Welcome to Unforced!
Be warned as you enter here, those who may feel reactive towards certain emergent technologies. The photo above, and the haiku were both generated by AI. The words written here are by me, although AI may have suggested a few writing improvements along the way. I start with this because I think this haiku and this image do a decent job of what I’m looking to convey here. An introduction to myself and to this blog. I’m a dude that likes hanging out in the natural world, typing away and sharing what he sees, and not shying away from technology in the process. I’m glad to be here with you.
Recently, I've been struggling to find my voice on this platform. In the past, Facebook was my primary blog where I would share my thoughts, both long and short. Facebook is an interesting context because I typically share with people I know and who know me, so there's a certain level of casual conversation even when I express something that requires careful articulation. On this blog, I'd like to keep things casual, but also invite a bit more formality in some of my writing. I want much of what I write here to contribute towards more complex forms of writing, such as a book in the next few years, and at the same time, the primary purpose of this writing is not to be in any way perfect, but to be an active exploration of how my voice expresses through this medium.
In this post, I am looking to express three things. First, I'd like to introduce myself to those who don't know me well yet. Second, I’d like to share an update of what’s going on in my life. I plan to do this at least twice a year, around my birthday (9/6) and around my half-birthday (3/6). I think these are good times to reflect and share what's happening in my life. I’m about a month late on this but so it goes. And third, I’d like to express more clearly what this blog is and what kind of content you can expect here. With that said, let’s continue.
Who am I?
My name is Aaron Gabriel. Most people call me Aaron or AG. I am a builder. It is in my name and in my blood. My dad was a builder, as were his fathers before him, many generations back. And while they built with metal and wood, I build with networks and code. What we all share in common is great care and attention to detail in the building process, a knowledge of how to use the right tool for the job, and a recognition that whatever we build, we have to start with building relationships. Beyond being a builder, I’m also a connector, a communicator, a community organizer, a dancer, a lover, a friend, and so much more. Most of all, I’m an earthling, specifically of the human variety.
My dad, besides being a carpenter, was also a tai chi teacher. My mom taught math and was also an herbalist. These are of course quite limited descriptions, only touching on a small part of who they were, but it will have to do for now. You might notice the past tense there. My mom, Becky, died of breast cancer when I was 10 years old, and my dad, Joe, died of brain cancer when I was 22 years old. Both the love and the loss that I have experienced with them is a huge part of who I am, and plays deeply into the compassion and the passion with which I approach life. As I grow and mature, my sense of self increasingly includes them and I often feel that I am sharing for all 3 of us, and not just myself.
Who I am is someone that cares deeply about humanity and life. I am an alumni of Case Western where I studied computer science and of Naropa where I studied ecopsychology. I am a passionate participant in what Joe (my dad) liked to call a radical revolution of consciousness; actively exploring what might enable us to turn towards life not just as individuals but as the whole of society, such that we might know ourselves to be truly and wholly living in a way that is beneficial to life, rather than destructive to it. And also, who I am is happy to be here with you, exploring this great mystery of what it is to be alive, together.
What’s been happening in my life?
Now that I’ve given a brief birds eye view of who I am, I want to share a bit about what has been happening in my life lately. Turning 30 seven months ago has spurred me into a new phase of personal reflection and development. I've taken a deeper look at how I want to live my life and how I want to show up in the world as a mature adult.
Based on a friend’s recommendation, with a slight modification to make it my own, I’ve outlined five major goals or pathways in life and examined where I want to be with each of them in the coming years. I've been looking at how I am growing into partnership and parenthood, into my writing and speaking, into my embodied artistry (dance and movement), into my community leadership, and into a builder and leader in the technology space.
I'm seeing a lot of growth in each of those areas. Spending time this winter with my dear friends Michael and Alison and their new baby Ember in Hawaii has definitely lit up inside of me the desire to move closer to the journey of fatherhood. It has also awakened in me a deeper desire to show up in a supportive way for all of my best friends who are now parents. Though there is no baby on the way yet, the connections that are showing up in my life now seem to be of a much more mature variety than I had experienced in my 20s, and I feel the movement towards something more solid in that relationship space.
My writing and speaking are in a very active space of growth for me right now. This blog is an actualization of that, and I am actively working to level up my scaling across all different social media spaces. I'm having a fun time using my tools well, such as Notion and Generative AI, to support that sharing. This feels to be in early blossoming form, but I'm seeing a lot more growth over the next few months.
