There is a river that needs a million years to move a grand of sand a hundred miles. Thank you and have a nice day.

I recommend reading the book Essays in Idleness and Hōjōki by Yoshida Kenkō.

I’d like you to know that there’s a Lake District artist who wears a bonnet in the mountains because it changes her perception -- she no longer gets the grand view, or the side view; instead she notices the details of what’s right in front of her.

I want to feel free like Tove Jansson, who spent summers on a Finnish island so tiny it took only four and a half minutes to walk around, and even then, with so little about her, she chose not to do the housework.

“What becometh a woman best, and first of all? Silence. What second? Silence. What third? Silence. What fourth? Silence. Yea, if a man should ask me till Domesday I would still crie silence, silence.” – Thomas Wilson, The Arte of Rhetorique, 1560

I recommend reading about hermits, nuns, artists, rogues. Some humble and pious, some egotistical and in love with the devil.

I am writing about people whose physical bravado has done so much to shape their inner landscapes. (on Substack at AilsaWrites Dot Substack Dot Com)

I recommend trying to find happiness without material cause.

Donald Woodman’s book about his time as Agnes Martin’s assistant paints a very different picture of the artist than what is typically portrayed

I've written about quiet books and solitude (at AilsaWrites Dot Substack Dot Com)

I've written about insomnia on my Substack (AilsaWrites Dot Substack Dot Com)

How I cured my insomnia aka new post on my Substack at AilsaWrites Dot Substack Dot Com

I've written about solitude and the best 'quiet books' (at AilsaWrites Dot Substack Dot Com)

If white noise can put a baby to sleep, can it put an adult with insomnia to sleep?

Before scientists were using functional MRI to monitor brain activity while people looked at forests and mountains, the Romantics were writing about what we now know for sure. Nature makes us more imaginative.

Seeing metaphors. It’s not just a literary term denoting comparison, writes the poet Mary Ruefle. It can be an event, an exchange of energy between two things.

A few years ago, I had a desire to change everything about my life. I quit my job, imagining a gap from routine life where I might live in exclamation points. Or in meditative silence. Aka I posted something new on Substack at AilsaWrites Dot Substack Dot Com

In nature, The Default Mode Network, which is sometimes called the Imagination Network, is given a chance to kick in.

While we may be social animals, there are other, quieter parts of ourselves that need tending to as well. (aka I posted something new on Substack at AilsaWrites Dot Substack Dot Com)

I posted something new on Substack.

I recommend not beating yourself up, when boredom rises up to greet you.

‘The strong soul becomes much more stable thanks to voluntary poverty.' – Amma Syncletica aka I posted something new on Substack

I wrote on Substack about a woman who snuck onto Mount Athos with a rubber penis inside her trousers. And why I’m jealous of her.

Acedia — that strange sensation of boredom that comes from trying to be good all day. Aka I wrote something new on Substack (at AilsaWrites Dot Substack Dot Com)

You cannot cause light,” wrote Annie Dillard. “You can only put yourself in the path of its beam.” etc.

“A lot of the stuff people chase in society, you know, like money and prestige, sometimes the harder you chase it the more it'll lose you." – aka wisdom from Caveman Bill

I recommend questioning whether free will is real.

I have an essay in @globeandmail today about why it is quite nice to leave a notebook on a bench and see who writes in it. May we leave notebooks and pens in random places until they're more full of nonsense than an ancient burial ground.

I'm not one of them (aka I posted something new on Substack at AilsaWrites Dot Substack Dot Com)

I do not love my inanimate objects. I do not take care of things. My wool jumpers have turned to boiled wool. They deserve better. Or is it that I love them too much? I do not have many clothes. So I wear the items that I love too much.

I recommend not looking at adverts.

New post innit

I'm not one of them (aka I wrote something new on Substack at AilsaWrites Dot Substack Dot Com)

Many of the women who have retreated into caves through history have been retreating from the frustrating situations women tend to get placed in.

Who would want to retreat into a cave? I can see the draw.

There are days in which I feel in every inch the reality of Blaise Pascal’s 17th-century statement that all our “miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone.”

A few years ago, I was in a canyon in the winter. On one rock, many people had placed their hands against the frosty rock – leaving dark imprints that reminded me of those ancient red ochre hand paintings.

You heard it here first. (aka I posted something new on AilsaWrites Dot Substack Dot Com)

The Cynics (name = dog-like) did not act like typical philosophers. They kissed icy statues in winter, rolled in hot sand in summer, and masturbated everywhere. I don’t (necessarily) recommend kissing icy statues in winter, rolling in hot sand in summer, and masturbating everywhere.

The Cynics decided their purpose in life was the ostentatious practice of austerity.

Few do not feel a flush of pleasure on buying a fashionable new hat or coat, and then receiving positive attention for it. But the Cynics warned against such a life. Aka I wrote a new Substack post (AilsaWrites Dot Substack Dot Com)

My books bring to light the alienation that was already present in my readers

I like sheep. Here are some sheep paintings I found, and some of my photos that Google has erroneously labelled 'sheep'. Sheep are everywhere. They are in the fields and they are on the cover of many books. I can think of at least three books with sheep on the cover of them. Are there more?

Over 2,000 years ago, the Cynic philosophers were saying things like: Just look at gold, which is so sought after, or silver, or expensive houses, fancy clothes, and all that goes with them. Then consider at what price they’re acquired in terms of trouble, pain and danger.

Our lifestyle choices do matter. People's daily behaviour – the way we shop and work and eat – create the standards society is expected to live by.

Out in 2.5 weeks with Strange Light/Penguin Random House CA

I want to tell you about my hero. She lived out on the streets of ancient Athens. She was a Cynic. Her name was Hipparchia.

Wrote some nonsense

“If you read a book, or shuffle a deck of cards, or care for a dog, you are avoiding yourself.” — Beryl Markham

I recommend reading research papers such as ‘The discovery of a PMS-like phenomenon in baboons’