opportunity of this magnitude, and it's still here. There's still time to make some shifts that can have long-term benefits.
I love this passage from Shane Parrish, who heads up the Farnham Street website:
Asking myself "is this helping me get what I want" is becoming one of my favourite questions. It works on kids, too. Mine are 11 and soon to be 10. Whenever they start fighting, I ask them, "Is this helping you get what you want?" and it gives them the power to remember what they are really trying to accomplish. "You can argue with your brother about whether it's a chair or a stool, or you can get what you want." Don't lose sight of what you want to achieve. Every action is a step toward or away from what you want.
Now for some fun stuff…
Forts: for the architect and castle dweller in all of us
I remember loving making forts as a kid with furniture, pillows, blankets.... Now, however, my fort building skills are mainly appreciated by my adventurous kitten. But for those of you with kids of prime fort-building age, Ikea has some pretty sweet designs here.
Solitary bees: pollinators going it alone
Did you know that of the approximately 270 bee species here in Britain, about 250 of those are known as solitary bees? While these little lone wolf-style pollinators don't do the honey thing, they do pollinate lots of plants we know and love. The funky crew at Maliarts have put together these super cool wooden houses for our private little friends.
Newsletters, blogs, emails...
Our Cornish Crossfit online guru Tommy Tonkins has been releasing his tales (both tall and short), music and watching recommendations into the wild via his Telling Tales email for a while now (subscribe here for a candid and comic peak into Cornish life).
It's from his most recent musings that I'm now listening to Introduction, Presence by Nation of Language – thank you, Tommy!
Puzzles
The good, old-fashioned jigsaw puzzle has enjoyed a resurgence of late and Four Point Puzzles have some beautiful ones to wrap (or warp) your head around. I reckon this dots one is especially fantastic. And after the recent NASA-Space X collab I'm digging these Earth and Moon puzzles.
Righto, that's me for another week, thanks for reading!
Stay special,
Luke X
P.S. Remember to: Move your body; Fuel your body (with real food); Hydrate your body (preferably with water); be Kind to Yourself; and to Others. Peace.