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#163 | Beethoven and his hearing loss

In his mid-twenties, Beethoven realized he was losing his hearing at the apex of his career as a performing pianist. For three years, he concealed his condition by pretending to be forgetful or preoccupied when others spoke to him when, in fact, he could no longer hear. “Ah, how could I possibly admit such an infirmity in the one sense which should have been more perfect in me than in others…”…

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#162 | Embrace the Shake

Phil’s portrait of Van Gogh, Source: Philinthecircle.com In high school, a young man named Phil discovered an art form called pointillism. He plotted thousands of dots in a pattern so that when viewed from afar, the dots looked like an identifiable image, like a person’s face. But years later, when Phil attended art school, a shake began to develop in his hand. He was shocked that he could no…

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#161 | Toni Morrison

Toni did not think about being a writer as a kid. “I wanted to be a reader,” she said. “I thought everything that needed to be written had already been written or would be.” Born to a family of highly talented musicians in Lorain, Ohio, in 1931, Toni was originally named Chloe Ardelia Wofford. She received a Christian middle name of Anthony at her baptism while she was twelve, and her family…

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#160 | Andrea Bocelli

(image here) Andrea was born partially blind with glaucoma in a Tuscan village in 1958. Throughout his childhood, his parents searched widely for a cure. On a restless night in a hospital, his mother Edi noticed Andrea calm as he pressed his ear to the wall, listening to classical music on an old phonograph playing next door. Andrea began piano lessons at age six, then later flute and…

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#159 | Work

Snippets of a passage I came across on the meaning of work: A great deal of our lives is spent at work. Work is more than earning a living. It is a means of developing our human faculties. Sometimes work also entails some suffering, and to this extent it is for us a participation in the redemption of humanity through the mystery of the cross. Work develops our skills and talents as well as…

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#158 | Courage to Change

(image source) From Australian singer-songwrtier Sia Kate Isobelle Furler‘s Courage to change: World, I want to leave you betterI want my life to matterI am afraid I have no purpose hereI watch the news on TVAbandon myself dailyI am afraid to let you see the real me Rain it falls, rain it fallsPouring on meAnd the rain it falls, rain it fallsSowing the seeds of love and hope, love and hopeWe…

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#157 | James Rhodes: 'Find what you love and let it kill you'

(image source: Beatriz Velasco/Getty Images) “We seem to have evolved into a society of mourned and misplaced creativity.” the British-Spanish concert pianist James Rhodes once said. “A world where people have simply surrendered to (or been beaten into submission by) the sleepwalk of work, domesticity, mortgage repayments, junk food, junk TV, junk everything, angry ex-wives, ADHD kids and the…

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#166 | Curation of meaningful, evergreen ideas

Writer Maria Popova, who runs a long-form blog at The Marginalian, says she filters the content included in her essays through a few questions: 1. Does it leave the reader with a thought, idea, or a question after reading? Is it meaningful? 2. Is the work evergreen? Will it still be interesting in a year? 3. Is there enough context—historical background or related concepts—to form an…

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#155 | It made a difference to that one

While reading the biography of Florence Nightingale by Catherine Reef this week, one small anecdote struck me. Florence once visited a church in Rome. As the faithful received blessings from the priest, she saw a small girl in the crowd asking for handouts on the streets. Florence returned to her lodging, but the child remained on her mind. In the following days, Florence went around town to find…

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#154 | The early morning magic

(image source) One of my favorite modern pianists and composers is Dustin O’Halloran (I’ve been looping Opus 28 in the last few weeks). An interviewer once asked O’Halloran how he structured his day for creative work. He said he didn’t have much of a schedule in his early days and often worked at night. But now that he has a child and the workload has increased, he works best early in the…

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#153 | Octavia Butler, Use What You Have

(image source) Long before becoming an established science fiction writer, Octavia Estelle Butler took on many temp jobs after graduating high school: clerical, laundry, food prep, manufacturing, warehouse logistics—she has done it all. Like Toni Morrison, Butler would wake up early before dawn to write. As biographer Lynell George wrote in “Handful of Earth, a Handful of Sky: The World of…

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#151 | Shades for people we don't know

Inuksuk ​(Image Source)​ The Inuit people in the Arctic region of North America have a tradition of piling stones to form a landmark called an ​​Inuksuk​​. These markers indicate significant travel routes, fishing places, and camps. Today, the territory of Nunavut in northern Canada still uses an image of Inuksuk as the centerpiece of its ​​flag​​. In the Inuit language, Inuksuk means “that…

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#151 | There’s 7 billion people. And there’s you.

Singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran once shared his advice for young performers: “There’s 7 billion people in this world and there is no one like you. No one will write like you. No one will sing like you. As long as you keep it exactly yourself.  Imitating people to a point helps you write songs and sing. But once you’ve found your voice, just do that and stick with it. Even if it sounds odd and…

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#150 | Hemmingway Bridge and Mozart's departure points

When working on a story, Ernest Hemmingway would wake up at six in the morning and write for a few hours. Then, he would review what he had written and stop before exerting himself. “You write until you come to a place where you still have your juice and know what will happen next and you stop and try to live through until the next day when you hit it again,” he once said. This method of…

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#149 | Quantity precedes quality

(note card: #40a) In his book The Medici Effect, Swedish-American author Frans Johansson argues quantity is foundational to the quality of any serious creative pursuit. Only a fraction of a creator’s work will be great, so the best way to beat the odds and achieve breakthroughs is to continually produce. “Groundbreaking innovators produce a heap of ideas that never amount to anything. We play…

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#148 | Write a bunch, scrap a bunch

English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran shares his song-writing process:“I try to write as much as possible. If I’m in album making mode, it’ll be four or five songs a day. There’ll be no thought process. It’s just a guitar and write a song. Twelve out of a hundred might be good. I write a bunch and scrap a bunch.”

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#147 | Janitorial work for tuition

Long before he became the 20th President of the United States, James Garfield didn’t look like he was on a path to becoming an educated man. The cards were stacked against him from early on: his family was poor, and he was fatherless. While Garfield loved reading and learning, he thought it was more likely for him to become a sailor.  His love for reading—novels in particular—made friends and…