Frank Ebbert is a character, as you will soon discover. He presents himself as an architect based in the Washington DC area. A musician, writer and designer, he is exploring the intersections of the humanities and technology. His current projects include an introduction to how our built environment impacts ocean health. Find out more about Frank at http://landwaveae.com (business), https://stealinggenius.net/ (music) and landwaveae.com/rp/ (musings).
I met him in Story Skills, an AKIMBO-workshop we both took at the end of 2020. Now, Frank can talk, and talk a lot. He even said during our conversation on April 10th, 2021, that “as a public service to my friends and family, I ought to write more, I think, because I've got so much to say and I don't know why that is.”
I don’t know about that, as I enjoy speaking to Frank as much as I enjoy reading his writings. Our conversation start off with me reading something Frank wrote to me as we were trying to find a date for our first conversation. He wrote:
“I mention it - your focus - because there is a part of me calling out again for that blessed space beyond the actual demands of others AND the call of a dozen projects I want to be working on.
I am taking this morning as a windfall of time to consider the last two months roughly starting with altMBA. I am noticing that my attention was drawn to the wide range of challenges I face and decisions I have to make: all within a 30 day, 13 assignment timeframe with 14 hours per week of group discussion. It wore me out and depleted whatever tankespjärn I had in place to handle my situation.
So I am in a reset. Not exactly negative. But not really positive either. Wintering.
The gentle and the edge is in observing, just observing, your productivity and my anxiety. Letting my curiosity wander a bit. Letting my fears speak so they can know they are heard and don’t amplify themselves to get my attention. Then I can start to see what is what.
As seems to be the case frequently, I notice nothing has really changed around me. It’s just me being drawn into the myopia of deadlines without breathing.”
Now, you see as well as I, that what he wrote has nothing to do with finding a date for podcasting. It’s about finding focus in life, and paying attention to the pace you are living it with. Perhaps a different pace, more in tune with your current whereabouts is needed?
We talk about finding those places, spaces, settings, and/or contexts that nourish you. Being able to find them, making sure to hang on to them and how important that is for a life. Lived really well.
One of my most nourishing fields is my Mastermind-group (started in 2013), and not a session goes by without me learning something new. About myself, the others, or the world. In the session I chaired a few hours before sitting down to converse with Frank, I was saying how time flies, without actually paying attention to what i was saying. Inga-Lill stopped me and said ”No. Time comes. Every day time comes to you. It's a gift.” Have you? Found the others, I mean?
During our long and rambling, meandering conversation, we touch upon the importance of language, not once, not twice, but over and over again. The origins of the word deadline, how paying attention to right/wrong, must/should makes for a shift in how life is experiences, and specifically the difference substituting judgment for discernment has had for me. But we also touch on the American dream and the pursuit of happiness. Isn’t it fascinating that American’s aren’t entitled to happiness, but rather the pursuit of it. Tankespjärn indeed!
62. Parenting: the reactions of the parent | with Özlem Tan
61. Each person has had their own journey here | with Mandell
60. My precious, my trauma, my pain | with Kate Inglis
59. I don’t want to do the good thing. I want to do the real thing. | with Bella
58. We try to fix everything. Maybe there is no fixing to be done? | with Luke Aymon
57. Role models in our own relations | with Özlem Tan
56. Books are wisdom just laying about in your house | with Mandell Conway
55. The everyday reality of all those that came before us | with Kate Inglis
54. The algorithms don't invite tankespjärn. Conversations do. | with Matthew, Andy & Izzy
53. Conversations make for a great playground where learning is rife | with Inma, Reddy & Steve
52. I blew it up! | with Steve Emery
51. Taking yourself too seriously stops the flow of life | with Izzy
50. Notifications are alarm clocks that someone else set for you | with Andy Mort
49. Violence is bad and Maybe violence isn’t all that bad | with Reddy
48. Gifting is an indication that you want to be in community | with Matthew & Inma
47. Judgement and discernment in reflection | with Steve Emery
46. The discovery of our pleasures | with Izzy
45. The rooted fire within | with Andy Mort
44. Connections - already there and always will be | with Reddy
43. Giving and receiving or buying and selling? | with Inma & Matthew
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Meaningful Life with Andrew G. Marshall
Heal, Survive & Thrive!
A Voice In The Darkness
BPLUS بیپلاس پادکست فارسی خلاصه کتاب
The Jordan Harbinger Show