Mostly reading email is a drudge. It’s an efficient way to schedule meetings and share documents and get simple things done.
But then there’s the other stuff. The countless emails leading me to blog posts I become inured to. 3 Ways to Improve your … The Magic Formula for Making More Money. How to Get the Most Out of …
I must confess to writing some of that nuts and bolts material for my business, Capital Campaign Masters. It serves a purpose and I do my best to make the posts sing.
But three people I follow deliver such good and interesting heart and mind-warming content that I actually look forward to getting them.
Open Your Mind Every Day with Seth Godin
Seth Godin writes every day. And I read it most every day.
Can you imagine…?! Writing a post every day and still managing to be interesting and pithy enough to be worthwhile. Good for you, Seth Godin! Your discipline and commitment and daily insights are an inspiration. Your writing is a gift.
Reflect on Life Every Week with Brain Pickings
Every Sunday, I can’t wait to read Brain Pickings by Maria Popova. Maria is thinker. She’s a prodigious reader of art and philosophy — particularly as it deals with love and humanity. She pulls excerpts from amazing authors and weaves them together with illustrations and thought provoking ideas.
Seldom does a Sunday go by that I’m not inspired by something in Brain Pickings that stays with me for the entire week.
To give you an example, on my birthday in June (which happened to fall on a Sunday), Maria graced my inbox with Walt Whitman’s advice on living a vibrant and rewarding life, Neil Gaiman on storytelling, and physicist Sean Carroll on our search for meaning. Really, what better present could there be?
And Tickle Your Creative Spirit Each Month with Rabbit Rabbit.
It’s an old New England tradition that on the first day of the month, you should begin the day saying “Rabbit Rabbit.” And the first of every month I get a Rabbit Rabbit email that opens my mind to something new, expands my heart and makes me remember the power of the arts. This email comes from my daughter Carla and her husband Matthias.
They have embarked on creating Songs from a Changing Sea, a song cycle about the world’s oceans. Here’s a link to this month’s offering. You’ll learn about the unseen immigrant crises you haven’t even considered yet.
Contributors of $25 or more receive a post-card size collage every month and a preview of a new song on Bandcamp. The small collages build into a beautiful creative collection of post card art. The monthly songs that go with them are always surprising and touching.
And the emails, which you get without a contribution, will remind you that not everyone gives in to the mundane and humdrum that threatens to overwhelm.
What Do These Three Offerings Have in Common?
They are regular — daily, weekly, monthly.
They are thought-provoking.
And they are created by people who care.
Thank you very much to Seth Godin, Maria Popova and Rabbit Rabbit (Carla Kihlstedt and Matthias Bossi).
ThisConsider Email that Inspires You to Think and Feel More Deeply
If you are bogged down with email, make sure you spice it up with some regular offerings from special people who bring you to new ways of thinking. Don’t lose the power of this amazing medium and way of connecting with creative and insightful people.
Share your favorite email offerings in the comment box below. Or, tango over to Facebook and share your ideas there.
