Flow Control: From Dams to Daydreams
August 17, 2025 | Issue #15 | Daydream & Folly
In this week's edition we’ll unpack:
Flow Control — What rivers and fluid dynamics can teach us about navigating boredom and responsibility.
The Praise of Folly — How embracing our mistakes might be the wisest move of all.
The Phantom Tollbooth — Why the real magic lies in the in-betweens, not the destinations.
May these words find you well, as we untangle our thoughts and explore new ideas…
“Time is a gift, given to you, given to give you the time you need, the time you need to have the time of your life.”
Flow Control: From Dams to Daydreams
RESPONSIBILITY, one of those obnoxiously big, sometimes impossibly heavy words… like the Hoover Dam. Which is a wondrous achievement of human ingenuity and truly a marvel to behold, yet—it’s only as powerful as the water passing through it.
It doesn’t create the water; it merely manages it.
Just as the Dam holds back floods, channels irrigation, and turns movement into energy, we build our own invisible “dams” in our own lives: those mental structures, boxes and bottles that manage, contain, and compartmentalize our commitments, emotions, memories, thoughts, traumas, victories and energy.
If you think about it, we’re all engineers of our own flow.
Insert: Hydrology & Fluid Dynamics, but the gentle version.
Hydrology studies how water moves through the Earth. Fluid Dynamics goes a bit further, it looks at how liquids flow, how they respond to forces, pressure, and obstacles. A river rushing around a rock. A whirlpool forming when water meets resistance or an opposing flow. The calm mirror-surface of a lake in the still summer air.
The most fascinating part of it? Those same principles apply to people, just as much as they do water. We each have our own “flow rate” depending on mood, environment, energy levels, and responsibilities.
Sometimes life moves like it’s a smooth, bubbling, babbling brook—predictable, peaceful. Other times, it’s violently turbulent, a chaotic, swirling, hard to control flash flood. In fluid dynamics however, turbulence isn’t always seen as inherently bad; it mixes nutrients, stirs life, and creates change.
“Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility.”
Often mistaken for stagnation, a trickle that once was a creek, is Boredom. However, in hydrology, a slow flow isn’t wasted time. It allows sediments to settle, ecosystems to restore balance, and water to become clear again.
The same can be said for us. Those quiet, seemingly unproductive stretches of time are actually where clarity forms. They are low-energy seasons where our minds drift, where ideas settle into place. In this modern day culture, boredom can be seen as a form of resistance—and it can be a healthy one at that.
And when the stakes are high? We get clever. We find new ways, we build new channels, adapt our structures, and control our own flood gates. But when things get messy, our instinct is often to pass the blame.
“Who’s responsible for this mess?!” Responsibility becomes tangled with guilt, embarrassment, or shame. It’s like saying, “I don’t like this feeling—take it!”
But in truth, responsibility isn’t punishment. It’s simply navigation. It’s about learning how to move forward without letting the currents drag us somewhere we never intended to go.
Fun Takeaway: Like the Hoover Dam, we can’t create the water, but we can choose how to guide it. No matter if our lives feel like a rushing flood, a still pond, or a meandering stream, the shape of our flow is our responsibility, no one else's. Boredom is not failure; turbulence is not doom. They are all simply parts of the river.
Philosophy of the Week:
The Praise of Folly
Desiderius Erasmus (1466–1536) was a Dutch Renaissance humanist, theologian, and writer often called the “Prince of the Humanists.” He lived in an age of great upheaval, just as Europe was shifting from medieval traditions into the turbulence of the Reformation.
Unlike many others from his time, Erasmus didn’t seek power or revolution. Instead, he sought to hold up a mirror, encouraging people to laugh at themselves and rethink the world with humility.
“For what that passes among mortals everywhere is not full of folly, done be fools in the presence of fools?”
His most famous work, The Praise of Folly (1511), is a satirical essay in which Folly, the Goddess herself is the speaker. Through her voice, Erasmus pokes fun at human pride, vanity, and our endless attempts to avoid responsibility. From politicians to scholars to everyday people, no one escapes her sharp wit.
Yet beneath the humor lies a serious point: folly—our mistakes, blind spots, and even our boredom—are part of what makes us human.
In the context of our own “flow,” The Praise of Folly reminds us that life isn’t about perfect control or rigid responsibility. Sometimes, embracing our foolishness helps us see the currents we’re caught in and maybe even laugh as we’re carried along.
Day2Day Survival Tip:
Give Future You a Gift—
Think of it as a little time travel experiment: past you looking out for future you.
Every action today sends ripples forward, to tomorrow, to next week, to next year, and even to the you three years from now.
The trick is to do one small thoughtful, intentional act today, so that it makes tomorrow, next month, or next year a little lighter.
Tomorrow Me: Lay out clothes, prep breakfast, or leave a kind note for yourself. Tomorrow you will wake up already cared for. Then, if you want to take it a step further…
Next Week Me: Make one small dent in a project you’ve been putting off. A head start, even just 15 minutes can feel like a gift a week later.
Next Year Me: Start a habit that your future self will be glad you stuck with—whether that’s saving a little money, working out, or tending to your garden.
Three-Year Me: Invest in something that grows slowly but surely—skills, relationships, or health.
Think of it as: Planting seeds, not trees. Each act, no matter how small, is a way of saying across time: “I’ve got you. You’re not alone in this.”
Words of Wisdom:
Sometimes wisdom arrives wrapped in whimsy.
In Norton Juster’s The Phantom Tollbooth, young Milo begins his journey restless and bored, convinced that nothing is interesting. But along the way he discovers that meaning isn’t just in destinations, it’s in those spaces between.
As one character gently reminds him:
“But someday you’ll reach them all, for what you learn today, for no reason at all, will help you discover all the wonderful secrets of tomorrow.”
Thanks for reading!
Until next time,
Guthrie
Ps. To continue your own phantom tollbooth journey, here’s some breadcrumbs for you to follow…
The Phantom Tollbooth Audiobook
