Writer Focus

Warren Buffett Says That You Need to Learn to Appreciate Your Roots, No Matter How Absurd

New writer spotlight and update on June writing challenges

Today we have some investment advice that is truly useful for anyone, learn some powerful lessons from embracing our misfortunes and observing the bamboo tree, as well as an amazing train ride in Oslo and a different definition of absurd.

Grab your train ticket and lets all appreciate some great writing brought to us by new writers on Illumination!

Each day in June I hope to feature a few articles from writers that have just recently been added to the publication. I am doing this because I want to make a point of welcoming and getting acquainted with the new writers, and doing a feature allows me to read some of their work and pick items that catch my eye each day.

My hope is to get these authors a few extra eyes on their writing and perhaps gain a few fans that otherwise might not have seen their work. If these new-to-Illumination writers don’t have bios yet, we hope they write one soon so we can add it to our growing list:

But until then, my aim is to choose a handful of writers from the ranks of the newly added to Illumination and highlight one of their articles. Then I will have an ask of them afterward (Hint: I will ask that they pay it forward by doing the same thing for other writers).

Plus, an ongoing list of writer challenges follows the feature articles below! So, without further ado:

New Writer Spotlight

Today we start out in the capital city of Norway; Oslo. One of the distinguishing features of the city, aside from its unique blend of modern culture and history, is the fact that you can take a train from city center out to the wilderness.

Around with A walks us through a train journey from metropolitan to rural, with a visit to an enormous ski jump along the way. Check out the sites from your train window seat here:

While you might think a metro train to the wild is absurd, Ali Qutmiera has a different definition of absurdity for us; a definition that shines some light on the human existence and the meaning of life.

Discover how different societies and religions have reconciled the absurd and come to find their own meaning in this perceptive piece:

Next, Shivangi Agrawal has some great investment advice for us. Instead of copying the moves that successful investors like Warren Buffet make, we are better off instead analyzing why they made the decision to invest like that in the first place.

Being at the back of the herd in the investment game isn’t a great place to be. Instead, if you want to be like Warren Buffett, you need to learn how to pick winning companies by falling in love with their culture. Great observations to be found in this piece:

Next in an interesting life lesson drawn from allegory in observing the bamboo tree. Something I never knew was that it takes many years of root development before the branches of the bamboo tree ever begin to grow.

Elizabeth Kasujja shows us that we have a lot to learn from a tree that literally knows how to stick to its roots, and that just because you don’t see growth on the outside, it doesn’t mean a person isn’t developing themselves into a powerful force. Lots to think about in this insightful story:

And finally, Mel Rie brings us another great life lesson by noting that the key to gratitude is experiencing a period of not having. Then, it becomes much easier and more natural to appreciate the little things when they do come along.

Some great vision and introspection in this one as well, to finish off today. Give it a read, you will be grateful that you did:

Let’s Make a Connection

Next I want to broker an introduction of the new writers tagged in this article and one of our editors and/or writers who has been at Illumination for a bit.

Another writer that has been with Illumination from the beginning is Gurpreet Dhariwal. She recently published an e-book of her poems titled My Soul Rants which is available on Amazon if you care to check it out.

Gurpreet is a steady presence and supporter of Illumination on Twitter and has recently been doing a series of interviews of other writers on the publication. I particularly like one of the questions she asks her interviewees, “What sets your soul on fire?” Check out one writer’s answer in this great interview piece:

If you want to connect with me or any of the editors, please consider joining the Illumination Slack workgroup. You can request an invitation to Slack by contacting Dr Mehmet Yildiz from this link. Please type “Request for Slack” on the heading as Dr. Yildiz has many other requests from this link.

I am always willing to answer questions and provide information for anyone. The other editors and writers are as well. Slack is the best way to interact if you have questions.

If you need some tips to get up and running on Slack, this article is a good starting point:

The Big Ask

As promised, if I featured your story here, or are reading this and feel inspired, I encourage you to pay forward the concept of highlighting the work of others.

Please consider choosing another writer (or writers) and creating a story that emphasizes aspects that you appreciate about their work. It could be their style, topic choices, voice, technical aspects of writing, or maybe you just like their profile picture.

Supporting others is one of the core premises and values of Illumination, and when you engage you will find that you reap dividends. I encourage you to give it a whirl. And, when you do, tag me in your article. I love being exposed to stuff I might not have otherwise seen.

Bonus Gift — The Writing Challenge

There are two types of writers in the world. Those who have experienced writer’s block, and those that will.

One of the great remedies to the question, “What do I write next?” is responding to a prompt or challenge provided by another writer.

List of New Challenges and Prompts

Send me your writing prompts! Here’s what we have so far:

Kevin Buddaeus

Sarah E Sturgis

Sherry McGuinn

Tree Langdon ♾️

B. A. Cumberlidge.

Holly Jahangiri — A challenge, sneakily hidden in a newsletter!

INFJ Elder One person that made a positive impact on us.

If you are participating in or originating a challenge and you want to include it here for people to find, either respond to this article or hit me up on Slack (@timothykey).

Next Group

Tomorrow I will pull from this new group of recently added writers:

21stcenturygrio, Kylie Craft, 21stcenturygrio, Luis Prospero, Jessica Sun, Karoline Moraes, Rahul Pathak, Jenine Bsharah Baines, Josh Lonsdale, Anand Damani, M.Nithursan, MillennialMind, Sandra Maria, John Nugent, Maggie Hu, Anna da Silva, Lisa Patrell, Noah Simonich

If you want me to highlight one of your stories in particular, or have any questions just respond to this story, or better yet, find me on Slack!

Thanks for reading, I am enjoying getting to know all the new writers on Illumination!

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Timothy Key spent over 26 years in the fire service as a firefighter/paramedic and various fire chief management roles. He firmly believes that bad managers destroy more than companies, and good managers create a passion that is contagious. Compassion, grace and gratitude drive the world; or at least they should. Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, and join the mail list.