LOVE: Time. The kind that stretches out in front of you to the horizon line. Delicious and full of space for boredom and wild ideas, cartwheels and evolution.
HATERADE: Time. The kind that casts a shadow over the path ahead. Looming and full of knots that burn and harden, exhaust and confound.
My dad always talks about time as an illusion - Hindus call it maya. “We are born alone; we die alone; and everything in between is an illusion.” [Father of the Year moment: He first said that to me on my 40th birthday.]
But I’ve been thinking about his words a lot this year, wondering if the ancient Hindu philosophers could have ever fathomed the tangled dichotomies of this modern quarantine or if time as a tapestry of contradictions was actually what they envisioned all along.
Time for a few odds and ends (see what I did there?):
I loved this op-ed by Meg Thee Stallion. It will never not be amazing that we live in times with tools and platforms that enable so many powerful and distinct voices to emerge and create and inspire a deeper, better, more nuanced understanding of each other and the world in this moment. 💞
That feeling when you read something that probably felt really poignant in the moment it was written (in this case, January 1, 1969 on the eve of a new presidency), but then also feels like it could have been written yesterday. Question: Is there anything new left to say? Should I even bother starting this newsletter? 😬
I’ve returned to this HBR article ‘That Discomfort You’re Feeling is Grief’ more than once over the last few months. For this moment in particular but what I hope I never forget: “There is something powerful about naming grief. It helps us feel what’s inside of us. When you name it, you feel it and it moves through you. Emotions need motion.” 💪
So many stories about voting. The lines! The astronauts! The youngs! I will always always always celebrate as many people as possible exercising their right to be heard. But still waiting for the story about how we’re voting because we’re home and because we’ve been home. And it has created time to prioritize, plan, and participate; alongside an insatiable hunger for each other and things that make you feel like you’re part of something bigger. 🗳
Until next Thursday,
Nitya