Issues of 7 for Sunday.
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Issue № 105
The flame
Have you read Quiet by Susan Cain? It was a quake-book for me; but I think you have to be an introvert to get that effect from it. If I had to summarize its point, it would be that introversion is about how one recharges and not—as commonly described—about how one shows up around others.…
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Issue № 104
Best intentions
With just a few repetitions, even our best intentions slip from our grasp. There’s an old Steve Martin skit where he begins with, “If I could have one wish this holiday season, it would be that all the children of the world join hands and sing in harmony.” It’s a raucous send-up of saccharine, holiday,…
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Issue № 103
I know what to do
I really do know what it is that I should be doing. I can tell you that it often feels like it will be soul-crushing work. Which really doesn’t make sense when I take the time to think about it. As I turn over each ‘should’ in my mind, they’re all things I want to…
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Issue № 102
Crunch time
We have a vision of The Thing we’re about to do. You know The Thing I mean. It can be in progress now, due tomorrow or just off in the future a bit. It’s the writing, the painting, that podcast episode, the project at work, the family you’re thinking about starting, or the exam at…
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Issue № 101
A quiet place
I get frustrated when it becomes apparent that my hard-won knowledge had a limited lifespan. I’m left trying to pound square pegs into round holes. Take goal-setting for example; in the beginning of my journey I had no knowledge about how to set goals, later I learned how to set SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic,…
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Issue № 100
7 books
From the first issue of 7 for Sunday, I’ve always wondered if I’d make it to 100, and I’m glad I stuck with it. Some weeks it was a right struggle to get it done. In a very real sense, knowing there were readers out there gave me a goal to get through some dark…
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Issue № 99
The dark forest
The creative journey, writ small, is sometimes (Ira Glass among others) described in six or so steps. They go as follows: I used to think I wasn’t really a “creative” person; Sure, I would always have agreed that I was creative, in the “good at problem solving” sense… but creative? …you mean like an artist?!…
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Issue № 98
Fertile ground
It really matters that you start. It doesn’t matter where you start; Start where you are (in your years, your journey, your beliefs) and lean into the first thing which sparks a question within you. Benevolence and self-direction […] are usually near the top of the values we all share. Each of us also has…
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Issue № 97
Challenge of perspective
The other day I took out a small, blank slip of paper. Then, thinking “what are the areas of focus in my life?” I tried to come up with the fewest number of areas. I wrote the first one that came to mind, and then I left some space. Then I wrote a second area,…
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Issue № 96
Procrastination and integration
There’s a wonderful little story that goes with that photo: I snapped it (on a Canon digital camera) just as I was dashing out of the building. At one point in time, my wife was a mathematics professor, at a small college which arranged a class trip to Japan and extended an invitation to faculty…