History is not inevitable
🍾 Hello! Today is Friday, and we’re officially 49% of our way through 2024.
Issue #108: a Navy SEAL-endorsed breathing technique and eating what used to be alive
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“History isn’t something you look back at and say was inevitable,” activist Marsha P. Johnson once observed, “it happens because people make decisions that are sometimes very impulsive and of the moment, but those moments are cumulative realities.”
Johnson was at the Stonewall Inn, a queer bar in New York City, 55 years ago today when lesbian, gay, queer and trans people fought back against police. There is lots of mythology around what actually happened at Stonewall — and in the lead-up to it — but the core facts are pretty clear: For decades, queer people weren’t allowed to be themselves in public. That night, they were attacked by police and fought back.
That history was on my mind when I read
’s story about coming out as trans in middle age. “We all deserve to not just survive, but thrive, while living as our authentic selves,” Gethen writes, after describing a culture that, sure, is more accepting than the one they grew up 30 years ago but still has a long way to go. “I don’t trust the police,” Gethen says.One more Medium story hit home with me recently, this one by author
. In “Detransition Is Gender Liberation Too,” he responds in his own words to a USA Today story covering his detransition and retransition. There’s wisdom here that I keep thinking back to, and that I find pretty inspiring as just a human being, regardless of my gender or sexual orientation: “Freedom to choose means freedom to forever be dissatisfied, to search endlessly for more, and yes, to be capable of making a mistake.”For more perspectives on Pride, browse relevant topic pages and our curated list.
What else we’re reading
- , a 42-year software engineer now at Google, has a one-way conversation with CEO Sundar Pichai about the war in Gaza.
- Wisdom from scuba diver : The quality of your life is directly tied to the quality of your breathing. If you’re feeling stressed… try the “box breathing” technique. A Navy SEAL once told Forbes they use this technique to calm down and it’s been popular ever since:
-Breathe in deeply and smoothly through your nose for 4 seconds
-Hold your breath at the top for 4 seconds
-Breathe out softly and calmly through your nose for 4 seconds
-Hold your breath at the bottom for 4 seconds
-This is one complete cycle
-Continue for 25–50 breaths or 5–10 minutes
-To deepen the experience, increase the number of seconds you breathe in and out and hold for (5 or 6 seconds, for example) if it feels right to do so
🌱 Your daily dose of practical wisdom: on food
A non-diet diet that doubles as a prompt for deep food thoughts: You can eat anything you want as long as you can explain how it used to be alive.
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