💎 Friday Gems #23 (Humanae, Living In The Now, The New City, Plus A Substack Roundup)

Gems, gems, get your weekly gems!

Hola Low Fidelity readers!

This week I come bearing some great gems I found this week. I share one project, one poem, and one story to mix things up. I have also started a new section called Substack Gems Roundup to bring insights specifically from around Substack to learn from the great community of writers. Please subscribe to their newsletter to grow our community of writers focused on helping people live their best lives.

On to this week’s gems!

💎 Humanae

What defines human beings?

Their diversity.

I love this project because it shatters the stereotypes and labels we assign to people and gets to our reality of diversity and uniqueness. Instead of labeling people with “white”, “black”, “brown”, and “yellow”, we can see them for who they uniquely are.

Humanae is a fascinating project by artist Angélica Dass. The colors in the background are selected from an 11x11 pixel area on the person’s face and matched to an actual Pantone swatch.

Source: Humanae

💎 Living in the now

What’s gone has made you what you are
So don’t fear what’s ahead
Put trust in what will be, will be
And choose to live instead

Don’t live in the now worrying
What may or may not be
Take this moment in your time
And live it totally

There’s no time like the present
Breathe deep and feel alive
Living in the here and now
Will help you rise and thrive

Now is all there ever is
It’s the only time that’s real
Let the future take its course
And leave the past to heal

- Vanessa Hughes

I love this poem because I fall into the trap of worrying about what could happen in the future, only to realize later that my worries were unfounded and that I wasted my energy when all that time I could have enjoyed the moment I was in.

Next time you begin to worry about something that is out of your control, why not let go of the worry and become present in the moment and enjoy your time?

What will be will be.

💎 The New City

A man goes to a Zen master and says, “I would like to move to this city. What do you think of the people here?”

And the Zen master says, “What were the people like in your old city?”

And the man says, “They were awful, mean, spiteful.”

The Zen master says, “They are the same here. You shouldn’t move here.”

Then another person goes to the Zen master and says, “I’d like to move to your city. What do you think of the people here?”

And the Zen master says, “What were the people like in your old city?”

And the man says, “They were very nice people. Very smart. I enjoyed being around them.”

And the Zen master says, “They are the same here. You will enjoy it here.”

Our external is a reflection of our internal.

When we are at peace within, we see good in the world and in others.

When we are in struggle, confusion, doubt, or fear, we see the negative out in the world.

By turning the focus within ourselves, we are able to deal with the struggles and find our way to peace so we can see the good in the world and create a circle of peace.

💎 Substack Gems Roundup

Substack is all about bringing new voices to learn from. In this section, I share gems from writers on Substack to can help us make the shift to better mindsets and guide us toward our true selves.

Daring Perspectives on Micro-Practices of Mindfulness

Mindfulness is your superpower as

Denise Pyles

reminds us in her wonderful newsletter. I love the examples Denise shares of setting intentions for our interactions at work.

My favorite example is #1

Have the intention of being fully present to colleagues at each meeting. Before starting a meeting, greet everyone by name who joins a virtual meeting or enters a conference room for a face-to-face meeting.

Mindfulness is Your Superpower

Zen Mister

How can we take responsibility for our mood instead of letting it take over us? In this insightful article,

Peter Taylor

reminds us that when we’re feeling anger, fear, jealousy, or any of the other moods we feel, we have a choice. We can either place blame on to others or ourselves, or we can take responsibility to choose not to give in to the mood and experience a better outcome for ourselves.

Managing Moods

Do you have a favorite Substack you like to read? Share it in the comments. I would love to include it in the next Friday Gems issue.

💎 Gem of a Quote

Trust your instincts!

“You may occasionally dress yourself up as one of them, watch the same mindless television shows as they do, maybe even eat the same fast food sometimes.

But it seems that the more you try to fit in, the more you feel like an outsider, watching the normal people as they go about their automatic existences.

For every time you say club passwords like ‘Have a nice day’ and 'Weather’s awful today, eh?', you yearn inside to say forbidden things like ‘Tell me something that makes you cry’ or 'What do you think deja vu is for?'.

Face it, you even want to talk to that girl in the elevator. But what if that girl in the elevator (and the balding man who walks past your cubicle at work) are thinking the same thing? Who knows what you might learn from taking a chance on conversation with a stranger.

Everyone carries a piece of the puzzle. Nobody comes into your life by mere coincidence. Trust your instincts. Do the unexpected. Find the others.” - Timothy Leary

Let me know in the comments if any of the gems resonate with you. I always love hearing from you. :)

Thanks for reading, and have a fantastic weekend!

Rizwan