For the past 42 months I've published a new edition of The Affinity Digest - my curation log where I share my favourite finds each month. This one will be my first Substack edition 🙌 Find all the others here: lamarelimbo.com/curations 😋
🍿 My Favourite Movies of the Month
Sleepers
Spiderhead
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
📺 My Favourite Shows of the Month
Inside Man
Stay Close
Safe
Wednesday
📚 My Favourite Reads of the Month
Discovering Joy Through Embodied Exercise
🔗 / The Long Game 129 /
I see a lot of discussions about what is “the optimal” exercise routine or what’s the “minimal effective dose” of this or that…
These conversations surely have their places, but what about the greater discussion about finding joy and happiness through exercising? Wouldn’t it be better if instead of “having to exercise,” you were excited every day to get to exercise?
In my opinion, many conversations around finding the “optimal” miss that aspect, and finding what a person likes is often the most powerful factor in ensuring long-term consistency. So maybe, just maybe, the ‘80% optimal’ that you love ends up being ‘THE optimal for you’.…
✏️ My Favourite Personal Creations of the Month
Writing
Designing Spaces to Influence Our Sense of Time
🔗 / My Substack / Deep Dive /
Our lives are immersed in a world riddled with temporal illusions. We cast a final blink each night and awaken to find ourselves teleported 8 hours into the future. We wait what feels like an eternity for the bus scheduled to arrive in 2 minutes. We play a quick game to pass the time, only to look at the clock and realise an entire hour has snuck by unnoticed. What if we could take control of our temporal perception? If we could fast forward through unpleasant experiences and elongate the moments of bliss which we crave to last a lifetime.
…
Crafting
Instagram post • An eye for an eye.→
💪🏽 My Favourite Lifestyle Changes of the Month
The experiencing self’s gratitude practice
Recently, I discovered a new trail near me and it’s got me really loving going for afternoon walks lately. When I went on my first couple hikes I was a total glutton indulging in and appreciating all the new sights and sensations. Since I had my notes app in hand, taking the occasional note of any interesting sparks of inspiration kindled by the podcast I was listening to, I decided to jot down all of my favourite aspects to my new favourite trail.
Most references to gratitude journaling that I’ve come across suggest taking some time out of the end of our day to reflect on what we’re grateful for.
But jotting down my list of favourite observations got me thinking about how much gratitude has become a practice for my remembering self (the part of me that reflects on the past). It had me questioning whether I’ve been neglecting giving my experiencing self (the part of me that is awake to my current surroundings) the chance to practice gratitude as well.
Now I’m working on making a conscious effort that when I know that I have a special moment coming up, I should consider setting the intention to pay attention or even actively list what I’m appreciating in that moment, rather than waiting to reflect back on it later.
💬 My Favourite Words of Wisdom of the Month
Reminders
On Potential 🔗 / Arman’s Antics #025 /
You overestimate what can be accomplished in a day and underestimate what can be done in five years.
Quotes
On Murder Show: Inside Man
Everyone’s a murderer. All it takes is a good reason and a bad day.
On Perspective 🔗 / Anna Akana Video /
It doesn’t matter what we’re looking at, it matters what we see.
On Entitlement Proverb
The child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth.
On Meaning
By the time I die, I just hope that it mattered that I lived.
On Generalists 🔗 / A Bit of Optimism /
A Jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.
Concepts & Definitions
Defenestration
The act of throwing a person or thing out of a window.
Senius Brian Eno, musician
The genius of a scene. When environment can encourage creativity.
For example, there was a time when Paris was the scene for artistic genius, because there was large community of people there focusing on their art.
🧨 My Favourite Sparks of Motivation & Inspiration
Where are you the most you? 🔗 / *My First Million Ep. 364 [15:46-17:34]* /
Finding the medium where you’re the most comfortable.
The Positive Effect of Walking on Creative Thinking 🔗 / The Long Game 130 /
A reminder on some of the benefits of walking.
🖼️ My Favourite Visuals of the Month
My favourite art of the month
Cartoon Cakes
My favourite artists of the month
Do Ho Suh • Instagram hashtag →
My favourite photos of the month
🤔 My Favourite Realizations of the Month
Hopeful Fantasies
The value of creating hopeful fantasies for framing things in life. So much of the world is built on arguably helpful fantasies (defining fantasy as a framing of “reality” that most people would have unique perspectives on): religion, true love, spirituality, purpose, meaning….
I think it’s interesting to consider the amount of problems that arise when people mistake their fantasies for universal reality.
Persuasion Languages
Similar to love languages, I wonder what it would look like to come up with a list of persuasion languages: the things most likely to persuade different types of people.
🎬 My Favourite Videos of the Month
The Three Little Pigs and the Not That Bad Wolf
The Non-capitalist Solution to the Housing Crisis
How To Multiply Your Time | Rory Vaden | TEDxDouglasville
9 tactics to build a stronger mind | Lisa Genova
How Liquid Death's Founder Started A $700 Million Water Brand | Founder Effect