There are few things that I find as energizing as new ideas. When I’m having a down day, a new idea can be just the perspective shift, pattern interrupt, or reminder that I need to return to a state of possibility. And when I’m having a good day, new ideas make the world seem even bigger and brighter. The discovery will never end, and I’m so glad about that.
I spent last weekend swimming in new ideas. It was my second year at the New Orleans Book Festival, and hopefully far from my last. Whereas last year I practically stumbled upon the festival, this year I plotted out my three days with the precision of an Army logistician, dedicated to completing the mission swiftly and safely.
Like the library-card-wielding nerd that I am, I want to share all the talks I attended with you (15 total!). I want to line-item each and every takeaway. I want to gush over writers. And I want to ask you to join me in noodling about the questions that are now lodged in my head.
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But for the sake of your time and sanity, I’ve chosen three — just three! — ideas I can’t not share:
#1: From New York Times Columnist David Brooks discussing his new book How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen:
“Instead of asking people, ‘What do you think?’ I now ask people, ‘How did you come to believe this?’ Without a back story, the context that shapes people, we cannot hope to really see each other.”
#2: From NPR anchor and author Michele Norris discussing her book What Americans Really Think About Race and Identity:
“I don’t believe in common ground. I believe in building bridges.”
#3: Religion and Philosophy professor Eddie Glaude on his book We Are the Leaders We’ve Been Looking For:
“Heroes are there to help us see the heroic in us, so we can become the people we were meant to be.”
None of these ideas change the world around me.
But they help me look at it differently, interact with it more patiently, be curious instead of judgmental.
There are no easy solutions to the “problems” that face us, individually or collectively. Especially when the problems are as final as death and loss and grief. But that doesn’t mean we back down, numb out, or bury our heads in the sand.
Rather, we find a way to show up to the problems that makes them a little bit easier to face. Or makes us feel more capable of facing them.
These ideas —
* deeply seeing the people around me;
* committing to building bridges across divides;
* and consistently showing up as the best version of myself (that I can muster) in each moment
— empower me to face any worries, demons, darkness that are currently flitting around in my head. And to accompany others as they face theirs.
Do you have a guiding star? Or perhaps do you want to borrow one of mine? What shift in perspective, in narrative, or in mindset could you use right now to make this moment feel less like a pile of s**t, and more like fertile soil?
Because we won’t change anything if we don’t first believe something else is possible.
Letting ideas crack me open,
Sue
P.S. You can watch some of this year’s talks on the New Orleans Book Festival YouTube channel!
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