The Bridge #86
in which we admit some things make no sense and no cents, and yet we continue 😂
Hello
& Welcome to The Bridge!
It’s been a consistent belief of mine the past years, we have many reasons to hope, even if we don’t hear it discussed in mainstream news. We can find evidence in human history, in the music we listen to, in the conversations we have with neighbors. People face challenges, and they keep on persevering! It’s why we’re here.
That said, sometimes stuff lacks all incoherence. Like when you shower a child with love and attention, and they still yell at you like some sort of demon, and it’s 11pm at night, and you’re like - forget the disastrous geopolitical prospects, what’s happening here with the late night emotional breakdown? Is it meant to teach me some sort of lesson? and as you’re reeling from that, trying to make sense, to calm yourself down, somehow everything resolves and the child is sleeping, and we too rest up, and there isn’t a moral. It just is. It too is life :)
Something Fun
Arto Lindsay made music for over three decades, a lot of experimental, weird-sounding, mind-expanding stuff (that I’ll admit I have little understanding of — no wave, new wave, avant garde jazz, experimental pop). Maybe it’s explained by his atypical upbringing as an American-born person raised by missionaries in Brazil, and then going to school in NYC to avoid the draft and joining various bands without having real musical training.
Or maybe the explanation is more simple: Brazilian music in the 1960s sought to reconcile traditional samba with the popular western music of the time, and so the popular mixed with the experimental in artful ways. That’s what Arto knew. & then he was in NYC, and he tried doing different things with various bands. It just was what it was.
Anyways, this song “Simply Are” is actually more bossa nova, without the random noises. Arto Lindsay understood at some point we can sometimes want simply a smooth-sounding number, less off-beat.
The meaning of the lyrics hardly matter, (pitter-patter).
Something Interesting
Impact Accelerators to Watch in 2024 (Pioneers Post)
An ‘Impact’ Startup is one that seeks to cultivate a positive social, ecological and economic impact, benefitting those directly involved in the business and ideally all those around as well. It usually involves an innovative way of finding profitability while committing to an ethical mission.
An ‘Accelerator’ is a structured program that helps accelerate early-stage startups. Some ways they do this is by helping founders understand the important steps to take in making their business successful, introducing them to key people, and providing funding or else helping secure funding for the early stages when the founders are figuring things out.
Impact Shakers have figured out from their research that the number of Accelerators dedicated to impact startups has nearly doubled in 3 years. More people are realizing the value of supporting these innovative early-stage companies. Often the founders of such companies are women or migrants. Though women-led companies (for example) have 63% higher returns and achieve 56% better operating results than male-led teams, they typically receive far less funding support than male-led teams, because the investors with the money are usually men, and they support the people they know (and their friends typically are male). We have to move outside our typical networks and trust people different than who we would normally to find new solutions. That makes sense, right?
Something Serious
He thought it was the politics, his parents, the -isms, the TV, the people misunderstanding, the rain, the flu, the traffic, the dogsh*t ruining his new shoes — to blame for his unhappiness.
He was taught if he thought differently, his perception of reality might shift and reality shift with it. It was hard to believe.
He tried, and he tried again, and people helped him, and he tried again, and he started to get it, and then… Abundance flowed: Happiness followed.
Something to Practice
We ask ourselves the question, Could it really be that a shift in our perception changes the reality we see around us and therefore afterward the reality we experience? Is it a problem of perception?
Pay enough attention to be fair /
No need to get up from your chair /
Shower me with evidence of pleasant disposition /
Daydream your way around the room /
Walk right past frowns and gloom /
You are one of those creatures who simply are
JPC ❤️