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Sep 12/Elul 19
Here’s something I want to do more of this coming year, hopefully each day: walk away from my screens and go take a walk, with no phone, to where trees are, and some peace of mind.
The temptation to answer one more email, scroll down for one more something, etc. is as strong as the tides, and yet my need for less of this is stronger. I am aware of the ironies of writing this on screen for you to read on yours – but there is no contradicition. We are blessed to have technlogoy at our fingertips but we are charged to take control of how often and when not.
And to walk away from screens at least once daily, consicously, to just be, and breath, and feel and think without a ping to suck us back into the elsewhere.
David Roberts wrote this fantastic article called ‘reboot-or-die’ – right up my fallowlab alley – extolling the virtues of walking: “We are shaped by evolution to heed the ebb and flow of drifting clouds, rustling grass, and singing birds. Unlike voluntary or directed attention—the kind required by, say, a spreadsheet—“effortless attention” produces no fatigue. It’s the mental equivalent of floating on your back, and a rested mind is a more productive mind. In his new book, The Distraction Addiction, technology scholar Alex Soojung-Kim Pang notes that the pace of walking encourages contemplation and reverie. While the conscious mind is wandering, the subconscious is chugging away, which is why moments of insight or creativity come so often during activities that allow daydreaming—taking a shower, weeding the garden. Thinkers from Rousseau to Thoreau to Nietzsche have sworn by walking. Charles Darwin found it so important, he had a specially designed trail constructed on his property.
Reliably, after about a half-hour of walking, ideas start bubbling up.”
I’ve started doing this a few weeks ago. 20 min. or so, usually in the evening. I don’t have a dog, don’t smoke, so just going for a walk, alone, no phone for music or a call or any other distraction, to the nearby park, a couple rounds. no drama.
What can I fix in my life to help me be calmer, more centered, more here and now?
No need to count my steps with a fancy new iwatch. This isn’t about calories although of course it’s about health.
And once a week, if one dares, totally unplug for 24 hours. Walk gently through the sabbath of the soul.
Shabbat Shalom.
