Like A Free-Flowing River, Keep Moving Forward
Like A Free-Flowing River, Keep Moving Forward
“Be still like a mountain and flow like a great river.” -Lao Tzu
When my dad was dying last year, he asked me to spread his ashes on water. He did not specify which body of water. I chose to take his cremated remains home to Nebraska and the Platte River. The riverside ceremony allowed us to honor my dad and the natural cycles of life.
While reflecting on his life in the place of our origin, I was reminded why the state of flow is so important. When we flow, we don’t get stuck in one place for too long. This applies to our relationships and to our work.
The river is both literal and metaphorical. With a powerful river to propel us, we can move more easily from one idea to another, including ideas about ourselves and others. When we align with the river’s steady energy, we cultivate a conscious flow where we cling less (to tired ideas, bad habits, or just one way of doing things) and love more.
Fragrant In Fayetteville
On the way home from Nebraska, we visited NW Arkansas for the first time. It’s a beautiful place. A place endowed with mountains and forests, pleasant weather, flowers, the state university, several breweries, music venues, great coffee, and more.
Care of Walmart’s headquarters in Bentonville, NW Arkansas is also a place with more than its share of rich people. I wonder how the growth of a small-town five-and-dime into a global retail colossus over the past few decades has changed the character of Bentonville and Fayetteville. If Walmart were headquartered in Chicago, it wouldn’t change the city’s character, but Bentonville is not Chicago.
Ad Peeps Still Wandering the Digital Woods
The advertising agency business has been in one bind or another ever since the dawn of digital. Digital shook the industry to its core, and the reverberations are still being felt from top to bottom. The list of problems is long, but one problem we don’t spend enough time discussing is the problem of not knowing who or what we are, any longer. It’s a confusion that I find perplexing.
Read the full article on Adpulp.com. @CommArts is also promoting this piece.
Since writing the article, another gusher of AI-positive news has flooded the system. Regarding WPP’s all-in bet on the technology, NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang said, “The world’s industries, including the $700 billion digital advertising industry, are racing to realize the benefits of AI.” And what might these benefits be? More content and better personalization delivered faster and cheaper—these are the discordant bells chiming in the ad industry’s glass towers today.
AI may be a powerful new way to make money, but AI at present is solving the wrong problem for brands. The right problem to solve is creating one powerful and universal message and a singular means of communicating it.
Lagniappe
Read “RUN FOR THE ROSES,” my newest prose poem.
Here’s some excellent advice from an amazing singer-songwriter: “You have to keep the conversation you have with yourself FREE OF NOISE. You have to know the difference between real feedback and someone who doesn’t understand what you are doing." -Tift Merritt
Political operative Matthew Dowd, who lives in Wimberley, Texas, recently said, “GOP primary voters are not interested in competent government, they want the capability to exact retribution through fear and grievance.” Being stuck inside a failed political idealogy is the worst.
There are dozens of ways to enjoy Grateful Dead music today. I highly recommend Dave McMurray’s fresh takes.
On Memorial Day, we rented a canoe from Bastrop River Company and paddled six miles of the Colorado River. Sometimes, it takes muscle, teamwork, and endurance to flow.
Thanks for being here now,
When you’re ready to run for office, grow a business, or spark a social change movement, please let me know. If you’d rather chat about wine or mezcal, taking up painting, the last book you read, or where the best beaches for camping are located, that’s cool too.