Embodied artistry is a broad catch-all for how I am growing into more physical embodiment, getting in shape, dancing more, expressing my embodiment through sound and play, and all things. I'm currently enjoying some good growth in that as I re-deepen into training in Qigong and tai chi and also commit more fully to attending a movement gym here in Boulder called ApeCo. This also seems to be growing as I deepen in relationship with others who are also committed to this kind of growth.
Community leadership has been one of the more exciting aspects of my growth lately. I recently stepped into the role of executive director for Consciousness Hacking Colorado (cohackco.org), and I'm actively working on expanding what we do as a community, facilitating meaningful intersectional dialogue, and working to be a force for more convergence around people who are exploring consciousness and consciously building technology. I've also been stepping up in terms of other events I host outside of CoHack, and it's a very engaged interest for me right now, how we create more coherence in our local community here in Boulder.
The final piece is one of the more interesting ones. At the time of writing my goals, most of my focus was around my career development inside of Google, but two months ago, I was laid off from Google, which has spurred a radical new phase in my life and career. After two years at Google, I've been enjoying being in the space of not having to contort myself into a M-F 9-5 structure, letting myself travel and flow freely, and letting my creativity move in a more natural and unforced way. For a while, it was looking likely I'd be joining a startup, but it didn’t quite line up, and now, I am actively working on building something new and exciting of my own, which I will share a lot more about in a future post. I'm also just really enjoying being in the spirit of building, and I am looking forward to collaborating with many others and helping to build whatever feels fun and beneficial.
So what's happening in my life right now is just being excited about growing, building, and connecting. My builder spirit is moving stronger than ever, and I love playing around with what's emerging in technology right now. I'm having a lot of fun building self-organizing systems within Notion, enjoying getting back into app development and playing with Flutter and FlutterFlow, and having so much fun playing with all the emerging AI technologies these days. My relationships feel really rich right now, and I'm delighting in the connections that are showing up and the way that growth is emerging through them. All in all, I just feel really glad to be alive and really stoked on life.
What is this blog?
I would like to close this off with a little bit on what this blog might be. Hopefully, through this blog post, you’ve gotten to know a bit more about me and what’s currently happening in my life, and maybe through that, gotten a sense for how I am already sharing. My intention is not to try to shape this blog too much, but rather to let it emerge, unforced. This word unforced was brought to me by my dad, Joe. Before he passed, Joe wrote a book about his life and his journey with cancer, Too Much Fun Dying to Stop Now. One of his favorite concepts was “unforced”, a reflection of the natural patterns he saw in nature, which he looked to embody in his own life. unforced.org was originally his domain and I am inspired now to pick it up and create from this space as a tribute to his legacy.
I don’t honestly know what will emerge in this space. As I'm in a building spirit, I intend to regularly build technology, with an emphasis on what I highlighted above. As I build, I'll likely share it here, inviting people into both the fruits of the creative process and the creative process itself. Now more than ever, I think it's important to explore our relationship with technology, so we don't fall into the age-old traps of making technology a god or a devil. Technology is a tool, and if we understand how these tools are built, we can have a healthier relationship with them. We can utilize these tools well in proper context, while also understanding their limitations. I'll be discussing the building of technology quite a bit in this blog, and probably even creating tutorials to support people building interesting things. Additionally, I'll actively explore the technology that excites me most in the world, and articulate how we might use it for the benefit of life and self-actualization.
For those who are not as into technology, don't worry! This blog will explore deeply from the perspective of a nature-oriented philosophy. As a reflection of my studies in Ecopsychology, I will be regularly writing on what I see about humanities’ relationship with itself and the natural world; with a strong emphasis on how a reorientation towards nature might emerge within the individual and society.
I've linked my master's thesis, titled "Radical Reorganization," which explores how we can change our social systems, especially our businesses, from the inside out by changing the way we participate. This is in line with my last blog post, which examined how we relate to growth in the economy. It's particularly relevant to me because I believe much of what was discussed there has been demonstrated in many recent layoffs. You can expect more of this kind of writing from me as I actively explore what it will look like to radically reorganize our society from the inside out.
I look forward to continuing to connect with all of you through this blog. My hope is for this to be a two-way street, where what is written here becomes a way of participating in a larger conversation in which we are all learning together.
A blog of the self,
Uncovering life's mysteries,
Building and growing.
Excited to see what emerges on this blog at the intersection of tech and nature and the more beautiful world that we’re building
Thoughtful and well written piece Aaron! Blessings 💖 🌟 🙌 🦅