Hi everyone,
Here's this week's edition of FFFF. Enjoy.
This week I have been mostly:
Looking forward:
To the start of the Test Cricket series between us and the South Africans. Nothing like a 5-day game on TV to force significant marital negotiations. A new England captain, Joe Root. C’mon lads.
Listening to:
A new album by Kevin Morby called City Music. You can pick your vinyl copy at Jam Records in town.
Reading:
Black Rednecks and White Liberals by Thomas Sowell. I have been wanting to read this book for a while, it challenges assumptions about culture in the US with interesting theories on the commonality of culture across race and social division which has historical relevance to our ancestors (those seafarers of the south west involved in the slave trade, piracy and those who emigrated to the ‘new world’). How powerful culture is and how it conditions behaviour.
Contemplating:
A passage from the book I mentioned previously, Neither Wolf nor Dog by Kent Nerburn.
To summarise badly, Dan the Lakota Sioux elder comments on the white people that came and how important freedom is to them. Dan suggests that freedom was not important to the Indian tribes as they understood what it was to be free. Honour was more important to the Indians than freedom. The white people left Europe to escape their cages in search of freedom but brought their cages with them. The white people imposed cages upon the Indians, parcelled up the land and put lines and fences to cage the Indian tribes. Brought fences to cage themselves in on small pieces of land with a small cage they called a house.
Exercising:
My favourite muscle group for lateral and low back stability: the Obliques. This time a modified push up/plank. In a plank or push up position simply lifting one leg and draw imaginary squares in the air with your pointed foot while keeping your back level (no twist), repeat with the other leg. Alternatively, bringing one leg up bending the knee alongside the body like a dog cocking its leg, repeat with the other leg.
Until next week,
Simon
Finemore's Five for Friday (3)
Hi folks,
Today's Finemore’s Five for Friday comes to you from Bucharest. I'll bring you up to speed with what I'm doing out here next week, in the meantime here's the latest for you to ponder over the weekend.
This week I am mostly reading...
‘One River’ by Wade Davis is a tale of scientific exploration in the 1970s as the author follows in the footsteps of his mentor Richard Evans Schultes, the world’s leading authority on the hallucinogens and medicinal plants who in 1941 disappeared for 12 years into the Amazonian rain forest of Columbia in a dug-out canoe. Inspirational.
This week I am mostly listening to...
A Sheffield revival. Pulp's Common People and the Artic Monkeys' Whatever...
This week I am mostly appreciating...
Our capacity for altruism. Whether considering the three people in Lidl who stepped out of a queue to help me pick up every blueberry that I had spilt over the floor or the ‘Effective Altruism’ movement which enables us to have faith that the charity donation goes where we intend. For example it is estimated to cost £2835 (or £28 a month for a year) to save a human life if given wisely.
How many lives could you save in your lifetime? How many of us are donating regularly to charities unsure of what percentage of that donation is being spent on further fund raising or charity infrastructure?
http://www.effectivealtruism.com or you can listen to this podcast : https://www.samharris.org/podcast/item/being-good-and-doing-good
This week I am mostly enjoying...
Surprisingly good instant coffee (served with cream - hurray) and in-flight food on a Tarom flight from London to Bucharest. No charges for food or wine, like stepping back in time. Hoping to enjoy a Cinzano with Leonard Rossiter and or Joan Colllins (that reference is too old for most). Passing through Heathrow Terminal 4 was also a relatively pleasant experience.
This week I am mostly working on...
My vision. You don’t achieve, create or complete anything without thinking of or visualising the desired result repeatedly. We all imagine outcomes. Some of us even imagine and realise unfortunate outcomes. The clearer we are in our vision of what we want the more likely we are to create it. For example you will never heal without investing in that possibility; the placebo effect is real and observable. Be careful what you wish for.
Have a great weekend and see you soon.
Until next time,
Simon
PS - Would love to know what you think of these or if you've got any questions you'd like answering send them through and I'll do my best to oblige.
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A human being is a part of the whole, called by us "Universe", a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest — a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security. - A Einstein
