There is a wonderful book that I love to read with my little boy. It's by Dr. Seuss and it is called Oh, the Places You'll Go! I remember the first time I read it to him, it felt like it was written for me. Me, aged 44 at the time. And in the 44 pages of this colourful book is all the wisdom one needs to understand the flow of life, the unexpected nature of our individual experience, and the tools needed to weather any storm. With lines like:
Wherever you fly, you'll be best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.
Except when you don't.
Because, sometimes, you won't.
Or this one:
You will come to a place where the streets are not marked.
Some windows are lighted. But mostly they're larked.
A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin!
Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in?
How much can you lose? How much can you win?
Every time I read this book, every time I need some semblance of sanity and simplicity, I return to this book. And it makes me so happy to know there is something like this for kids to help them navigate their way through life. Why am I bringing this up? Well, it was actually inspired by a few of the articles I have for you in #Repost this week. From dealing with loneliness especially during lockdown, to maximising our skillset to find new opportunities to earn, and even seeing waiting as a benefit to us, not "useless" as Dr. Seuss had described in OTPYG. (Sorry Dr. Seuss, it's just a minor disagreement and I do take comfort in knowing that there are many of us in The Waiting Place, but there is a way to turn it into a Productive Place).
Here is a look at this week's selection:
A British PR campaign calling for us to retrain amidst this pandemic, citing ballet dancers working in cyber security as an example caused a backlash. But, as John Bryson writes, it is more about exploring skills we have and seeing what else we are capable of doing instead of thinking that one career is all we have available to us.
Being in lockdown has left many feeling lonely and alone. Yet, loneliness is a feeling many of us are familiar with even before the world shut down and shut us in our homes. Writer Bindu Basinath talks about the book that encapsulated her experiences and how for new immigrants, loneliness is a constant companion.
There are many statistics about waiting times, one being that we spend 5 years of our life on average waiting in lines. We are always waiting for things to happen in our life but as Jason Farman writes in Psyche, there is a way to not see that time as a negative, but as beneficial instead.
To say that Agnes Gund is a patron of the arts is an understatement. In a new documentary about her life, we meet a woman who has spent her life giving away her inheritance museums & advocating for art to be taught in schools; not to mention a passion for racial justice.
She is considered a national treasure in Britain. In the five short years since Nadiya Hussain entered into our consciousness by appearing on, and winning, the Great British Bake Off, Hussain has become a voice and image for the unexpected. And that voice has given a face to topics often left untouched & unexplored.
"Limited freedom is based on what you can reasonably expect from life. Total freedom begins by looking at life as a field of infinite possibilities." In his new book, Total Meditation, Deepak Chopra explores the ideals of inner freedom, what it is and how we can learn to develop it. Read more in this preview he writes in SFGate.
As Dr. Seuss wrote so beautifully,
Today is you day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So...get on your way!
Monita xo
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