To entertain yourself, to impress yourself, to daily go "dude, you're awesome," to attain equipoise, to stay focused, to discover the taproot, to respect others, to respect life, to minimalize, to go for goals, to accept the blows of the hammer, to take lightly, to be the foam of the wave, to not despair, see humor in it all, to learn, to express, to well rest, to dance with values, to know thyself, to be compassionate, to take responsibility, to say no, to shut doors, to dance, to humiliate yourself, to make commitments, to embark, to settle in, to explore landscapes of long-term love, to wing it, to plan and build machines and schedule and budget and spreadsheet, to push yourself and others, to seek those that push you, to seek art in the mundane, to hold yourself well, to sleep well and don't regret waking, to get specific:
To jump off decrepit pier-posts into Lake Michigan, to dance the twist with Early Clover and Westport's crazed jet set at the Levitt Pavilion, to say "hey, I'm Brad".
To write more than read, percuss more than tap toes to others' grooves, speak more than be spoken to, to debate freely and fearlessly, to call out cabbies' racism, to stop uttering jejune curses—the crasset and banalest of language—to cease immoderate drinking—another poison and crutch—to trust, to share, to laugh, to find faith in the non-cost-benefit-calculating, non-optimizing, non-indecisive, much-knowing decision-making apparatus of the body, to bury past blunders and future doubts with current successes.
To suspend sinking the self into endless abysses of meta-meta-meta-... analysis and just be and do. To avoid the self-deprecating self-shaming and self-doubting words, phrases, and caveats that infiltrate thoughts and words, to banish shame from joy, to cease self destruction, to take breaks, to bypass desires to attain goals, to be your biggest critic and your biggest fan.
To love yourself the only way: frankly, unflinchingly, unjudgingly, and transparently in consideration of all you are, were, and will be and accept and then just be.
To jump off decrepit pier-posts into Lake Michigan, to dance the twist with Early Clover and Westport's crazed jet set at the Levitt Pavilion, to say "hey, I'm Brad".
To write more than read, percuss more than tap toes to others' grooves, speak more than be spoken to, to debate freely and fearlessly, to call out cabbies' racism, to stop uttering jejune curses—the crasset and banalest of language—to cease immoderate drinking—another poison and crutch—to trust, to share, to laugh, to find faith in the non-cost-benefit-calculating, non-optimizing, non-indecisive, much-knowing decision-making apparatus of the body, to bury past blunders and future doubts with current successes.
To suspend sinking the self into endless abysses of meta-meta-meta-... analysis and just be and do. To avoid the self-deprecating self-shaming and self-doubting words, phrases, and caveats that infiltrate thoughts and words, to banish shame from joy, to cease self destruction, to take breaks, to bypass desires to attain goals, to be your biggest critic and your biggest fan.
To love yourself the only way: frankly, unflinchingly, unjudgingly, and transparently in consideration of all you are, were, and will be and accept and then just be.
