Figuring out which set of skills to improve is weird in late-stage capitalism.
Do we all get real good at AI prompts and buckle down in the matrix?
Or, do we memorize the best recipes for squirrel and nettle stew, learn how to make knives out of obsidian, and form hunter-gatherer tribes at the outskirts of Houston or whatever?
What I’m talking about are guiding principles, not simplistic instructions. These instruments have the power to help us recover our bearings and know how to take the next step forward when we’ve been plunged into uncertainty.
I only know one way to keep or regain a passion for life. The word is porous. Porous. Permeable. Able to be penetrated by. Capable of being drenched all the
The modern world has been scorched by wars, famines, cruel regimes, financial disasters, and plague – and our species has survived these tragedies by asking one crucial question, which we will examine in a moment.
Cecilie & Jesper Conrad, parents to four, have been full-time traveling since 2018 & unschooling for +10 years. Every Thursday, they host insightful conversations on their Self Directed podcast with
Have you ever felt suffocated by anxiety?
I have.
Anxiety can be all-consuming, dragging us into a relentless fight-or-flight mode. It magnifies life’s challenges, pushing us toward destructive behaviors in a desperate bid to cope.
But here’s the glimmer of hope: we can harness the power of our autonomic nervous system to ease anxiety and other tough emotions like anger and sadness.
I grew up as deeply Christian as one can be — and not just because I was raised in it. I was a true believer, deeply committed to walking through life under the guidance of the Bible.
I’ve read the Bible several times and memorized large sections of it, many of which I can quote to this day. I’m not your enemy.
I appreciate the spirit you take into the world. And, you bear responsibility for what is being shoved into the world under the name, “Christian.”
In times past, intelligence was measured by the ability to accumulate facts, retrieve them at will, and apply them as needed (often enough, when it was not needed, too *cough*
We created a society where significant numbers of us can’t bear to be present in our lives without being on something, drink, drugs, sex, shopping … We’ve created a hyperconsumerist, hyperindividualist, isolated world that is, for many of us, more like the first cage than the bonded, connected cages we need.
The opposite of addiction is not sobriety. The opposite of addiction is connection. And our whole society, the engine of it, is geared toward making us connect with things not people.
I’d like to take a minute with the whole “woke” thing. Like so many words that have been crammed into meanings to become wedges and weapons, woke acts as a trigger for many.
I saw a guy at the airport wearing an anti-woke t-shirt. His presence felt heavy and angry — this could have been projection on my part and I don’t think that was entirely the case.
My heart hurt for him as it does for so many men of my generation.
The ground is shifting beneath our feet profoundly. Those of us on board with the shakeup of outdated-but-familiar ways of being have still experienced a lot of discomfort as we’re required to take ownership of how imbalances have benefited us and propped up a sense of self that is now required to change as wrong things are righted.