Seventeen Trees

It's been a minute. Or maybe it's been longer. Anyway, it's time to start Seventeen Trees again. Simple. Minimal. A voice and a microphone. Let's begin.

There's so much advice out there about how to blog, create content, or manage your life online. A few years ago I was drowning in it. Then I read the Essays In Idleness, by a 14th century Japanese Poet and Monk called Kenkō. He inspired me to rethink my whole approach to content and self-expression, to slow down, and to let the art back into my writing. This episode is a way of giving thank for that inspiration. Lessons From A 14th Century Blogger - Fernando Gros The Timeless Wisdom of Kenkō - Smithsonian Essays In Idleness - Kenkō (Amazon)

The Japanese custom of saying Itadakimasu before eating is a way of being thankful for all the various efforts that go into making the meal possible. Might it be that this humble practice could also help us be thankful for other things we use in our lives, especially those things we sometimes take for granted? A Thankfulness Of Things - Fernando Gros What Does Itadakimasu Mean - Tofugo

I was a big fan of melodramatic mid-century love stories, like The Fountainhead. But, the chief protagonist in the story, the architect Howard Roark, is such a cartoon figure of the strong, isolated creator. We don't nee to be like him. Instead, we need to cultivate a garden of meaningful relationships around us and understand the different roles people can play in our lives. 7 Kinds of People You Need In Your Creative Universe - Fernando Gros The Creative Habit - Twyla Tharp (Amazon Link) My Three Cornerstones For Success - Chase Jarvis The Fountainhead (Amazon Prime Link) Interview With James Victore (discussing mentors) - The Great Discontent Definition of Consigliere - Merriam-Webster

2018 was the year of simple. My previous annual themes were health in 2016 and focus in 2017. For 2019, which promises to be a year full of change and challenge, I wanted something that could rise to the occasion and in this episode I discuss that theme, how it was chosen and why themes are far more powerful a tool for personal growth than new year's resolutions. Theme For 2019 - Fernando Gros Yearly Themes - Cortex Podcast A New Year Plan For Busy People - Mike Vardy

The rhythm of Christmas, year after year, is a chance to look back and reflect on how we grow and change in our creative process. This episode I loosen to versions of "We Three Kings," a favourite Christmas tune, from ten years ago to this year, and consider what taking the time to slow down at the end of every year can mean for us.

So many of us are deeply frustrated with and worried by the state of the internet today. It seems 2016 was the year of peak digital, when people started to get fed up, and began questioning what their time online was doing to them. As this year ends maybe it's time to take stock and ask what we want from our online life and what role these tools, because they are simply tools, should play in our life. Show Notes: Preparing For a Post-Digital Age - Fernando Gros Quit Social Media. Your Career May Depend on It - New York Times How Twitter Fuels Anxiety - The Atlantic How will digital media change our relationships? - World Economic Forum Facebook Manipulated 689,003 Users' Emotions For Science - Forbes Relearning The Art Of Concentration - Fernando Gros Why I Deleted The Twitter App From My Phone (along with 122 others)- Fernando Gros

After a wearying deep-dive into search engine optimisation I found myself in a small, quiet, local cafe. Sadly my favourite sandwich was sold out, but my attention soon turned to the book I was reading and then to how hard to seemed to be to focus and pay attention to the words on the page. It seems I'm not alone in having to relearn how to read deeply. Lunchtime - Fernando Gros Quit Social Media - Cal Newport (video) In the time you spend on social media each year, you could read 200 books - QZ Electronic Media Use, Reading, and Academic Distractibility in College Youth - Laura E. Levine et al Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now - Jaron Lanier Maruyama Coffee

Mindfullness meditation is popular today but its focus on the breathe isn't the only kind of mediation out there. There is a whole world of contemplative wisdom practices to explore. This little exercise is one that helps me everyday and draws upon several experiences of dealing with anxiety and studying the history of spirituality. A Mindfulness Exercise That Helps Me Everyday - Fernando Gros The Tree of Contemplative Practices - On Being

One of the few things the scientific research seems to agree on is that getting more and better sleep helps us be at our best, including being more creative, more focussed and more fun to be around. So what happens when we change the habits of a life time and get more and more regular sleep? Show Notes: How Sleep Improves Our Creativity - Fernando Gros Evidence Based Living: On Buying A Sleep Tracker - Fernando Gros The Heath Hazards Of Insufficient Sleep - Harvard Medical School Sleep Inspires Insight - Nature Human Relational Memory Requires Time And Sleep - PNAS Dreams And Creative Problem Solving - Deirdre Barrett When - Daniel Pink Internal Time - Till Roenneberg

With so many people spending all or most of their day indoors it's time to ask why and to consider what the consequences might be of our increasingly indoor, screen-based lifestyle. We might need to break and rethink some habits and start to look at the health benefits of spending more time outside and outdoors. Show Notes Go Outside - Fernando Gros A Quarter of Americans Spend All Day Inside - Washington Times Health Benefits of Spending More Time Outside - Business Insider The Great Outdoors Slow Experiment - Slow Home Podcast Life is Too Short for Cynicism & Contempt - Fernando Gros Access to Nature Reduces Depression & Obesity- The Guardian Preparing For A Post-Digitial Age - Fernando Gros An Ode To The Purposeless Walk - Fernando Gros

Moving to a cabin in the woods has been a dream and often a reality for many creatives and artists. Earlier this year I wrote a blogpost about this, since so many people I knew were doing it, but the reaction wasn't what I expected. Seems some people think you have to rich before you simplify your life. Show Notes: The Cabin In The Woods Option - Fernando Gros Robert Frosts's Vermont - The New York Times Robert Frost Farm, Ripton Vermont - Wikipedia Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening - Robert Frost Urban exodus: Why these artist couples left the city for Prince Edward County - CBC Young People Explain Why They Ditched the City for the Country - Vice Goodbye London: Why people are leaving the capital - The Observer

What does choosing simplicity really mean and what can it say about where we should focus in our creative and artistic lives? Simple - Fernando Gros On Minimalism - Leo Babuta Quote of the week, “Technical skill is mastery of complexity while creativity is mastery of simplicity.” ― E. C. Zeeman

An Introduction to Seventeen Trees because we all have to start somewhere