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LET'S BE FWENDS ISSUE #86:

A QUICK BURST OF INSPIRATION

“Find out who you are and do it on purpose.”
~ Dolly Parton

For this edition of Let’s be Fwends, we go on a couple of tangents. We briefly explore the relation between our inner storytelling and feedback, learn what inspires awe, and how we can experience it more often, despair a bit about the state of the world, and finally learn about bridges.

Feedback stops the Narrative

Us humans are 24-hours-a-day-seven-days-a-week sensemaking-machines. We’re constantly connecting the dots (even if there are no connections) to try - not really to understand the world, but more to create a story, that is consistent and makes sense. If that story is true - that is another thing.

Of course, we also tell stories to ourselves about ourselves, and our experiences. This narrative can be very strong, and misleading.

Michael Lopp says:
“One of the many benefits of feedback is that it breaks your ongoing inner narrative. It breaks it. It mentally forces you to stop in your tracks and consider the feedback not because you want to but you are incapable of ignoring it.”

There’s one thing to remember, though: That feedback, that isn’t the truth. It’s a story someone else tells themselves about us and chose to share with us.

Experience more Awe

What is Awe? No doubt you experienced that feeling, that feeling of respect and wonder. Often, we feel awe when we’re outside, in contact with nature, or a monumental thing, like a mountain, or tall buildings.

But Summer Allen tells us that we can experience awe on an everyday basis. She draws ideas from Dacher Keltners “eight wonders of life”, that can allow us to experience awe more often:

Witness other people’s moral beauty and courage
Move in unison with others
Get out in nature
Listen to or create music
Take in visual art of film
Seek out spiritual or religious experience
Consider a big idea
Witness life and death

So, whatever it is that inspires you, chances are it’s on the list of these 8 things. Try it, and bring more “wow” into your life.

Stumbling from one resource problem into the next

Something is definitely off with us as a species. Even as we shift from completely destroying our planet by burning fossil fuels to making use of the energy that the sun provides us with on a daily basis, we cannot seem to shake our habit of using up more raw materials than there are.
This time, it’s “clean energy” and raw minerals, that are already in short supply.

Honey, I shifted the Earth's Axis

Sooo, it looks like we’re also responsible for weird drifts of the magnetic north and south poles … Specifically, melting ice masses tilted the axis of the earth, and continue to do so at an increasing rate.

Words continue to escape me. Not just in regard of the damage done, but also in regards of the complete incomprehension and inaction.

Building Bridges

Bridges come in all shapes and forms. Some are made of stone, others of wood or steel. Some have long cables above them, others complicated-looking constructions below them.
As someone who went down the rabbit hole of bridge-related wikipedia pages a couple of years ago, I can tell you that those are not aesthetic choices. Every type of construction has its advantages and disadvantages, and is chosen based on the characteristics you want your finished bridge to have.

Here’s a video of an engineer explaining different bridge types.

That’s it for this edition of Let’s Be Fwends, thanks for sticking with me while going on a tangent (or, multiple, in this case). Sometimes it's good to let in some fresh air and talk about something else, don't you think? 🌁

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