Let Be

Weekly wisdom to level up your creative life in 3 minutes, for free.

A SHORT STORY

When I was 33, I played Hamlet.

A year earlier, I had lost my Mother, and it was a place where I could process my grief.

But it was also more than that. Over time, Hamlet has become a sort of life guide. Even now, with friends, I often find myself quoting lines that fit our conversations.

For instance, last week, I was sharing some insights with my friend Arianna on some of my recent conversations with my Dad. He’s dealing with stage IV cancer, and I had asked him if he was scared of death or upset about leaving too soon.

He said, "No, not at all. I've handed my life over to God. Whatever happens is fate."

Arianna turned to me and said — "the readiness is all."

It hit me again. As my Dad faces his own mortality, Hamlet's words suddenly make so much sense.

“There is a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, 'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come—the readiness is all. Since no man, of aught he leaves, knows what is't to leave betimes, let be.”

I've been thinking about these words all week, especially the simplicity of "let be."

Facing my own mortality, I hope I can be as brave as my Dad. In this moment, I want to take to heart both his and Hamlet's advice: whatever comes my way, just "let be."

Instead of trying to control everything, how could embracing a 'let be' mindset change the way you face challenges this week? How might this bring calm into your life right now?

A CREATIVE TOOL

LAST CALL FOR MY FREE RECORDED WORKSHOP LATER TODAY.

700 people have signed up, and you can come join so many people from all around the world!

Come join the free workshop I am leading next week with Stability AI that will provide you with all kinds of hands-on strategic and technical guidance on how to collaborate with Stability AI's tools to bring your creative vision to life.

If you feel intimidated by these tools and worry you are getting left behind, this workshop is designed for you.

While it is a live workshop, it will also be recorded if you can’t make it at 11:00 AM Eastern.

A PIECE OF ART

“Love Recognized” by Robert Penn Warren

There are many things in the world and you
Are one of them. Many things keep happening and
You are one of them, and the happening that
Is you keeps falling like snow
On the landscape of not-you, hiding hideousness, until
The streets and the world of wrath are choked with snow.

How many things have become silent? Traffic
Is throttled. The mayor
Has been, clearly, remiss, and the city
Was totally unprepared for such a crisis. Nor
Was I - yes, why should this happen to me?
I have always been a law-abiding citizen.

But you, like snow, like love, keep falling.

And it is not certain that the world will not be
covered in a glitter of crystalline whiteness.

Silence.

Grateful,

Michael