Seashell Traditions
It’s been a while since I’ve included local content here…
Before reading this article, I’d never heard of placing sea shells on top of graves. This is a short read with pictures included. Here’s an excerpt:
I looked into this custom and learned it was a common practice in the Victorian South. African Americans placed clamshells on graves and a few theories attend this tradition. One thought was that the sea brought them to America and the sea would return them to Africa when they died. You’ll find such graves in white cemeteries too giving rise to the belief that whites took up the tradition as well.
The shells, too, symbolize “crossing over” a body of water like the Styx to the afterlife. Another belief speaks to a practical purpose. The mounds of fresh dirt across African American graves easily washed away when a deluge struck. Well, a perfectly cemented “roof” of clamshells, like shingles on a house, shunted away the water.
Tom Poland, “A Seashell Tradition”
So how did the shells make it this far inland?
…During the hard, lean times of Reconstruction salt was hard to come by. Thus did some communities form salt-making crews. These salt-seeking parties would make an annual trip to the coast. There they boiled seawater till salt remained and took it back to their communities. They’d do some fishing too and pack their catch in salt. They’d gather up shells too for covering graves.
Tom Poland, “A Seashell Tradition”
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The above passage reminded me of this quote:
The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea.
Isak Dinesen, Seven Gothic Tales
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A Personal Cabinet
I have several close friends that I turn to for advice and information. I’ve never thought of this in terms of “building a cabinet”, but I like this idea presented by Kris Abdelmessih.
This exercise is not optional. If you don’t actively choose who you let in your mind, you will find squatters with bad agendas living in your head.
Moontowermeta.com
Here’s another good quote from the same post:
It’s common to believe that people examine facts then draw conclusions. Wrong. People form an impression first. An impression that by virtue of being first must be overtaken. It’s like a mental cortical reaction. How a fertilized egg blocks late-arriving sperm from fusing with it. Your brain is monogamous with the first gut reaction it meets.
To resist that, you need to date around. Curate from different beliefs. Let the ideas compete on their merit and see if you can be like an MMA fighter taking the best from each martial art.
Moontowermeta.com
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Sweet Lines
I see people make this mistake all the time in their personal life. If they are unhappy they focus on the source of the unhappiness rather than other sources of happiness. I see people do this when they are anxious, sad, angry, or afraid. They fixate on a problem they are having so intently that solutions that might guide them around the problem are hard to see. Sometimes this fixation even causes new problems in their lives.
“Finding the Line” at Boz.com
And this from the same post:
I like to start conversations with the value we are trying to create. When engaged in risk management conversations I ensure we don’t lose sight of why we are mitigating those risks in the first place. Because if eliminating risks was the only goal then we simply wouldn’t build anything at all….
You have to trust that you can adapt as new obstacles present themselves. But most of all you have to remember why you are there in the first place. You didn’t go backcountry snowboarding to not hit trees. You did it to find sweet lines.
“Finding the Line” at Boz.com
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Show Up
The most impactful economic decision you make will be who you decide to partner with or, more specifically, who you decide to have kids with. Married people grow their net worth 77 percent more than single people. Marry the right person, and then invest in that relationship every day. You’ve wagered 50 percent-plus of your net worth, and value in the marketplace, on that partnership. Don’t keep score, and bring forgiveness, generosity, and engagement. In sum, show up.
Scott Galloway, “The Algebra of Wealth”