My wife thinks through problems in silence. Walks. Long drives. Sitting and staring out the window or at the walls. She often emerges from this state, somehow, with an answer.
I cannot fathom this.
When I was a kid, we had a big lawn. Must have been about an acre. My parents were too broke to buy a tractor, so we had to cut the grass with a push lawnmower, and to make matters worse, it was a mulching mower that would always clog up if you moved it too fast.
I'd spend hours out there pushing that thing around, my mind going crazy like a kicked hornets' nest. I didn't have noise cancelling headphones. Hell, I didn't even have a Walkman or a CD-player.
White noise, even when it's as loud as a lawnmower, is a kind of silence. I hated that silence, because it only amplified the loud chaos in my head. I hated being alone with my thoughts, because it was like trying to control a fistful of biting ants without squishing them.
These days, I've learned that the only way for me to pull signal from noise is to speak or write my thoughts aloud. I don't always find answers, but I do find a more accurate way of understanding the problem. I am a whiz at describing problems. Or at observing things that feel meaningful, even when they're not.
Your post today, Jeff, is one I've written a hundred times. It's a post about nothing, because you just need to write about something, but you don't know what that something is. There's poignancy all around us, but how do you draw it out and make it into a reflection worth sharing?
Sometimes you can't. Sometimes the hornets escape. Sometimes you have to let go of the ants. Sometimes you just have to let the chaos have its say.
Thanks, Steve. It's good to be seen. I now wonder if we find the big things in the little things, the everything in the nothing. Great to connect here, and I appreciate your reading and commenting.
My wife loves background noise. I've started to prefer the opposite. To go for a walk without shoes or music or any sensory stimulation at all except for the feeling of the pavement and grass on my feet and the noises of the neighborhood come to life before me.
I’ve always walked without noise. I couldn’t do it with headphones stuck in my ears. Lately, I wish I could walk without shoes. My right heel feels like it’s going to slip and it’s an odd feeling.
My husband is the vinyl collector, but even while listening on Spotify I listen to a music album in order. I doubt the songs were arranged randomly, and it feels like a disservice to the artist to skip around.
Very warm and personal post, love it, can relate well. Like many of us, I tend to overthink and over commit, we're all curious about so many things and there's just not enough time. Now that I'm enjoying an extended time off, I'm working on improving my thinking and finally got time to implement my own knowledge system, SEN, an open source infrastructure to build your own PKM system, integrated into a niche but nice open source alternative OS, Haiku.
It's lovely but stressful, as I am straining my micro budget, but it's worth it and was absolutely necessary for my mental health. Looking forward to an exciting opportunity next year, or my own project gets funded🙏😏💪
Sounds too much like my life on Workmen’s Compensation slouching into early retirement and November. I have to listen to vinyl more. Maybe get a fireplace for the basement and put up the Christmas tree with lights.
I really like the idea of having to tweak nobs and dials to achieve the best sound for different songs. Something about the "craft" of the listener. Listeners being active instead of passive. This has convinced me about vinyl more than other arguments I've heard
Yes, that part is a lot of fun. Honestly, I just like the aesthetics of it. I built the system one vintage piece at a time. It's not world class, but it's mine. And every record I put on is a little act of love for the music and an attempt at self care. It forces me to sit down, dial in the sound, and listen. It's a discipline in paying attention.
I hear ya. I also saw you or someone in the threads talking about the virtue of not easily being able to skip songs. That then clicked with something else I overheard people talking about recently: that apparently Taylor Swift made Spotify or Apple or one of the streamers make it so her album couldn't be skipped but had to be listened to from start to finish in that order. I remember the person talking about it was up in arms as if it was an attack on their personal liberty, haha. I was thinking, "Wasn't that how it used to be with vinyl and radio anyway?"
Totally. I love that. There is a conversation the listener has with the artist through the album. If you skip a song, it's like skipping sentences. Paragraphs. Entire ideas.
Thanks Jeff. My journey led me to listening to The Beatles. Not coincidentally, I just finished Sergeant Pepper with A Day in the Life, while thinking I’ve got that Jeff and Kevin thing tomorrow and then I saw this post pop up on my feed. I think the universe is playing me as a vinyl collectors edition, crackles and all. Living into the questions, while I watch the thoughts. I go down a few rabbit holes, catch myself, get back to the present moment and then get visited by the thoughts again. Rinse and repeat. Dammit this life is just one big meditation. See you tomorrow.
My mind is always going as well, despite my preference for long stretches of quiet. And thank you for veering away from the endless tutorials on morning routines. We all have our habits, but man it’s nice to mix things up sometimes.
Yes. My mind is like this.
My wife thinks through problems in silence. Walks. Long drives. Sitting and staring out the window or at the walls. She often emerges from this state, somehow, with an answer.
I cannot fathom this.
When I was a kid, we had a big lawn. Must have been about an acre. My parents were too broke to buy a tractor, so we had to cut the grass with a push lawnmower, and to make matters worse, it was a mulching mower that would always clog up if you moved it too fast.
I'd spend hours out there pushing that thing around, my mind going crazy like a kicked hornets' nest. I didn't have noise cancelling headphones. Hell, I didn't even have a Walkman or a CD-player.
