Jim Dethmer, founder of the Conscious Leadership group, wrote a good article on the difference between arguing above the line vs. below the line, i.e, arguing from the point of view of curiosity vs. needing to be right.
For many, the word “argue” signals conflict, but the dictionary offers other options: to reason, dispute, indicate, or discuss.
In any case, Dethmer’s particular “argument” about being above or below the line is a decent tap on the shoulder re how we listen and respond to others.
I “found myself” in Erik Davis’s column, “Doom Scroll.”
I have been pulling back on media. No TV news, only reading… and now? Often just reading the headlines. Because the media walks me into a living hell.
Later in the day I participate in conversations that start on a high note only to trail into “informed” doom. But what good are these informed conversations? Talk’s cheap.
I am trying to be a responsible citizen. I just wish the media moguls would join me.
As far as I can make out, the term “doomscrolling” started making the rounds in 2019, and became, for obvious reasons, far more infectious in 2020. We’ve had two more years of pandemic, and a yearish of whatever this next thing we are in is, and the term does not seem to be losing much luster. (…)
I suspect you know it well: whether over breakfast or on the metro or during a procrastination break at work, you dip into your newsfeed, which is largely distressing of course, but you keep at it, heading deeper into the gloom. You might start out with some of that old-school newspaper-reader attitude, a mix of curiosity and responsibility and self-concern, under which lies a more basic and unspoken mimetic impulse to keep up with the pressing narratives of a group, a region, a nation, a species. But then the bottom drops out, and the feed starts to feed on you. The number, scale, and wickedness of the problems served up by crisis media—wicked not only in the sense of being nasty and often nefarious, but of being hairy beyond all possible resolve, and therefore ripe for dissension—rears up like, well, a wicked monster, consuming hope, potential, and whatever modicum of feel-good you started your sesh with. (…)
I like the idea of the reverse obituary: Write down what you want your obituary to say, then figure out how to live up to it.
Everyone’s will be different, but I suspect most people would want their obituary to say: You were respected. You were admired. You were helpful. You were a good parent, and good spouse, a caring friend. You were an asset to your community. You made a contribution to your industry. You were wise, funny, and smart.
Ryan Holiday, who wrote “The Obstacle is the Way” and 9 other great books, also writes a blog. Today’s was particularly good. Enjoy my friends! Print it out and tape it to your wall…
I found Katsenelson, an investment advisor, husband and father, who blogs on music and life and has written the best-seller Soul in the Game (which I read), urges us to not miss today.
I think I “missed” many days…for years… as I rushed from pillar to post running a business. I am not saying I wasted my time, but I seldom stopped to treasure being alive.
I am going to do what he suggested. What about you? It might help us realize we are alive from the time we roll out of bed until we roll back in at night.
