It's Fun to Struggle

Out late last night, at a New Years Day party. I basically stuck to pasta, sparkling water and chocolate, I kept a clear head. Our gracious hosts (they polished off a bottle of Jim Beam) cooked up a lovely meal and kept the conversation light and jaunty. Slept in late this morning (my alarm clock failed me) and feel relaxed, content.

I read John Lahr's profile of Tony Kushner in the latest New Yorker. Two gems to contemplate this morning: 1. To understand Shakespeare you only need to count to two. Everything in Shakespeare is paradoxical and contradictory, and this collision of opposites is the first principle of drama. 2. Kushner and Tennessee Williams share a belief that struggle is the natural order of things. Developmental psychologists talk of 'optimal frustration,' -- the way children learn is that the task they have in front of them is always a little too difficult which forces a degree of concentrated angry attention. It's fun to struggle. It should be a struggle, we're born to it.

It's off to 'Beginnings and Endings' today at Invision. This is an end of year/beginning of the year ritual Carla and I have participated in the last three years. It's powerful, profound. I think 2005 will be a 'breakout year' in all the manifestations of my life.