Thinking Out Loud No.2
Fear, Zen and Canary Wharf
Hi friends,
I’m still going through Write of Passage, so I’m spending a lot of my time writing. Right now I’m working on an article exploring how to use fear as a tool for growth. It’s needed right now as I’m feeling a lot of fear around being seen and as I bring more of myself to my writing.
I came across a wonderful and relevant quote by C.S. Lewis in the writings of a fellow classmate, which I’m totally going to appropriate here:
“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: ‘What, you too? I thought I was the only one!’”
It’s in that spirit that I’ll keep writing despite my fear. Someone needs to share the thing that creates connection and there’s no reason it shouldn’t be me. So if something I write makes you feel that sense of “what, you too?” then please let me know! That’s why I do it.
New blog post
Practicing Zen. While I’m not Buddhist, I get a lot of value from practicing Zen. This article gives what I hope will be a surprising perspective on what Zen is about and why I practice it. For the Co-Active coaches out there, keep Process coaching in the back of your mind as you read it. I think you’ll see some similiarities.
I’d love to hear what you think.
Best of the web
Write like you talk – Paul Graham. I know I’m hiding when my writing gets overly formal or complex. This short piece gives great advice on overcoming that and on staying real.
“If you simply manage to write in spoken language, you'll be ahead of 95% of writers. And it's so easy to do: just don't let a sentence through unless it's the way you'd say it to a friend.”
Photo of the week
I work in a part of London called Canary Wharf. It’s a corporate Disneyland of skyscrapers built on a series of docks by the Thames. My favourite part is a somewhat hidden botanical garden on the roof a new train station, very close to my office.
One lunchtime this week I felt the urge to see something green. I headed to the garden and spent about half an hour sitting amongst the plants, outlining my new article on my phone. Sitting in that environment while writing about the value of fear felt strangely, and wonderfully, subversive. I’ll be doing that again
Thanks for reading and until next week.
Michael
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