words

A graphic for the prose piece <n>Seven, Seven, Seven</n> by <n>J. D. Daniels</n> for <n>The Paris Review</n>.

Solitude is something you refine and develop and create. And again, I think crucially, it has to do with refining our ethical intelligence. It has to do with refining our capacity to see where our impulses are coming from, to what extent those impulses are just driven by conditioning and habit and fear, and to what extent we can somehow open up a nonreactive space within us from which we can respond to the world — respond to our own needs, too, but in a way that’s not driven by familiar habit patterns, which are often rooted in attachment and fear and other things. So solitude, the practice of solitude, is the practice of creating an inward autonomy within ourselves, an inward freedom from the power of these overwhelming thoughts and emotions.

What happened to her? Nothing and everything. It hits her once in a while. Michael Apted, 1994

A cotton flower illustration accompanies a quote from poet <n>Pablo Neruda</n>.

It can be easy to fall prey to the limiting belief that we are stagnant beings, separate from the constant metamorphosis that is unfolding all around us. When we widen our perspective, we expand our potential. In the words of Joseph Campbell, "The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe. To match your nature with nature."

The <n>Extended Self vs. Expanded Self</n> diagram, featuring the <n>Symbol of Chaos</n> by <n>Michael Moorcock</n>.

The illustration <n>Eventually all waves settle.</n>

A graphic titled <n>Emotions Are Tunnels</n>.

A diagram from <n>Joe Dispenza</n>'s book, <n>Becoming Supernatural</n>.

A still of <n>Anna Karina</n> in <n>Vivre sa vie</n> (1962), directed by <n>Jean-Luc Godard</n>.

The <n>Growing Print</n> by designer <n>Alexander Khabbazi</n>.

"Renew to Transform" graphic for the wellness app <n>Open</n>.

I think perhaps what's so difficult about trying to witness our own changes is that we are not above the water. We are each just moving up and down in place, trying to stay afloat. — Jonny Sun (in the context of rubber ducks and ripples of water in a pond. Wave Fact, p. 114 of Goodbye, Again)

A passage from a book by author <n>Ryan Holiday</n>.