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.
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.
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
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.
Never the Same Day Twice
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.
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.
Yes!! Mine is exactly this busy! I feel exceptionally seen today in ALL my rabbits I chase and will chase today and tomorrow and....
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.
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
This, right here, has me thinking...
“...because it is such a crowded place between my ears.”
I love they way you put words together.
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.
✅ 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.