GM! ☕️
This issue is dedicated to everyone with elevated election stress. I feel you. We’re in this together, and we’re going to be okay—but not because we have control. Because we have compassion.💞
Here are this fortnight’s 5 things to consider:
John Steinbeck’s pigasus might be the symbol we all need. “The little pig said that man must try to attain the heavens even though his equipment be meager.”1
A 101 on compassion fatigue from Patricia Smith at the Compassion Fatigue Awareness Project:
From the Academy for Systems Change:
Music critic
has been writing about the dopamine fix we’ve come to crave from technology. He sees it eroding not only art and culture, but also the human connections between us (I agree). One antidote he offers is to seek new learning and experiences, with this throwback for inspiration:
Tiny book review: Samantha Harvey’s Orbital tells the story of 6 astronauts making 16 orbits around earth in a span of 24 hours. There isn’t much plot, and it isn’t sci-fi, but what it lacks in action it makes up in lyrical prose, remarkable sentences, space travel trivia, and the inner lives of astronauts. It’s a beautiful contemplation of earth and humanity—so lovely that I actually found myself reading page after page out loud. ★★★★☆
Thank you for reading! This newsletter is a labor of love. 💌 To support it, you can upgrade to a paid subscription (coming soon), share this post, or engage my services. You can learn more about my work at jenniferlphillips.com.
Jenny
P.S. New mantra👇🏼
Steinbeck’s wife Elaine wrote this in a letter: “The Pigasus symbol came from my husband’s fertile, joyful, and often wild imagination… John would never have been so vain or presumptuous as to use the winged horse as his symbol; the little pig said that man must try to attain the heavens even though his equipment be meager. Man must aspire though he be earth-bound.” Via
.
Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast reminds me of the quote in Christopher McDougall's Born to Run by Calballo Blanco
"Think Easy, Light, Smooth, and Fast. You start with easy, because if that's all you get, that's not so bad. Then work on light. Make it effortless, like you don't give a shit how high the hill is or how far you've got to go. When you've practiced that so long, that you forget you're practicing, you work on making it smooooooth. You won't have to worry about the last one - you get those three, and you'll be fast.”