[TfTi] Writing Yourself Into Their Lives; and other useful bits

[TfTi] Writing Yourself Into Their Lives; and other useful bits

In this week’s Tips from Tom’s inbox, I’ve gathered a wider set than I usually include, and consequently our dives will be a bit shallower. But I hope you’ll find some value in my takes and enjoy some learning and fun by clicking through to the sources.

Good things come to — and flow from — those who write!

First, I’m going to toot Yvonne’s horn a bit, because I was blown away (more than usual) by the blog post she wrote this week on her Lipsticking blog, “On Becoming Me in this Powerful Play of Life.”

Now, the Lipsticking blog itself has been around nearly twenty years. So it’s been “becoming” what it is today through the writing that appears there, mostly by Yvonne, with some guest postings over the years. That’s the nugget I want to emphasize with you before you go read the whole post, becoming through writing.

Her title picks up the line from Whitman’s poem, Oh Me! Oh Life!

“That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.”

The stories within Yvonne’s personal journey never fail to move me and this one is no exception. Toward the end she drops these lines:

“I became me.

Writing is truly a lifelong journey . . .

We are all in this powerful play together … [and] each of us has an opportunity to transform the lives of others – by writing the story they want to read.”

My take: You get to write, edit, and revise the story of you. As Yvonne has.

That doesn’t necessarily mean writing in the literal sense of putting pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard. You could choose to live in the powerful play as improv, ad libbing your way along. Your actions and behavior will tell your story anyway.

And for good or ill, you will affect the lives of those who happen to be on your small stage with you at the time. Indeed, I think there will be periods in every life when improv is the only stage available.

I think Yvonne’s piece demonstrates the more impactful path, however, lies in writing your life out and taking the time to edit and revise. This could happen in private journaling, of course.

But if you want your life — your role in the powerful play — to have more meaning and positively affect those beyond your immediate circle and, indeed, beyond your lifetime . . . you must write.

And rewrite.

Embracing Change

Not sure if you’ll be as surprised as I was to read this headline on an article from the Pew Research Center, “In the U.S. and elsewhere, most say their country will be better off embracing changes over sticking to traditions.”

Given how closely divided our politics appear to be, would you have predicted that 63% of Americans say we’d be better off if we were open to changes in our “traditions and way of life”?

And in light of news stories about similar divided cultures around the world, I found it equally surprising that of the 19 countries polled, only Greece had a majority (58%) of people say the country will be better off sticking to its traditions and way of life.

Do you find these results reassuring, just a bit?

Bookshelves on Busses?

Not physical shelves, or books. But according to CNN, Boston is piloting a program called “Browse, Borrow, Board” that lets riders scan a QR code at the bus stop and have digital content — including books, audiobooks, newspapers, magazines — delivered to their phone from a “digital pop-up library.”

The article doesn’t offer many details about funding or technology behind the program, other than mentioning the Boston Public Library and the mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics.

How can we bring this concept to every city? And maybe find space on the busses for a Little Free Library book exchange shelf, too?

Speaking of changing the world

These tidbits come from a recent James Clear 3-2-1 newsletter:

“The best way to change the world is in concentric circles: start with yourself and work your way out from there.”

Isn’t that what’s embedded in Yvonne’s post, back where we started?

And in that same newsletter, Clear quotes the famous email that Steve Jobs sent to himself to remind him of how much he depended on others for nearly everything in his life, concluding with this line:

“I love and admire my species, living and dead, and am totally dependent on them for my life and well being.”

As Yvonne wrote, “We are all in this powerful play together.”

And along with Jobs’ recognition of how dependent we are on others, we should also acknowledge a responsibility to write our stories so that others can depend on us to play our roles well.