⚡️ Enlightening Bolts

⌛️ In Defense of Temporary Obsessions: Standing up for the valuable moments of deep curiosity that reconnect us to presence, creativity, and wonder, acting as gentle guides through emotional turmoil, expanding our perception, and reminding us that exploration itself—rather than mastery or monetization—is the true essence of living. Read it here.

🌬️Alive Things Mum Said To Me Before she Died: Poignant memories of a mother from Darby Hudson. Read it here.

🍃 Living in Accord With Nature: Joseph Campbell on how ancient myths help human beings to put ourselves in accord with the natural rhythms and cycles of life. Watch it here.

🎇 Image of The Week

Enjoy this gorgeous shot of an aurora taken by photographer Ari Lilja somewhere in Scandinavia. He asks “Do you also see an eagle in this? Or is it just my bird nerd brain doing tricks?” Pairs well with this stunning video of his. “I've seen quite a few auroras in my life, but I must say this intense corona that we just witnessed with Juuso Lilja goes to all-time top 3.”

🌞 A Smiling Son

My son is starting to smile and what a dose of heartbloom that is.

It makes me wonder what fruit of meaning will ripen between us in the future.

His grin of recognition is the primordial beginning of our conversation.

Sweetly simple now but will be tilled through time into greater complexity and nuance.

Soon he will start to laugh and later language will be ladled onto his tongue.

As I venture to become a dutiful steward of a magical childhood, I also wonder about the things that will be shown to me about myself and the world.

I can't properly anticipate them but I can appreciate their hovering over the horizon.

I sense some of it will be recollection and reconnection to things made foreign to me through the my own emergence into adulthood.

To be his protector is my obvious responsibility but to be only that leaves something lacking.

I must dust off the toy chest of my own inner child and meet him in the whimsy of play if I am to offer the vital nutrients only found in the imagination.

I can't simply be a stoic sentinel standing guard at the gate.

Being a regular in the land of make-believe isn't time spent in the unreal. It's a time of greater willingness and exploration. To toss out the ready-made scripts of interaction and decide today we are pirates.

Or astronauts.

Or beetles.

Or raindrops.

Or whatever the day calls for.

And discovering very interesting ways of experiencing the world from these varied points of view.

I want to spend ample time traversing the halls of imagination with my boy so when he grows into a man the door doesn't slam shut behind him.

And in case it does, I'll do my best to leave behind instructions, through my example, on how to pick the lock.

👁️ Reading The Language of The Universe

Sit with this insight from Spencer Klavan:

🤓 Learn This Word

Métis: An ancient, embodied form of intelligence rooted in intuition, trickery, and sacred cunning—a shapeshifting wisdom that flows beneath rational thought. Unlike linear logic or abstract reasoning, métis is the subtle, instinctive knowing found in dreams, paradox, silence, and nature. It is the intelligence of seers, mystics, and poets—fluid, feminine, and grounded in the mystery of being. For Peter Kingsley, métis represents a forgotten but essential way of knowing that connects us to the divine, the underworld, and the deeper truths modern consciousness has tried to suppress.

⏳ From The Archives

A hand-picked link from a previous edition of 🌀🐇

What is Your Purpose in Life? 10 Deep Thoughts to Guide Your Hero’s Journey to Finding Life Purpose

By Kyle Kowalski

“Have you asked yourself any of these ultimate questions: What is my purpose in life? How do I find my life purpose? Do I even have a life purpose?

Maybe you’re actively asking yourself these questions at this very moment. Join the club! I’ve been asking myself the same ones for the last five years on this journey.

I even searched “life purpose,” read 100+ articles, and summarized the highlights.

In that article, I shared some high-level thoughts called “life purpose in a nutshell.” This post expands on that initial thinking, but keep in mind it simply represents my current point of view at the time of this writing and is always evolving.

[Continue Reading]