White noise, even when it's as loud as a lawnmower, is a kind of silence. I hated that silence, because it only amplified the loud chaos in my head. I hated being alone with my thoughts, because it was like trying to control a fistful of biting ants without squishing them.
These days, I've learned that the only way for me to pull signal from noise is to speak or write my thoughts aloud. I don't always find answers, but I do find a more accurate way of understanding the problem. I am a whiz at describing problems. Or at observing things that feel meaningful, even when they're not.
Your post today, Jeff, is one I've written a hundred times. It's a post about nothing, because you just need to write about something, but you don't know what that something is. There's poignancy all around us, but how do you draw it out and make it into a reflection worth sharing?
Sometimes you can't. Sometimes the hornets escape. Sometimes you have to let go of the ants. Sometimes you just have to let the chaos have its say.
Thanks, Steve. It's good to be seen. I now wonder if we find the big things in the little things, the everything in the nothing. Great to connect here, and I appreciate your reading and commenting.
Thank you so much for this comment!! You summed up why I cannot take a shower without listening to a podcast, audio book, or playlist! I feel seen
My wife loves background noise. I've started to prefer the opposite. To go for a walk without shoes or music or any sensory stimulation at all except for the feeling of the pavement and grass on my feet and the noises of the neighborhood come to life before me.
I’ve always walked without noise. I couldn’t do it with headphones stuck in my ears. Lately, I wish I could walk without shoes. My right heel feels like it’s going to slip and it’s an odd feeling.
My husband is the vinyl collector, but even while listening on Spotify I listen to a music album in order. I doubt the songs were arranged randomly, and it feels like a disservice to the artist to skip around.
As is appropriate. :)
Yes!! Mine is exactly this busy! I feel exceptionally seen today in ALL my rabbits I chase and will chase today and tomorrow and....
Haha. You're not alone. And... sorry. ;)
Wow! That sounded like MY mind. I was laughing all the way through the reading. It was delightfully put.
Very warm and personal post, love it, can relate well. Like many of us, I tend to overthink and over commit, we're all curious about so many things and there's just not enough time. Now that I'm enjoying an extended time off, I'm working on improving my thinking and finally got time to implement my own knowledge system, SEN, an open source infrastructure to build your own PKM system, integrated into a niche but nice open source alternative OS, Haiku.
Extended time off sounds lovely, Gregor. I am looking forward to some of that myself.
It's lovely but stressful, as I am straining my micro budget, but it's worth it and was absolutely necessary for my mental health. Looking forward to an exciting opportunity next year, or my own project gets funded🙏😏💪
Sounds too much like my life on Workmen’s Compensation slouching into early retirement and November. I have to listen to vinyl more. Maybe get a fireplace for the basement and put up the Christmas tree with lights.
Yes. I love a good fireplace.
It won’t be a good one.
Haha. Well, all right then. ;)
I really like the idea of having to tweak nobs and dials to achieve the best sound for different songs. Something about the "craft" of the listener. Listeners being active instead of passive. This has convinced me about vinyl more than other arguments I've heard
Yes, that part is a lot of fun. Honestly, I just like the aesthetics of it. I built the system one vintage piece at a time. It's not world class, but it's mine. And every record I put on is a little act of love for the music and an attempt at self care. It forces me to sit down, dial in the sound, and listen. It's a discipline in paying attention.
I hear ya. I also saw you or someone in the threads talking about the virtue of not easily being able to skip songs. That then clicked with something else I overheard people talking about recently: that apparently Taylor Swift made Spotify or Apple or one of the streamers make it so her album couldn't be skipped but had to be listened to from start to finish in that order. I remember the person talking about it was up in arms as if it was an attack on their personal liberty, haha. I was thinking, "Wasn't that how it used to be with vinyl and radio anyway?"
Totally. I love that. There is a conversation the listener has with the artist through the album. If you skip a song, it's like skipping sentences. Paragraphs. Entire ideas.
Exactly, it's like standing up at the theatre and demanding they shuffle the order of the scenes!
This, right here, has me thinking...
“...because it is such a crowded place between my ears.”
I love they way you put words together.
Thank you. That was a fun line that wanted to be written.
Thanks Jeff. My journey led me to listening to The Beatles. Not coincidentally, I just finished Sergeant Pepper with A Day in the Life, while thinking I’ve got that Jeff and Kevin thing tomorrow and then I saw this post pop up on my feed. I think the universe is playing me as a vinyl collectors edition, crackles and all. Living into the questions, while I watch the thoughts. I go down a few rabbit holes, catch myself, get back to the present moment and then get visited by the thoughts again. Rinse and repeat. Dammit this life is just one big meditation. See you tomorrow.
Nothing like that last chord on "A Day in the Life." Have you heard/seen this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opxhh9Oh3rg
I did. Thanks for sharing Jeff! Love it. So well put together!
Goosebumps. When art shows up it knocks me on my ass! Now and then knocked me over.
All I can do is go back to Abbey Road and The End
And in the end
The love you take
Is equal to the love
You make
Those boys made some love! Some damn good love. Bless you!
✅ This is my brain (minus the record player, though now I’m thinking maybe I need one?).
My mind is always going as well, despite my preference for long stretches of quiet. And thank you for veering away from the endless tutorials on morning routines. We all have our habits, but man it’s nice to mix things up sometimes.