Issue #07: No lying for one week

Plus: an idea for using ChatGPT for delicate convos, hiljaisuus and two videos I loved

Editor’s note: I wrote this back in April, when I was figuring out what this newsletter was. It’s still relevant, I still like it, and it’s still something that I work on daily, so it’s getting published now. Plus, I’m camping right now 🙂 Just know that some of the details are old. Also, this one is on the vulnerable side so it’s paywalled.

Also in this issue:

• A curated list of books (and one podcast) to help you live with integrity

• An unexpected place you might be holding tension

• How ChatGPT made my life easier this week

• The best things I consumed this week on AI, the millenial urge to monetize everything and coping mechanisms

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I’m reading The Way of Integrity by Martha Beck, and among a pile of suggested microhabits to help you live a life that feels true to you, one really stuck with me: no lying.

That includes the big lies, like Beck trying to be a devout Mormon and realizing, despite her father’s prominence in the church, that it wasn’t for her.

But she’s also talking about the little lies we tell ourselves all the time, often to conform to how we think life should look, based on what we see around us.

For example, the lying version of this post wouId look like this: This week, I went to a planning meeting for a friend who is running for mayor of our tiny town. I sat in the sun and ate a smash burger at my favorite restaurant on the island. I watched a seal through my binoculars at golden hour. I took the most glorious, sunny ferry ride. I prepped for a day-long workshop I’m teaching in two weeks, and taught the second cohort of Going Solo, which has quickly become one of my favorite parts of this job.

All of that is true.

But the no lies version would look like this: This week, after working until 7:30 PM and being absolutely exhausted, and still needing to pack for a trip, I went to a planning meeting for a friend who is running for mayor of our tiny town on the island, because