I have mentioned the utterly stimulating Brain Pickings before (a one-woman labor of love, sharing a subjective lens on what matters in the world and why). Created by Maria Popova, reader, writer, interestingness hunter-gatherer, and curious mind at large, she connects countless dots for us, cross-pollinating ideas from everything ranging from children's books to philosophy, science, and a wealth of disciplines. The website is well worth browsing if you haven't already, but today I wanted to share with you this wonderful, insightful interview with Maria.
Through Brain Pickings I discovered Sound Cloud, and some truly inspiring and interesting radio casts/podcasts, especially Design Matters and On Being. I'm a naturally busy person, never really comfortable sitting not doing anything, or even not doing anything much. But having taken up knitting (thanks to my friends Nina, for suggesting the idea, and Gina for supplying the most addictively beautiful natural yarns. (I've discovered that I knit like I read in that I have a few projects on the go at a time, and like I cook in that I mix patterns and make my own designs. Fortunately I don't cook like I read or knit, otherwise I'd have a whole pile of half-finished dishes with holes them!) I'm currently knitting with merino-silk blend, bamboo, and cotton in the most delicious colours; if you're yarn inclined, go have a drool at her website naturalyarns.co.za.) Anyway, as I was saying before that tangent, I find I am now finally able to sit, relax, and do things I always left for that ever-elusive, completely non-existent "when I have free time" thing, like knitting and listening to podcasts because I'm getting two things done at once, yay! (Similar to hiking, when everything carried needs to be either essential or have at least two functions, like a waterproof pack-cover which can be used to keep your stuff dry, or to smooth the contours of your pack when riding it down the steep grassy Drakensberg slopes... but that's a whole 'nother tangent for another day!)
Which brings me to the third thing I wanted to share: the other night I found myself working until 3am, switching between doing my accounts (in pretty colours of course, the only way I understand numbers), processing some photos for clients, and a few other odds and sods. I read that it's much more efficient to do one thing at a time than multitasking, and I've often thought I should actually just knuckle-down and learn to just focus on just one thing. But then I remembered how I've always been this slightly chaotic way; it's the way my creativity flows and in that moment I realised that instead of trying to be that (which I'm not), I can work on being the best this that I am. And that, I think, applies to all of us!
What does all of this have to do with this week's pics? Nothing. Or everything...
