This frozen past has something to say

I wished I had done what my kids did: freeze and write themselves a message “in-a bottle” for 20 years later. I didn’t. But I did find something else.

“First Snow” by Thalia Toha, 2016. Mixed medium.

Friends-

My kids’ unusual maturity had pirated my attention today.

They’ve never seen pirate movies before. And yet they rolled up a piece of paper, shoved it down an empty paper towel roll, and sealed it. They then addressed it to themselves. For when they’re 20- and 30-something. They might as well send it off to sea with a proper procession ceremony.

It’s been five years now. They can’t even remember to bring their lunch to school some days. I wonder if they’ll actually stick to not opening their messages for 20-something years.

This got me curious, though. Do I even have anything that remotely represents my younger mind? Does anyone these days?

Do you?

All I found was …

A negative-film photograph that freezes my thinking at the time.

I’m the one on the left. My parents took that picture on Christmas Day. You can tell that, even then, curiosity is my middle name.

This lifelong curiosity has taken me to some deep ice caves, rusty cities, and ancient lands. Not to mention some odd discoveries. I’ve shared some of them with you this year. And with some fantastic new readers in Germany, Japan, Australia, Thailand, Poland, Belgium, Ireland, and Spain. 

Here are the top 3 discoveries that everyone had loved the most this year.

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Discovery 1: Having doesn’t always mean owning

I always find the way we take time off in the US slightly odd. We ‘have’ 10-14 days. Some even more. But there are things that actually keep us from really owning the time-off that we have.

I talked more about what they are. And why people do not take enough time off in the US. Even though they’ve built up enough vacation time.

The access to paid time off ladder. The numbers, though, don’t necessarily mean they actually use these paid vacation days. Data from US Bureau of Labor and Statistics.

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Discovery 2: Being loud is not required. Unless …

If you’ve been reading for a while, you already know that I’m not a fan of bombastic flexing to get what we want. Tooting our own horn is a common practice in the US. Some might say it’s required. Not so much in many other parts of the world, though. Mountain warrior-herders know this, too.

I talked about reasons against (or for) being loud here. And whether you really have be loud to make meaning in the world.

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Discovery 3: We’re hot about being hot (and cold)

I never really think much of the weather. Until it drops to -1 degree Farenheit where I am. And spikes to 89 degrees where I grew up. And until I discovered that in the US, both Hawaii AND Alaska rank highest in the well-being score.

Hawaii is obvious. But Alaska!?

Why is this?

Turns out, it’s because of what we really think is worth our time. Or not.

But all these started from a point of curiosity.

Deconstructing our own curiosity is always like trying to eat a burger one condiment at a time. Or trying to swim across two volcanic islands with one limb at a time. 

It’s weird to begin with. But mostly, it goes against our modern programming. 

But exploring curiosity is ultimately an act of service. If not to serve others, then at least to selfishly serve our future selves. Doing any of this requires us to freeze. To freeze one blink-of-eye moment. Like an old negative film. And to freeze ourselves out of time momentarily. So that we can shut everything else down. And unearth something few would. 

Despite who we are.

Money can’t buy this ability. Neither could empty resolutions around mindset bravado.

But a conviction for curiosity—for both the beneath and the beyond—could.

And oddly, it’s this curiosity that can lead the few to real money.

Personal curiosity can take many forms. For some, it’s writing. For others, it’s painting. Or speaking. Filming. Making. Feeding. Constructing. Rowing. Poetry. Climbing. Traveling. Reading.

Or all of the above. All at once. Or each at different seasons of life.

Are horses actually ever fully airborne while galloping? What do you think? (Image by: Eadward Muybridge on Gallie Gardner at a Gallop by Atlantic).

We can’t see certain things unless we freeze.

That’s why we do those higher forms of explorations—whether it’s writing, art, cooking, or adventure. In these, we’re stopping time. And that moment is captured in a page. On a canvas. On a plate. Or in a black-white photograph.

The freezing is just momentary discomfort. Afterwards, the release brings in a new rush of blood. A stream of clear vision. Of what the hell the whole thing was even for. 

New, faster things may outhustle us. But curiosity will out-freeze hustle any day.

I hope you’ll stay curious next year.

-Thalia

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Next: “See you in February 2024”

We’ll be resuming our regularly scheduled publication in February.

It’s a good time for all of us to be dusting off the magnifying glass. And to freeze time. If not to do these higher forms of curiosity exploration, then at least to tell our drunk uncles to please go the bleep home.

I’m sure you’ll all be doing a version of what these two glass warriors were doing. (Photo: Christkindlmarket (38.89036° N, -77.03196° W). Thalia Toha, 2023)

Coming up in 2024:

• Every game seemed to be won by going “all-in.” But what if the history behind your phone camera has always predicted how to win without going “all-in”—ages before smartphones were even around?

• Ascension, Observed: 700,000 people watches hot air balloons go up every year. How come the world’s slowest possible ride is not yet dead? And how is it that it still pulls in millions, centuries after its peak?

• Everest vs. Chemistry teacher: Why climbing the highest summit on earth had nothing to do with height. Or mindset.

Happy holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, and Happy New Year!

-Thalia

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