Making Sense Of It All

“The act of writing is an integral part of my mental life; ideas emerge, are shaped, in the act of writing… a special, indispensable form of talking to myself.”

I’d never seen this Oliver Sacks’ quote until Maria Popova brought it to my attention recently. It resonates. Despite sharing my words here with all of you on a weekly basis, writing the morning shakeout is how I try to make sense of the things I’ve read or listened to and connect different ideas floating around in my head—my preferred form of talking to myself. Enjoy Popova’s peek into Sack’s fascinatng creative process, and then do yourself another favor and go read the op-ed Sacks wrote for The New York Times two years ago just a few months before he died. I promise it will move you in some way.

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A version of this post first appeared in the morning shakeout, my weekly email newsletter covering running, writing, media and other topics that interest me. If you’d like for it to land in your inbox first thing on Tuesday mornings, subscribe here.