Art
CREATIVE BLOCK
How to shake things up
We all at some point had to deal with creative blocks, which can drain motivation and leave you stuck in a loop of frustration. These moments often arise from overthinking, self-doubt, or lack of direction, turning what should be a joyous process into a burdensome task. The Stallion Theory: How Aimless Creativity Ruins Your Life by Steve Teare provides a transformative framework to overcome these challenges.
Teare argues that aimless creativity—creating without focus or purpose—is one of the biggest culprits of stagnation. The book introduces the concept of “harnessing your creative stallion,” a metaphor for channeling raw creative energy into purposeful action. Instead of wandering in endless experimentation, Teare’s strategies teach you how to align your creativity with clear goals and structured systems. By focusing on intention and discipline, you not only break free from creative blocks but also elevate the quality of your work.
The book blends psychology, actionable insights, and practical exercises, offering a roadmap to refine your creative process. Whether you’re an artist, writer, or entrepreneur, The Stallion Theory equips you to reclaim your creativity and use it as a powerful tool to achieve your aspirations.
Productivity
THE TOXIC IMPACT OF HUSTLE CULTURE
Hustle culture, characterized by the glorification of overwork and relentless productivity, has become a pervasive trend in modern society, with significant consequences for mental health. This mindset prioritizes constant achievement over well-being, encouraging individuals to push beyond their limits and often ignore the physical and emotional toll it takes. Chronic stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression are common results as people sacrifice rest, relationships, and self-care to meet the demand for nonstop productivity. Social media amplifies the problem by showcasing curated images of ceaseless success and a “grind” mentality, fostering feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt.
Hustle culture often stems from a distortion of values and focus, leading to harmful misconceptions about work and success. It prioritizes shortcuts over skill development, promoting superficial strategies that lack long-term sustainability. This mindset thrives on negative emotions like fear and envy, exploiting insecurities to drive relentless productivity. By selling the destination instead of the journey, it glorifies results without addressing the process or personal growth required to achieve them. Additionally, hustle culture assumes all work holds equal value, failing to distinguish between meaningful contributions and mere busyness. It conflates hard toil with success, disregarding efficiency or innovation, and overlooks individual needs, treating everyone as if the same approach applies universally. These flaws make hustle culture fundamentally incompatible with genuine, personalized growth .
Addressing the impact of hustle culture requires a multifaceted approach, particularly in how we use social media, manage our mindset, redesign the stimulus we surround ourselves with and structure our schedules. On social media, it’s essential to curate your feed intentionally, following accounts that promote balance and authenticity rather than those that glorify nonstop work. Setting time limits on social media use can also reduce the pressure to compare your achievements to others. From a mental perspective, shifting the focus from external validation to intrinsic motivation is key—celebrate progress rather than perfection and view rest as a critical component of success.
When it comes to scheduling, prioritizing tasks through time-blocking or the “rule of three” (focusing on three key goals per day) can help manage workloads without feeling overwhelmed. Incorporating breaks and honoring non-negotiable downtime ensures mental clarity and prevents burnout.
To boost productivity sustainably, adopt techniques like the Pomodoro Method to work in focused bursts while maintaining energy throughout the day.
By reframing productivity as quality over quantity, we can achieve meaningful progress while protecting our well-being.
More on the two articles below.
Folklore
A great reference to understand Japanese deities, demons and gods
The Fluid Pantheon: Gods of Medieval Japan by Bernard Faure is the first volume in a groundbreaking series exploring the complex mythico-ritual systems of medieval Japanese religion, particularly within esoteric Buddhism. Faure examines the intricate roles and interrelationships of deities, including buddhas, demons, and gods, as central figures in religious practices and discourses of the time.
Through detailed case studies and over 180 visual illustrations, Faure highlights the interplay between religious texts, iconography, and ritual. This approach bridges gaps between disciplines like art history and religious studies, offering a richer understanding of the symbolic and functional roles of deities. The work also critiques reductive labels such as “Buddhism” and “Shinto,” advocating for a more nuanced view of Japan’s religious landscape.
This volume is quite dense but essential for scholars and enthusiasts of Japanese religion, mythology, and culture, providing innovative perspectives and new research into largely unexplored material. Faure’s synthesis of theoretical rigor and historical depth redefines how we perceive the gods and their significance in medieval Japan.
For those specializing in Japanese tattooing, the study of material like this will help build a rock solid foundation in understanding the nuances of the various characters we strive to represent. As always, go to the roots, not to the fruits.
Mindset
Understanding ourselves
I started reading this book and it immediately became a favorite. We often live unaware of what really influence our thoughts and actions, and that dictates our success and failure, our happiness or dissatisfaction.
The Body Keeps the Score is a groundbreaking exploration of trauma and its profound impact on the body and mind. Drawing on decades of research and clinical practice, van der Kolk illustrates how trauma can literally reshape both body and brain, compromising our capacities for pleasure, engagement, self-control, and trust. The book delves into the latest neuroscience, showing how it disrupts the brain’s ability to process emotions, memories, and stress. It also explores various therapeutic approaches, including yoga, EMDR, and neurofeedback, offering hope for healing. Ultimately, The Body Keeps the Score emphasizes the importance of body-based therapies in helping individuals reclaim control over their lives and heal from trauma.