Smorgasbord #15
Negative self-talk, desire driven process, and birds
Hello friends! Welcome to another edition of Smorgasbord, a self-service buffet of ideas.
Aperitif
I weighed myself this week and didn’t like the number on the little screen. I’ve noticed my clothes fit tighter and got gassed extremely fast in my BJJ class this week. I was talking to Diana about it, and she reminded me to be kind and patient with myself.
Fighting negative self-talk can be challenging because, on the one hand, I am responsible for the choices that produce unpleasant consequences. Well, well, well, if it isn’t the consequences of my actions. I know what I should do. I have done it before. However, it feels daunting to start over.
Diana helped me shift my thinking by giving me this example: Person A says: “I’m going to read twelve books this year,” and Person B says: “I’m going to read 10 minutes every day.” Person B’s goal is to build a habit. And like
said recently, we learn to love by doing. But lately, I’ve loved junk food and late-night snacking more than my rower and eating better.It’s all about choices, and I’m working on talking to myself like I would speak to a friend I’m trying to encourage. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Soup du jour
In case you missed it, I published Hide and Seek and One Funny Line Challenge this week. The first one is essay 33 of “40 Before 40,” a memoir I was trying to finish before I entered midlife, but here we are. I have drafts for the rest of the essays, and I hope to get those out in the following weeks. The other one is a post-op of a humor writing challenge I was part of.
Hors d’oeuvre
My wife,
wrote a piece on community. We’ve been trying to zero into hospitality, and she has some food for thought on how to get started. You and I know we all want to connect and be seen; building community isn’t easy, but we need each other. over at wrote a great piece on Céline Sciamma’s desire-driven process. When she’s writing a screenplay, she has two separate documents: one is a “desired” list, and the other a “needed” list. The “desired” list contains the images and the lines that made her want to make the movie, and the “needed” list contains the scenes necessary to advance the plot. She says that the needed has to be animated by the desired, and this process can be challenging if don’t follow the conventional or familiar. This quote sums it up: “You have to accept the fact that you are choosing unsatisfaction for a while.” by is now live! Tim is a brilliant guy who has spent the last eight years of his life on this project. You can watch the first podcast episode, where he introduces the project and reads the Prologue of the book. You can also read the chapters of the book on his publication.
Digestif
This week’s mexicanism is:
Tu eres puro pájaro nalgón.
Literal translation: You are just a big booty bird.
Meaning: You tell this to a person that says they’ll do something, but you know damn well they won’t.
Example:
X: After I close this deal, I’ll buy you the most giant diamond ring ever.
Y: Tu eres puro pájaro nalgón!
How's training going otherwise (besides gassing)? Is your body doing all right? Any falls lately?