Forté #9

A few things that have inspired me lately and what I've been working on..

🍃 I tried listening to the new album Imagine This Is A High Dimensional Space Of All Possibilities from electronic musician James Holden but I couldn’t make it past the track Trust Your Feet. Not because it was terrible—oh no, it was so good that I couldn’t stop listening on repeat. I’ve never heard Holden’s work before so I’m going to enjoy diving deeper. This is a good place to start.

🍃 The app stoic. has blown my mind with how useful it is for journalling/meditating/being mindful etc. To be honest, I’ve long thought that those apps that nudge you to check in with how you’re feeling throughout the day were all a bit woo-woo and rubbish but stoic. is incredibly well thought out and is an absolute joy to use. Get stoic.

🍃 Watch this delightfully quirky English guy, Rupert, as he lives a simple life in a small house in rural Japan surrounded by nothing but nature. It’s not a life for everybody but there’s something about it that looks so rewarding. Growing, harvesting, milling, and cooking your own rice is bound to be deeply satisfying.

🍃 I’ve been a bit more mindful about incorporating routines into my day recently. I’ve found that stacking routines together helps to do the things I would usually forget to do or put off because I was “too busy”. I’ve gotten into a habit of setting a time window for the things I want to do and that really helps. So now I know that at 7:30 am—whilst I’m having my morning coffee—then that’s the time to write in my five-year diary. The two go hand in hand. And then I know that once I’ve written in the diary it’s time to study a bit of Japanese. No ifs, no buts. And when I get to work it’s time to take 10 minutes to meditate before I begin. Having these small pockets of time allocated beforehand make them much easier to stick to.

🍃 Joanna Newsom is back with new music after 8 years and that’s incredibly exciting. This live performance from a surprise gig she did with Fleet Foxes is breathtaking. Note: if you’re not into, or have never heard of, Joanna Newsom then this probably isn’t the best intro to her music. May I suggest something a bit tamer like this track '81.