Monday morning inspiration

I first learned about Ze Frank some time last year. Apparently, though I had no idea at the time, I was a bit late to the Ze (short for Hosea, if you're a curious one like me) show... He's been doing his online thing for almost a decade now, and stumbled on it rather accidentally, it seems (see his various TED talks, not just the one I've embedded below).

My first Ze introduction was this Invocation for Beginnings video--interesting, provocative, maybe not for everyone (don't say I didn't warn, there's an occasional cuss word), but I like it. A lot.



The Chillout Song started with a message from a woman going through a period of anxiety. Here's the story. I really like the mixed voices best. In the TED talk futher below, Ze talks about the variety of projects he's worked on; it's a bit more of a commitment to watch, so I went searching for the Chillout Song to share, and the Scared Song, since they both resonated with me.





I think Ze's on to something, with his quirky everyman schtick. I'm sure it's not everybody's cup of tea, but I like what seems to have been pretty organic growth as a result of tapping into people's fears and foibles. And I like that he's not overtly polished, and doesn't seem to have great control over some of his facial expressions. You know, that he's human.

For this Monday, at the start of another week, my takeaway from Invocation for Beginnings: "Let me not think of my work only as a stepping stone to something else, and if it is let me become fascinated by the shape of the stone."

There's also this: “And let me remember that my courage is a wild dog; it won’t just come when I call it, I have to chase it down and hold on as tight as I can.” Yeah, those are some sentiments to see one through a Monday.