This is the first newsletter of February, 2024.
Hi.
It’s me.
rB. Rabbi Brian. Brian.
The author of this newsletter.
I’m addressing you directly, beloved reader.
As though we are having a conversation.
You and me.
This is because I didn’t want to do a regular newsletter, where I start with an engaging hook, set a scene, and weave in some wisdom.
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January’s first post (1/1/24) was also a letter.
Like this one.
I thought: “Why don’t I do the first newsletter of each month, like I did in January? Like this? Conversation-like?”
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Initially, I like the idea of following the same structure for the whole year.
And, concurrently, I was itchy, certain that by June I’d feel constrained by the idea of “I have to.”
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Orson Welles: “The absence of limits is the enemy of art.“
In other words, *if there were no limitations, there would be no art.*
Interesting.
Constraints can push us to figure something out (hopefully artistically).
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Phil Hansen has a TED talk, Embrace the Shake, that beautifully expresses this.
https://www.ted.com/talks/phil_hansen_embrace_the_shake?language=en
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So, maybe having the limitation—doing a monthly letter like this—will help make better art?
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If art is a response to limits faced, maybe we can reframe the challenges in our lives as opportunities for artistic expression?
