Dear friends,
In this week’s newsletter:
Video: spend a day with me as I battle the fates to complete a song.
Written: a reflection on creativity as a pathway to self-discovery.
Podcast: a wonderful conversation with YouTuber “That Icelandic Guy,” who grills (and encourages!) me on my disastrous channel.
Have a beautiful weekend, Jim.
☞ V L O G
☞ What Tapestry Are You Weaving?
Funny, how you can be within yourself, but struggle to get to yourself.
It’s the paradox of the modern condition, to be both here and there.
Is it the gift of consciousness or its trick?
We live in a spirit of wanting, and the by-product is to miss what we have.
I’ve come to understand that our psychological life has its seasons.
I am flung between times of being and times of doing.
In being, I find my deepest happiness.
Within the breath, the pause.
Where the artillery of life fires all around but I can stand within it like a silent sentry.
Yet, overdose on stillness, and it becomes stuckness.
I felt it after my time of isolation.
That it’s time again to don the helmet and face the fanfare.
A friend’s father said: “A man’s 40’s are the engine room of his life”.
And with that, the world returned.
“Doing” returned like a coup at the palace.
You try to make a hybrid of yourself.
Now is my time of balance!
But your yearning for everything leaves you a husk.
To want to live, that is enough.
This winter, there have been grave tragedies.
They remind you how high the stakes are.
Of our choices.
And the choices made for us.
A day can be a universe.
Or a hell which locks us within its walls.
I go to creativity, not as an escape from life.
But to catalogue reality.
This I am today.
At least for now.
Our lives are a quilt.
What pattern are you weaving?
Too many of us put down the needle prematurely.
Or because we feel that in making a mosaic, we must either sell it or be judged for it.
I would counsel differently.
Creativity is the doing which captures being.
Yes, you can sell it.
But it can never be sold.
Our deepest happiness comes when we are most aware.
How aware of your life are you?
The awareness is the living.
To catalogue is a form of courage.
I am most out of kilter when I have not written my diary.
Or when I’ve made myself too busy to catch a song.
Or resisted shaking up assumed reality in pursuit of the underlying one, which is documentary.
Creativity is our mirror.
So in the age of hustle and AI, why not claim it back?
Not as something you want to get from.
But as something you give to.
Art is not a mirror because it can never be shattered.
It will only ever reflect who you are today.
And help you know a little better the Self who stares you back.
Put down that anchor.
Orientate yourself.
And sure enough, when morning comes, pull it up again.
Because for better or worse tomorrow will never look like today.
Creativity keeps us moving with reality, not fixed to its previous version.
There’s the needle and thread.
What tapestry are you weaving?
☞ Go All In | "That Icelandic Guy" Talks YouTube
My conversation with Arnulfur is a rip-roaring masterclass on YouTube, the digital economy and solopreneurship - and will leave you feeling like everything is possible!
IN SHORT:
📈 Arnulfur’s strategy for searchable, impactful YouTube content.
🧠 Mindset, consistency, and the journey from zero to viral.
🎭 The blend of education and fun in his content creation.
🚀 Launching and scaling a channel with strategic insights.
💡 Generating ideas and overcoming the saturation in digital platforms.