in the wind weekly #4
Greetings my friends,
This week seems to have sped by in the blink of an eye. I’ve been reading a book called “Think Like a Monk” by Jay Shetty, which, is so on-brand for me it should be no surprise. This wasn’t a book that I searched for. Instead, I was at a clothing swap a few months ago and found myself next to a small stack of books that were a bit worn, lacking covers, with notes scrawled in the margins. Picking it up, I asked around if I could take it. It sat on my bookshelf for a while there, but when the week started, I felt drawn to the deep blue cover and started to dive in. I’m not sure where this letter is going to go, as always. Thank you for being with me. I hope that somewhere in this chaos of words you can take something away that makes your day or week even 1% better.
In all honesty, it’s been quite the week and I am struggling to fall into the familiar rhythm of the click of my keyboard and white letters scrawling across the dark background, entering a flow. Resistance, I am all too familiar with, and though this letter will reach you much later in the day than I’d hoped it to, I will find a way to write. Something.
I guess I will pull from the more practical concept that I noted from the beginning pages of the book, though there are so many questions of thought and what defines us as humans that might be interesting to get into. I think I’ve been living a bit too much in the philosophical realm as of late. So here’s a messy attempt at understanding the difference between motion and action.
The premise of a book is about the author, Jay, who moved through college spending his time split between ashrams and financial institutions. The reflection comes from how draw Jay felt to understand life more deeply and the importance of developing the mind, which would impact all aspects of life. Quite early on in the book, Jay suggest to incorporate reflection on three levels. These being:
A daily reflection on how the day went and what your feeling.
I am by no means a master of this and would not claim to be, but I sure know how much of a difference this one makes. I like the form that writing takes because it gives a chance to read back on what you have written, to see patterns and evolutions of thought and action.
Something that I think of often is how to continue to develop and incorporate structure into my daily systems to continuously move in towards the point on the horizon that my best self is aiming for. It seems all too easy to get lost in days and weeks and stray from the “plan” if I don’t incorporate this sort of reflection.
And more so, I am experimenting with more intentional prompts and thought processes in my writing. So often I just flow in a stream-of-consciousness and find myself where I need to be at the end. But I think there is massive growth and learning to be done through a more structured practice. I’ll let you know when I figure it out. If you figure it out, let me know?
Once a month going somewhere you’ve not been before.
Jay expresses the importance of this one is to experience your current self in an environment that is not within your usual patterns. If you’ve read “The Artist’s Way,” you’ll know that this one takes the form of a “weekly artist date.”
Maybe it’s a new park or a new town or just an event or concert that you wouldn’t normally go to, with the intention to note how you feel in and interact with the space.
Time and Time again, we return to the importance of emotional awareness and how, in knowing how we feel at any given moment, we can more adequately show up for the present moment as we are not getting lost in the “monkey mind” that has us so often on autopilot.
In throwing ourselves into new waters, it can spark a fresh sense of awareness more easily because it is outside of our routine movements. So, test it out! Go to a new coffee shop, or a concert with a genre of music you’ve never explored, or walk in a park you’ve never been to. Because… why not?
Getting involved with a hobby.
Hobby is a loaded term, I think, but I want to strip it down to a most basic version of something that we choose to do because it brings us some form of joy or challenge.
I’m not sure entirely but I wonder if some of the beauty here comes from letting a hobby be simply a hobby and not needing to be anything more than that. Maybe some of y’all can relate, but if you’re anything like me, you’ll start an activity “just to try it out” and some weeks later you wonder if you could turn it into something bigger than what it is.
And maybe, if that’s the natural progression of things, then by all means let it flow. I just wonder if there is some unnecessary pressure (internally or externally) for some of us to make something of the things we take part in. Or, maybe with enough structure it can be worth it to take to the next level. Who am I to say?
So, I will leave you there with a question: Would incorporating one or two or all three of these practices impact your life positively? And, if so, how might you be able to show up consistently in doing them?
I guess I have ended these all with questions because at the end of the day, we’re all just throwing spaghetti against the wall and seeing what sticks. And maybe none of it sticks, or some does, or you cook up your own pasta, spirals if you dig, and you throw it at your own metaphorical wall and create systems and structures that help to keep you in the present and aware of your own feelings and states of mind. If you wanna do something like that.
It feels uncomfortable to sink into such practicality in these letters. A bit empty without my usual wanderings into anecdotes at every corner. But, here we are, and this is what I’ve written, and maybe a moment of practicality can be a spark to one of you to start or re-start a contemplative practice.
I hope you steps feel light this week and that time moves at a pace that allows you the space you need. Maybe we all can find a moment or few to breathe deeply and remember that, as Jay suggests, “we are not our minds, but the mind is the vehicle by which we decide what is important in our hearts”. Make of that what you will, and above all, do try to be kind to yourself this week.
w/ metta,
Sage
