Sunday Seven No. 010

Waldee, How to Change Your Mind, and Bill Withers

Hey Friends 👋🏼

I hope you got to enjoy Father’s Day Sunday.

This edition of Sunday Seven is arriving in your inbox later than usual. I just got back from a weekend trip to Lake Nipissing. Earlier today, a black bear ran off with my backpack. It was a small 100-pound cub, but a bear’s a bear. Fortunately, no damage was done and I’m just grateful to be here writing to you.

Welcome to all new subscribers! I promise it’s usually not this wild.

Let’s dive right in…

Last week’s email had a 76% open rate. The top links were The Book of Life and the profile on Marc Andreesen.

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No. 010

1️⃣ MEET WALDEE — My partner and I bought our dream campervan. Waldee is a 1996 Eurovan Winnebago. Just eight weeks ago, as we were all finding our way in this new world, I shared a few questions from my journal:

• How will you remember this time?

• What is this an opportunity to do that you would otherwise never do?

For us, this time is an opportunity to get out and explore the country.

Waldee landed on our doorstep. I walked by it in front of our house a few weeks ago, left a note on the window for the owner, and here we are.

2️⃣ FITNESS — Future Fit is an iOS app that pairs you up with a personal trainer. Every Sunday, I get a new routine loaded onto my Future Fit app. The workouts are tracked through an Apple watch which they send to you when you sign up. I started training with Chris last week and it feels just like an in-person trainer, at a fraction of the cost. If you are curious to try it send me a reply. I have a free 1-month trial for you.

3️⃣ NEW TOOL — Krisp.ai mutes background noise when you’re taking calls on your computer. It works beautifully.

4️⃣ WHAT I’M READING — How To Change Your Mind: What the new science of psychedelics teaches us about consciousness, dying, addiction, depression, and transcendence, by Michael Pollock.

5️⃣ WHAT I’M WATCHING — Wild Wild Country (YouTube trailer, Netflix) is a mind-blowing docuseries about Rajneeshpuram, a city formed in 1980’s Oregon by the followers of spiritual teacher Rajneesh, later known as Osho.

6️⃣ WHAT I’M LISTENING TO — Bill Withers Live at Carnegie Hall (Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube) was recorded on October 6, 1972, in New York City at the height of Bill’s career after winning two Grammys, the first for 1971’s Ain’t No Sunshine and then again for 1972’s Lean on Me. The RollingStones covered Bill Withers a few years ago. Questlove and John Legend recorded a cover of Bill’s I Can’t Write Left Handed.

7️⃣ QUOTE —

What an astonishing thing a book is. It's a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you're inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic. — Carl Sagan

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Last Words

As always, if you’re enjoying reading Sunday Seven, I would really appreciate it if you shared it with friends who you think would like it too.

Until next Sunday,

Yashar