008: How to avoid burn-out + scarcity (via Permaculture Principle #2: Catch + store energy).3/29/2014
(A note to my dear subscribers who receive these posts via email: You may need to actually come to the site to hear audio, and see video. Thanks.) mentioned in this episode: * Two working definitions of energy, for both our macro and micro experiences with it. * Two LOWER forms of energy that we are quite addicted to. * Two HIGHER forms of energy that we can easily implement. * Chronic sleep deprivation, shallow breathing + unexamined habits/patterns are exposed as energy drains that feed into other unsustainable cycles. * The beautiful efficiency of innate wisdom + rain gardens. * The value of auditing your life, and making a stand for your well-being. "We need not just tinkering, but transformation of the system."Stepping ever-deeper into the truth of your heart, and the purpose of your life, does two major things:
Both of these outcomes are wonderful: attracting the harmonious, and releasing the ho-hum-gobbledygook! Allow the shake-out. Instigate it, even. Q4U: How do you practice archery in your relationships + and in your biz/work? Rumi said, "Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray.”
I met someone who allows exactly that with her life. Meet Cheryl Ann Williamson, and be inspired by the beautiful, botanical, artistic themes of a life well lived.
There are just a few notes this week, so please enjoy listening. Below are links to people/things mentioned during the show:
"Do something for yourself, while also reducing your adverse impact on the world." (David Holmgren) There are a lot of things I don't do well. Some things I am remarkably bad at include:
The above things cripple me -- like Superman's kryptonite -- and I recently learned why. I, literally, don't have the energy to spare for that nonsense. I learned that I have half the ideal amount of hemoglobin, which is the part of the red blood cells that provide oxygen (energy!) to the body. It is the gas that makes the car go, and my tank has perpetually been on half, never full. I always knew I was anemic, but a recent hospitalization -- the first in my life -- taught me I've been dangerously anemic. Hence, my hard-wired tendency to want to conserve my energy for conversations and activities that matter. When something is limited (like my energy has been), it takes on a preciousness. It is of value, and not to be squandered. In America -- the land of plenty, abundance and 348 different kinds of toothpaste -- we rarely feel scarcity. Even those with low to no cash flow still experience a high degree of bounty the majority of the world will never know. So we don't readily feel the preciousness of things. We lack the inclination to ration our attention for things of high value. We settle for junky mediocrity so long, and so routinely, until it has become the norm... while The Exquisite or The Deep feels burdensome, rather than savory. Totally backwards. In a weird way, I am saying thank you for my anemia... which has very likely contributed to my need for simplicity, non-hurriedness, smart systems and a life that will not force me to keel over from panting exhaustion, trying to keep up with the Joneses who, behind closed doors, and according to most happiness polls... are actually lacking peace of mind, contentment and/or strongly derived meaningfulness. An iron regimen should improve my physicality and, hopefully, give me the energy to plant thousands of ideas, seeds and trees! Barring anymore unforeseen mishaps, we'll be back on track this coming Monday, where you'll hear from a gardener I admire, and we'll also start talking about the Permaculture Principles, one principle at a time. If you want to get a head-start on that, consider these three words, "Observe and Interact." What I'd love to learn from you right now is: What is precious to you? Share below! Q5: [Continued from last week.] "If we are to tell a new cultural story, and reconsider the economic objective of rapid consumerism in the United States, then how do you envision the exchange of goods and services supporting humanity?" A1: Please see the extensive work of Charles Eisenstein + his Sacred Economics. A2: Our current money system, for all its flaws, gives us a chance to figure out how we want to be in relationship with other people. What we want to do or provide in exchange for the means to meet our physical needs. Superficially, we can treat this opportunity with a soul-less approach. Just prepare a resume, and get a skill-matching job. Or ride on the back of market trends, and do what we see other people in business doing. Or, we can access meaningful work outside of ourselves, by first looking inside of ourselves. I've been in the workforce for 25 years -- as a traditional employee, contracted freelancer and self-employed entrepreneur. Regardless the "form" of work I was doing, I was always... always... reaching for congruence. I *tried* to assimilate. You have no idea the years and effort I put into denying my core... my innate wisdom... all so I could attain what culture told me was "right" or "successful." Eventually, I got soul-sick. High-perceivers... people who feel a lot, and feel deeply, often struggle with existential suffering... because, so often, our inner world of harmonious ideals does not align with the outer world of harsh cruelty and inefficiency. We are the canaries in the coal-mine... detecting the lethal gas that's currently -- fraudulently -- being passed as "air." So, it behooves us to -- sooner rather than later -- just give in to that impulse to create lives that actually make sense to us... feel good, through and through, to us... that honor the urges, leanings and prompts within our heart. They are there to lead us down the most beautiful and amazing path, that we shape with contours unique to us. Yes, this requires a machete. And the bushwhacking of outdated, external scripts that we deeply know have been blocking our personal, and planetary, well-being. This bushwhacking removes the confusing, yet widely accepted, destruction that's been