Dead Poets, Cold Swims and Epektasis: My Takeaways from 2024
Last night Rosemary and I watched Dead Poets Society. It felt like a good thing to do as a new year beckons. There are not many 35 year movies that can hold my attention, but this is one of them. There is so much I resonate with, but also a fair amount that niggles and leaves me thinking, “I’m not so sure about that.” And that’s why it’s such a good movie! Whatever, in reviewing the year I asked myself if I have sucked the marrow out of life, and if I have remembered to follow the “carpe diem” principle and seized the day. In my own way, I think I...
Read MoreThe arrogance of procrastination
It was a perspective I hadn’t thought of before, and it struck me as insightful. She said it with some emotion. “People always think that procrastination is about being lazy, or uncertain, or non-committal, but it isn’t. It’s about being arrogant. It’s about assuming you will always have tomorrow. It’s about thinking another time will come around.” For her it was tinged with sadness – a sudden death, with so many things left unsaid. “It’s never the right time, is it? So you just keep waiting until it is, and that perfect moment...
Read MoreBecause Our Habits Form Us…
Though I no longer remember her name, I remember the enthusiastic student teacher in my primary school teaching us about habits, and how important it is to form good ones. “A habit sticks with you,” she proclaimed. She wrote the word HABIT on the chalk board, systematically then rubbing out one letter at a time – creatively turning the lesson into an exercise in both spelling and ethics. You take out the H, and it is still there A BIT. Work harder, and remove the A, but BIT is still left. Yet more effort, and the B disappears – but IT is still left. “And so children,” she finished, “That’s...
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