When I was 15 years old I discovered Complexity.

As with most of my truly deep geek-outs, the path I took to get there involved the arts. It happened when I stumbled upon a film called MindWalk, that to this day remains my single most beloved film. The film had all the right aesthetic components to hook me in, a strong female lead (played by none other than Ingmar Bergman’s muse, the legendary Liv Ullmann), beautifully placed Neruda quotes and Mont Saint-Michel as the gorgeous backdrop. As if that wan’t enough, the film’s tagline (which still triggers a smile) was, “A film for passionate thinkers.” 

Lovely. I highly recommend it.

MindWalk

It didn’t take long for me to inhale every book on Complexity I could get my hands on, and soon after, The Santa Fe Institute became my mecca, and Murray Gell-Mann, my version of an über rockstar. To this day, I must admit, I still secretly wish he was a little closer to my age (ditto with Salman Rushdie)!

Recently, I was reading a post (from Box of Crayons) written by one of my favorite bloggers, Michael Bungay Stanier, who writes on the subject of finding your great work. In it he succintly covered our tendency to over manage and be overly prescriptive, a good, logical and sensible read. That is until I nearly fell off my chair upon noticing references to Complexity, and a specific experiment that I first learned (and later obsessed) about in my studies as a teenager. Micheal writes about following your passion and ensuring that you’re not letting the mundane derail you from your great work. Not exactly the place I expected to run into my old 15 year old passion…aren’t surprises lovely?

While I’m not intentionally writting a series here on cultivating passion, it does seem to be writing itself (as I cultivate my own). Hard to ignore signs that come back and smack you upside the head nearly two decades later! Even harder not to write about it

In line with my love for lists, here’s today’s to do list. It’s getting the job done for me…maybe it’ll be of some use to you too?

1. Read a Pablo Neruda poem (any one will do)
2. Make friends with a poet (they’re all around you, look around!)
3. Watch Viva Cuba (did that last night, bonus points if you can find an exiled Cuban to discuss it with, as I was lucky enough to!)
4. Promote your friends (new book, new project, musical performance, new baby, whatever)
5. Sing a song. Out loud! (Mine was Shakira’s Moscas en la Casa)
6. Be a bird, not a machine (more on that in the Box of Crayons post)

Peace