Le Weekly #12 – Clare's Exhalations 🌸
One quote, one word, one story, one neigh from Philosophical Horse and one question.
Greetings everyone. Happy Monday!
Take a moment to reflect on each snippet. Comment your thoughts below.
Le Quote 🗣
“How you spend your day is how you spend your life.” – Annie Dillard (Gemma Scholtz remix).
Le Word 💬
flower (verb). develop fully and richly.
Le Shoutout 🧣
Last year, I met with a man named Dan for coffee.
Dan is a local marketing professional – I approached him for advice on building a solid, sticky brand. A significant topic of conversation was “newsletters and what makes a good one”. After the meeting, he generously emailed me a list of his favourite newsletters for me to reference.
Eight months later, Le Weekly was born.
Last week, Dan commented on Le Weekly – he said he enjoyed the Vida story. The comment felt like a full-circle moment. I replied, “Thanks Dan! Glad you enjoyed it. I appreciate the feedback as always.”
Then I added:
“P.S. Thanks to Le Weekly, I am enjoying writing for the first time in my life. The casual weekly challenge has unlocked something I had never experienced before.”
“That’s great to hear!” Dan responded. “In line with just getting on with writing and finding the rhythm, I heard a good quote this morning: Do the verb, don’t be the noun.”
“So, basically,” he continued, “don’t say you want to be something (like a runner). Just focus on doing the verb (running), and it’ll happen.”
Do the verb, don’t be the noun.
Simple and easy to apply. Sounds like a plan.
Shoutout Dan.
Le Story ✍️
The other day, I was chatting with Clare (my neighbour) in our apartment block’s main quad area.
Clare loves gardening. Clare also enjoys casually and unintentionally dropping pearls of garden-based life advice whenever the universe feels it’s necessary. So, as our conversation neared its end, I asked Clare if she had any quotes for me.
“Yes!” she exclaimed before staring into the distance to think.
A few seconds passed. A few more seconds passed, and then a few more.
Finally, Clare exhaled. “I’m overthinking this,” she said.
Overthinking! A relevant topic. “All good,” I said. “Do you have any quotes on overthinking?”
“Yes!” Clare exclaimed before staring into the distance again.
A few seconds passed. A few more seconds passed, and then a few more.
Finally, Clare exhaled again. “I can’t think of a quote right now, but I can teach you something,” she said.
“Powerful,” I responded.
So, we both started walking towards the corner of the quad where some tiny pink flowers were planted. The flowers were very delicate-looking. Each stem had about twelve flowers growing from it. Clare, with highly qualified green fingers, gently touched one of the flowers and bent it about 45º from its natural resting position. When she removed her finger, the flower didn’t spring back to its original position; instead, it remained precisely where she had pushed it.
“This is an Obedience Plant,” she began. “It stays in the position you move it to.”
I didn’t know this. “Thanks, Clare. Very cool,” I said, reaching out with my own hand and gently coaxing one of the flowers into a new position myself.
We spent a few seconds looking at the different flowers in the little corner. While assessing the scene, Clare’s garden wisdom came swooping in like an owl at night:
“You can’t afford to overthink things when you garden,” she began. “If you try too much, your garden won’t thrive. Sometimes, you just need to let some plants do their own thing.”
I thanked Clare for the lesson. We both nodded, said our farewells and returned to where we came from moments before.
The Obedience Plant remained where it was.
Le Neigh from Philosophical Horse 🐴
“Neigh” – Philosophical Horse.
Le Question 🤔
What are you overthinking at the moment?
Have a great Monday, everyone!
Previous Newsletters:
(Remember to send this to someone who you think would enjoy Le Weekly)
#11 – Boiled Potatoes 🥔
#10 – Back Shampoo 🧼
#09 – Muscular Swallows 🐦
#08 – Long Wood 🪵
#07 – Impactful Leaf 🍃
#06 – Vulnerable Ankles 🦵
#05 – Sea Sea TV 📸
#04 – Treadmill Queue 💦
#03 – Lemonade 🍋
#02 – Meat Factory 🥩
#01 – Woolworths Maternitywear 👚
Thank you for giving me my first Smile of the Week….
Powerful stuff