😇 Many things in this ‘30 values, beliefs, and other ideas’ by Jackson resonated: Things to Remember.
It all comes down to love and gratitude. Happiness is love, full stop.
👧👦 Mathilde insisted I read that one and it’s a must-read indeed. Freya dug into ‘our broken homes’ and how it affected -more than we might think- an entire generation. The subtitle itself is powerful: ‘we simply don’t believe anyone will stay’ -it gives me goosebumps. As a young father of two who grew up in a very broken home -no father and a hard-working mum who didn’t have any bandwidth most of the time- that post feels quite special. The Age of Abandonment.
Throughout history our ancestors built customs and institutions to bind us together and then, one by one, we kicked them down. We killed God, we mocked marriage, we attacked the family, we uprooted neighbourhoods, we debunked every last myth and story. And we kept going and going, until we got here, with our sad little divorce parties. Until we got here, with a generation huddled, heartbroken, fearful of love, fearful of life, kicking away at anything that reaches out to help. We lifted the burden from adults, told parents to do what makes them happy, forgetting that those structures weren’t just limits on adult freedom; they were foundations for children to stand on, to step off from, on which they depended. We shattered them and now we wonder why a generation is falling apart. Welcome to the age of abandonment.
🇯🇵 I enjoyed this dive into the history of minimalism -and its counterpart: clutter- in Japan. The world sees Japan as a paragon of minimalism. But its hidden clutter culture shows that ‘more’ can be as magical as ‘less’. The joy of clutter.
If Japan truly were a minimalist paradise, why would it need Kondos and Sasakis in the first place?
The world still turns to Japan for things; it also turns to Japan to rid itself of them. There’s only one problem: Japan isn’t anywhere near as tidy as outside observers give it credit for.
Subtractive is contemplative; additive is stimulating. But, above all, the Japanese are master ‘editors’, he says, picking and choosing between polar opposites to suit the occasion. This is why Japanese people continue to remove their shoes indoors, even as they choose to live in Western-style houses. It’s why they continue to distinguish between Japanese-style and Western-style foods, hotels, even toilets. To Matsuoka, the subtractive and additive approaches aren’t inherently in opposition; the distinction is simply a matter of context.
⏰ I do think we should celebrate ‘the weird’ way more. And I’m also excited about this new alarm clock by Nintendo -even though, since I’m not sleeping alone, there’s also 0 chance I’ll get one. I agree with Stephen: 'this is the Nintendo we want to see'. Nintendo's new $100 clock is the welcome return of weird Nintendo.