Nels Lindahl — Functional Journal

A weblog created by Dr. Nels Lindahl featuring writings and thoughts…

Month: March 2019

  • Adventure awaits, but not today

    Today was a day that started off with a donut and a few shots of espresso. Sure the door is open to a world of adventure, but none of that adventure is happening today. This is just one of those days that is going to start and end while adventure waits. Maybe the perfect possible future that is just within reach would be better sourced with a little bit more adventure, but again today is not the day for that. Outside the weather in Denver is getting warmer.

    Spring at some point will be here and the snow will stop and things will start growing. None of that really stops the possibility of adventure. Some people might even think the winter weather around Denver opens the door to a special type of adventure. My day however is going to be limited to staying focused, to staying centered, to beginning to focus on the path forward.

    Veering off into a state of constant adventure could be a path forward to explore or it might be a tangent from the perfect possible future that maximizes contributions to society and my own personal enrichment. In terms of personal enrichment, that phrase should be operationally defined to really express an increase in personal growth. It is a phrase that really needs to be viewed in terms of getting better and pushing things forward.

  • Sometimes listening to a record changes things

    My computer setup includes a digital to analog converter that runs out to my Audioengine speakers. That includes a right and a left A5+ speaker. The same setup has an analog type switch that goes out to my record player. That means that any time I decide to spin up a record and listen in analog mode the sound on my computer is turned off. Maybe that is something that pauses the alerts and any other sounds that might be happening, but it also lets me focus in and really listen to the music and work on whatever needs my attention without interruption. Right now I’m listening to a Jimi Hendrix album called “Both sides of the sky” that was released last year.

  • The promise that was possible

    The promise that was possible is outweighed by inaction in the moment.

    My level and quantity of writing in the last 30 days has dropped off. Seriously, I have mostly produced a sentence here and there and walked away. That is something that has not really happened to me in a long time. I’m not sure exactly what changed, but something has shaken my writing to the core and it is slowly down my ability to think out loud. Sure that might sound like something that is not very problematic, but sitting down to be reflective about the world around me is very important. It helps me understand and think about about what is going on in new and different ways. One of the things that is going to happen here pretty soon is that I’m going to take both of my smartphones and put them in a Pelican G40 Go Case for the vast majority of the day. I seriously spent years without texting or messing with my smartphone. Maybe that is something that i need to recapture.