Half the Story is Not the Whole
If you love the work, you can talk about the other half of the equation: You.
Note: The Podcast audio is at the end of the story.🫡
I am standing at your turnstile, coin in hand. I can feel the cold metal arm on my bare legs, smooth and encouraging, ready to unlock and grant me access to your world. Access to ogle the animals occupying your mind zoo. I am giddy with the thought of going on a safari tour of your personality in a vehicle piloted by you. We’ll creep past your dark enclosures with locked doors, marvel at the deep pools with mysterious creatures lurking, and point at all your idea giraffes as they periscope their dopey heads over your treetops. Will there be a map? A guidebook? *Gasp* Will YOU be giving the audio tour?
Your face is a dark cloud, swirling with a mixture of suspicion, panic, and a sort of standoffish nonchalance. I look around for a sign. I’m tall enough, so I’m not worried about height requirements, but the coin is getting quite hot in my fingertips so I’d like to come in. I look around. I look around some more.
What is your price of admission?
AH-OOH-GA! AH-OOH-GA! Communication Stations. As the head Thoughtskeeper in the Metropolitan Mind Zoo of You, your duty is not just to the animals in your care, it’s to also advocate for the space in which they are kept. I’m talking about you. I’m saying you need to be able to talk about yourself.1
Wait! Don’t run away! I’ve got a coin!
This may shock you, but if you make something halfway interesting don’t be surprised if people want to know more about you. Not so much about the WHY of the work (although they’ll want to know that too, and if you want to get into explaining why one animal in your zoo has a horn while the other has tentacles, go for it). I’m talking more about the HOW of the work. The WHO inside it. The WHO outside it, too.
Talking about yourself? Ugh. This sounds like an introvert’s flop-sweat nightmare, but I honestly don’t think it has to be. If you take your Thoughtskeeper’s job—aka yourself—seriously, then you’ll just accept that it’s part of the job. Like mucking out the cages, except this cage has all your shit in it. It’s good shit!
Let me ease your mind. This menagerie in your mind zoo, you can’t help but feed them, right? So what do you feed them? When do you feed them? How often do you exercise them? Do you have a favorite? Where did you get your animals? Which ones are you going to release into the wild and why? What sort of lives do you hope they’ll have in the world? If you can answer any of these questions about your work, then guess what? You’re already talking about yourself.
You’re pushing back, I can feel it. But the ability to let people in, even a little bit will be a huge benefit to you. This is not just how you sell ideas—this is how you make people believe you are serious about those ideas. This coin in my hand is ready to pop in the slot, but I can see you’re still hesitant. Get yer guidebooks out!
Mind Zoo Tour Thoughts for New Thoughtskeepers
Identify yourself
Arms inside the vehicle
Watch for mind spiders
Catch and release
1. Identify Yourself
It’s possible that you feel like a fraud because you think you’re doing something fraudulent. This is going to sound corny, but repeat to yourself: “I am a writer.” “I am a poet.” “I am a filmmaker.” “I am a painter.” “I am a dancer.” “I am a songwriter.” Whatever it is, say it. People will never believe it if you don’t believe it. Say it. Own it. Be it. You cannot be mislabeled or misidentified if you lay claim to yourself.
2. Arms inside the vehicle
Set boundaries for what people can and cannot know about your life. Velvet rope where they can go in your mind zoo and where the Employee Only areas are. Protect yourself as fiercely as you protect your work, which means letting people know when they’re about to lose an arm with their unasked-for critique. As head Thoughtskeeper, you decide what people know and what they don’t. Find your balance between their curiosity and your creative privacy. That said, look for the arms that are reaching out to help—don’t rip those off!
3. Watch for mind spiders
Ugh! Those little thoughts that work their legs—so many legs—into every crack and dark corner of your zoo. There are good mind spiders and bad mind spiders. Good mind spiders dance around, catch mosquitos, and help you snare thoughts in their solve-it-all webs. But other arachnids—self-doubt, jealousy, pettiness, rage, melancholy, and the biggest mind spider of all, depression—have their many eyes set on injecting soul venom. You might feel like you shouldn’t include spiders on your tour, but it’s healthy to talk about them. Sometimes you’ll need help to knock down their webs. Sure, mind spiders—good and bad—can enhance your work, but some spiders need to be identified and removed on sight. If you are troubled by bad mind spiders and feeling overwhelmed, don’t be afraid to talk about them and seek help when they get super-webby.2
4. Catch and release
Your mind zoo exists purely as a way to fatten up your idea animals before you release them into the wild. And you do need to release them. Being able to talk about this blessed event helps get eyeballs on your creatures. Let people know when you’ve let them go so they can watch them frolic free. You are not a fraud or a sellout for doing this. As an aside, it’s OK to hate some of your animals and be glad to see the back of them. They’re often the best ones to watch after they’ve gone. Fatten ‘em up, get em healthy, and let ‘em go. Mind zoos are all about the release. Don’t hold on to angry tigers or mean dogs. Let them out to maul the art or music or film or literary scene and see how people react to them. Be fine with talking about the part all your animals played in your life, but don’t feel like you need to explain the meaning behind them, or why they act the way they do. Think of yourself in relation to how you kept them alive.
I am standing at your turnstile, coin in hand. You are standing there, the all-powerful, all-knowing Thoughtskeeper of your mind zoo. You are not rolling up the welcome mat with the body of your self-confidence inside. You are more than the half-a-house that bad communication builds. You are a magnificent ark. Tell your story. Communicate your intent. Believe in what you are doing. Know how to talk about yourself and the animals in your zoo before, during, and after their release. You don’t have to speak FOR your animals—they’ll make their own noises and throw shit and do what they do and they’re out of your control once you’ve set them free anyway—but you can 100% talk about where and how and why those animals grew up.
And now I’m pocketing my coin because that’ll cost you nothing.
Yours in tiny thought,
Janeen3
This Week’s Amends…
“The Peace of Wild Things”
by Wendell Berry
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
New Donovan song with the video directed by David Lynch. From the YT description: Donovan plays his acoustic guitar ‘Kelly‘ and sings. David plays his unique Modal Chord Guitar Textures and effects. Lyrics are also at that YT link.
“Yeah Mon - I am The Shaman” indeed.
Via BoingBoing
NY School of Visual Arts teacher and artist, Tomer Hanuka asked his students to create some post-pandemic New Yorker cover illustrations and shared them on Twitter. I mean, who doesn’t love a good NYer cover, amirite? Love the first one here—oh, the dogs. Ruh? Where are you going?
Via The Ephemerist
Can you imagine? They seem to have a real beef with this lady.
Only about 200 California condors exist in the wild, according to SFChronicle, with 10% of them now squatting at the Tehachapi home.
Via BoingBoing
Did any of this spark a tiny thought of your own?
I both agree and disagree with everything I’ve written here. You don’t have to explain yourself to anyone. But…having the tools to talk about your process or beliefs really helps.
Some links: Better Help, Lifeline, AA, SAMHSA
Too many metaphors, not enough substance? Hmm. Here’s one more rule that didn’t make it.
Fireflies gotta Firefly: It’s dark in your mind zoo, but it’s filled with magical creatures. Mind fireflies are sparks of ideas that yearn to click light into the darkness. Work on getting confident talking about fireflies. Your excitement about the potential of their brightness and magical floatability might just sell someone on your potential to set the asses of many creatures on fire. Fireflies—they’re such a tease!