In times of polarization it is easy to forget that “they” versus “us” are concepts that change with scale.

Nation, State, County, City, Neighborhood.

Our political parties encompass different levels of extremes which themselves have competing factions.

Our religions have different sects with individuals who have differing priorities.

While we view other races as monolithic blocs, we make fine distinctions between the different groups of our own race.

When we forget how fluidly we navigate between all these different versions of “us”, we begin to stagnate into a fragmented tribalism. But this is merely an illusion that allows us to assign evil to the others.

Shift the framing slightly, and they are us.

We’ve recently joined online group with a farm that sells produce direct to market.

In the back of our minds we understand thatwe’re all interconnected in this digital web.

But this example jumps into our physical world, highlighting the invisible crisscrossing connections that surround us.

Because you eat the results of this network.

They were good oranges.

For a while I had been writing five weeks in advance, which is kind of a cool number, a prime, the number on your fingers, toes, etc. But after the big sick of March, I fell back to being only four weeks in advance, and it feels right.

It’s not perfectly aligned, but at least it generally follows the lunar cycle of twenty nine and a half days. while working within our seven day weekly cycle. On the one hand such a sentiment is totally anachronistic in this digital era, but I feel that we ignore such cycles, the micro and the macro cycles in our world at our peril.

Peril may be a bit strong, but it is certainly to our own loss that we disconnect ourselves from the natural world.

For example, why do we do daylight savings time? If as a society we decide we ant to have more daylight in the afternoons during spring and summer, we should not be trying to change time. Instead we all would be better off collectively shifting our business hours an hour earlier between the equinoxes.

Maybe this is a little woo woo, but I feel that the industrial world has a tendency to constantly disconnecting us from the earth around us. It’s not all bad (I certainly appreciated central heating and instant hot water during my nasty cold) but there is no reason for gratuitous disassociation from the cycles of this planet when it is not needed.

Man that’s a tough question.

I’m not generally a fan of the 7 Habits universe but I do like their important/urgent matrix, and I find the idea of Q2 (non-urgent but important tasks) a really intriguing concept.  I agree with Covey’s contention that this Quadrant is where the hard long term progress is made. 

But that just begs the question, what is important?

Preparing is important. When you walk into a meeting you should be ready for whatever is thrown at you, (including the humility to say “I’m not sure, let me get back to you”). I think life has discreet inflection points where things change. Some of those moments are scheduled and you can research ahead of time. Some of them come from out of the blue and you’re forced to just to rely on the life you’ve lived to date.

As an architect, I don’t think it’s a bad thing to be a dilettante and dabble in a lot of hobbies. While any specific hobby might not be “important” the act of opening oneself up to the world via multiple avenues may well be enrichment that feeds the work. That said, tangible career progress is a matter of hard focused effort. Not necessarily a ton of hours, but spending those hours in a focused manner.

Which again begs the question of how to determine what should be the object of focus.

I guess I’d say stepping back and taking breaks. I once did a six week summer studio and I took zero breaks. Aside from being completely burnt out, I also did not finish the project. I never got out of my own head space. After that semester I realized I have to take at least one weekend day off until the final push. One needs to regularly take a moment and look at themself in a detached manner and make sure they aren’t headed in the wrong direction.

In the past few years I’ve also picked up the habit to stop at the coffeeshop every Friday morning, as well as when I’ve got a certain unsettled feeling. Sometimes I get caught up in the coffee shop conversation, but occasionally it’s a really useful time of reflection where the internal muddy waters of my mind settle down and I can begin to see things clearly again.

In the heights of accomplishment and joy there is a nagging feeling that tomorrow is coming, where you won’t be the center of attention and the next challenge is right around the corner.

Maybe it’s a good thing. While it may be enjoyable to live it up to the max, such a sentiment keeps the downs from going too low.

How does one live presently in the moment, knowing this too shall pass?

Being sick shuts down the brain in a way which is can be difficult to appreciate when one is riding high on life.

That saying “if you got your health you’ve got it all” is simultaneously hedonistic, naive, and got a helluva point that one can’t fully appreciate till you’re sick.