I recently received a wonderful question from one of the listeners of my new podcast. I include it here, because it gets at the heart of what I’m trying to show you by retelling you these stories. For reference, here is the episode where I tell the story of Finist.   Here’s the question: Regarding the pattern at the end [of Finist], where the beautiful girl has endured much hardship, she manages…

Isn’t this photo of a kingfisher one of the most beautiful things you’ve ever seen? It won an audience award a few years ago. For obvious reasons. I was mesmerized by it at the time, because it was such an unlikely photo. That perfect shot, with such perfect clarity. Had to be touched up, right? No. Turns out it was just 5,000 attempts at perfection. (There’s a lesson in there somewhere, I…