18 Comments
Oct 31Liked by Robyn Ryle

Good reminder. In spite of everything that scares the begeesbees out of me, this is a wonderful time to be alive. We're seeing miraculous stuff happen everyday. Find the joy.

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There are miracles every day, even if so many of them are everyday miracles. I believe that in Madison, those miracles might be a little easier to see. We’re all so connected.

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Thank you for reminding us all about the goodness of our times. This essay reminds me of the line from Hamilton - “Look around, look around at how lucky we are to be alive right now!”

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Yes, exactly! And they were about to go to war, so you can imagine how it didn’t perhaps always feel like the luckiest time to be alive at all.

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Thank you. I needed this nudge to shift my perspective.

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You are so very welcome!

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Thank you! This is a great reminder today. I'm going to go into my sewing room now and keep repeating the mantra there is more good than bad. My substack is called Finding Joy. You have handed me joy on a plate today.

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That’s a good mantra, Sandra. Joy on a plate is excellent!

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Oct 31Liked by Robyn Ryle

A reminder we all need at this point. Thx. ❤️

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Thanks, Betsey.

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Hans Rosling's last book was largely about the same thing, told through statistics.

https://www.gapminder.org/factfulness/

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This is awesome, Randall! I love the idea of factfulness as a way to combat all the biases in our thinking. Thanks so much for sharing. Putting this on my to-read list.

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Nov 1Liked by Robyn Ryle

If you tend to write positive, life affirming, and thoughtful posts like this, I might have to stick around! We can say yes to life, or we can say no. Only one of these options is going to be good for us.

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Thanks, Tim. I borrowed from a writer friend, Leesa Cross-Smith, ages ago to do my best not to write about what I don’t like, but instead write about what I love. And truly, I write to remind myself about what I believe and how I want to see the world.

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Nov 2Liked by Robyn Ryle

I do need to be reminded of this. Thank you. And you know what? I was looking at the headlines of six Substacks and clicked into yours. I always want to read what you have to say but would I have waited to read it since it is late for my lunch and I'm hungry? I think that word "hate" did make a difference. I was instantly curious -- you don't strike me as a hating kind of person -- but it was also the "us" that drew me in. So there is a data point for you, I guess.

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The post already has more views and restacks than other posts. Which, yes, I’m telling myself is because I hit a collective nerve, but also probably the “hate” in the title, which is sad. Is it ethical to write posts with negative words in the title when they are not actually about negativity? That is, can we use this tendency to lean into the negative for good? I don’t know.

Thanks for reading!

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Nov 3Liked by Robyn Ryle

Honestly? It wasn’t just the word hate that pulls people in. It was the word “us” — the combo is strong. In other words - you expressed a strong thought well. Everyone wants to know if they are in the “us” group. In my opinion this essay as with so many of yours is so worth reading that you should do whatever works with the title. You weren’t leaning into the negativity. You were gently poking us all with love to get us to listen. Do it whenever you want to! And you are right - timing may have something to do with it, too. The lead up to a very tense moment is fraught.

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Lol, thanks for the permission, Betsy.

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