lqb2weekly #190 (24 nov 2023)

Nov 24, 2023

hey,

it’s my first newsletter since sabbatical! it’s been 5/6 weeks since returning and honestly, many many parts of me want to go back. i love my work and not working is definitely better than working lol. i also love the world (overall and in general) and the world is a hard place rn. i would love to be able to go back and hideaway with my books and the wood stoves and the trees and eagles and the tide rip and bioluminescence. but alas, here i am. here we are. being with the world as it is. and at least for me, the reason i can’t go back (at least not right now) is because my values compel me otherwise.

#FreePalestine #StopGenocideEverywhere

gonna make this another one of my quick preambles so i can just get it out! i’m probably forgetting something that i’ll remember as soon as i hit send but here’s some things on my mind:

i have started to write up thoughts about my sabbatical. it’s coming out in chunks! first few pieces are out. see below.
Return Lampson Brook Farm to the Nipmuc People
this epically cool report: Freedom’s Revival: Research from the Headwaters of Liberation is an inquiry into freedom and its possibilities. It seeks to explore the freedom that is central to all our struggles for justice, equality, and our planet’s survival. It seeks to recover a freedom unlike the one that has taken root in the United States.
- i have no read this whole thing but i’ve skimmed it and it looks amazing. the elements of interconnected freedom look spot on.
nashira is hiring an admin assistant! she’s amazing and starting up boston’s first birth center. the hope is to have some initial convos in dec and hire soon after. spread the word?

on to the things!

(!!) pick of the pack

writing

some things i’ve written since the last newsletter:

Nov 22, 2023 | sabbatical reflections: night canoeing
Nov 16, 2023 | "what's our first fight going to be about?"
Nov 15, 2023 | happy "no new things" day 2023!
Nov 5, 2023 | sabbatical reflections: setting the scene
Nov 3, 2023 | sabbatical reflections: fear
Oct 30, 2023 | sabbatical reflections

quotes

there is nothing new under the sun. also, full transparency, many of these quotes come from james clear’s 3-2-1 newsletter (which i love).

My therapist today had a beautiful reframe, "What if instead of asking if we've done enough to deserve rest, we ask whether we've rested enough to do the things we're committed to in a loving and sustainable way?" — Dr. Betina Hsieh

You can't wake a person who is pretending to be asleep. — Navajo Proverb

If you’re stuck on a problem, try solving it at a different level.
If you ask, “What can we do to create a more unified country?” then you end up with vague answers that are difficult to implement. The problem is mostly unmanageable at that level.
But if you ask, “What can I do to create a more unified neighborhood?” then you can likely think of many small things you can do to connect your friends and neighbors.
Zoom in or zoom out. Problems that seem impossible at one level are often quite accessible from a different one. — James Clear

You may accumulate a vast amount of knowledge but it will be of far less value to you than a much smaller amount if you have not thought it over for yourself; because only through ordering what you know by comparing every truth with every other truth can you take complete possession of your knowledge and get it into your power. — Arthur Schopenhauer

Every moment there are a million miracles happening around you:
a flower blossoming, a bird tweeting,
a bee humming, a raindrop falling,
a snowflake wafting along
the clear evening air.
There is magic everywhere.
If you learn how to live it,
life is nothing short of a daily miracle. — Sadhguru