crowding out our most desired landscape of a life. So, we cut. To clear. A path of our own choosing. I offer you these seven steps to becoming the work you love. This is the ultimate practice of personal authority. E mpty. Get still + silent. Turn off all outside noises and distractions. Unitask. Give extremely focused attention to the next six steps. M indful. "Set the mood" for this important exploration with a meditative process. You can concentrate on your breath, and observe each inhalation and exhalation. You can gaze at a lit candle, and observe each sway and pulse of its flame. You can knit... walk... garden... wash dishes... it really doesn't matter what you do, just make sure that whatever it is, you rpresence is undivided. Please watch the 4.5 minute video below (thanks, Barry!) for an example of what mindfulness can feel like. P erceive. Now, with your mind clear and fully convened, you begin the internal work. Start with a "litmus test," by thinking about your current work, and noting what within that work makes you feel expansive? Next, notice what within your work makes you feel constricted? Now, journey back in history a bit, to your childhood. What preoccupied you in those days? What habit, hobby or activity gave you the greatest delight in those days? Your remembered answer to that question, very likely, is The Seed of what your heart most wants to do. That Seed was planted in innocence, and was completely free of corruption... it was completely free from other people's expectations and/or fears... it the most original blueprint you can possibly source back to in this lifetime. That Seed is strong, and has endured years of doubt and disbelief that it could really be a viable life path. It has probably endured years of neglect, dismissal and even scorn, for being the thing you want, but you have convinced yourself it is not attainable. It IS, in fact, attainable. But you must reject -- bushwhack -- the cynical choir. Off with their heads!, lest you continue listening to them, while ignoring your own heart-guidance. Be especially careful of those voices -- internal and external -- that try to shame you with their self-righteous ideas about what's practical. It sounds noble, but it's usually fear all dressed up, in its favorite disguise. Rumi has said it best: "When setting out on a journey, do not seek advice from someone who never left home." A ssociate with like-minded people. Now, presuming that your childhood preoccupation still gives you a sense of joy and aliveness, seek out the company of other people who are already doing some aspect of that Special Seed. This is mindful networking, and the folks within those related clusters are your teachers and mentors. Being near them will energize you in a way that's hard to describe. These people represent your childhood self, and your future self. And your right-now self can more easily bridge the two by seeing how others have already accomplished what you previously thought impossible to do. T ell others about your dream. You can do this a number of ways. For example, I started this podcast as a way of "telling my dream." You may prefer other creative expressions. It doesn't matter how you tell, just that you tell. Those out-loud statements are sun and water for your Seed. Nourish it. H old steady. Once you say out-loud what it is you are pursuing -- which is the truth of your life -- your resiliency will be tested in a variety of ways, but mainly: through unsupportiveness of others, and your own fear. This is the hardest part of this process. You will want to retreat and "go back" to the land you know, even if it's barren. Hold your ground, in spite of doubts that arise. Hold your Dream Seed close to you at all times. Strengthen it with your favorable thoughts. Interact with it, through research, experimentation, play and study. Commit yourself to mastering the expression of your Seed. This challenging step is actually the process of becoming the work you love. It is both evolutionary and organic. This step matures and readies you to bring your Seed from inside your heart, out into the marketplace. Your transformed presence in the marketplace uplifts it from shallow greed to deep possibility. Y ield. This step is actually two activities. The first is yielding in the passive form of surrender and trust (basically, waiting in confident expectation, which is similar to the step above). The second is yielding in the active form of gathering, collecting and harvesting. You will start to see external results in response to the internal seed-work you've done. Enjoy the fruits of your labor. There is a lot more to be said about this, but I wanted to give you a starting place for the interior work needed to revolutionize your exterior work. I hope you find it helpful. PoeticFlow: How I got from SAD (separated, alienated, disconnected) to GLAD (green, liberated, aligned, depth.) Supreme sadness woke me from the American dream that ran on the steam of my distractedness; my chosen stress; and wasteful mess (es) Spilled milk? Spilled oil! Exhausted soil, that gives hard, pastel, square tomatoes, that have neither taste, nor nutrition. But boy, are they GREAT for shipping! We've lost sight of the whole mission. But a civilization -- built on stolen land, by enslaved labor -- is hardly concerned about ethics. Let alone epic catastrophes, that we could absolutely end, if we'd just lift our heads + hearts from the sand. |
The question "How are you?" is PROFOUND. But it has been watered-down to a synonym for "Hello." Forced or fake auto-responses of obligated okay-ness are expected. (And if you are going through something tragic, it really doesn't matter! Every social encounter OPENS with this well-established Ritual of Insincerity.) The question "How are you?" prompts an answer that begins with "I AM _____________." This means many times each day, you are invited to SPEAK THE MOST POWERFUL STATEMENT that can be spoken of yourself. And the socially-expected thing to do, is be QUICK + SLICK with your answer. For a change... TAKE YOUR TIME, and tell your truth. ✍🏾 |