Read Local

-
The poet, Mary Oliver, has long sung to me with her elegant and spare use of words. Regarding attention, Mary Oliver wrote "To pay attention is our endless and proper work." Endless and proper work - in my experience, those few words contain multitudes.

Other than what I pay attention to, there's not a heck of a lot I can really control in this life. I may set an intention with the conviction that I am in charge of my trajectory, though causes and conditions usually determine outcomes more than any hardheaded or steely resolve on my part. Witness the ongoing fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic! While much of life may well be beyond any of our individual control, the ability to volitionally direct attention remains not only under our control, but is our endless and proper work.

As part of this endless and proper work, I recently deleted the most time and energy sucking apps from my various devices. It was easy to bid adieu to Facebook and Instagram, though much harder to part with the New York Times app (though I'm still "on social," albeit briefly checking via my desktop computer on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays). As I mentioned in my last blog posting, I worried that I'd lose touch with the comings and goings of our world. In the pursuit of paying attention, I did not want to sacrifice being an informed citizen.

My local paper reminds me that much of "the work"
occurs at the community level.

To partially address that concern, I renewed my commitment to "keeping it local." Beyond shopping locally and supporting nearby farmers, I recently subscribed to the local paper, the Mt. Horeb Mail. Each week I learn about the many positive things going on in my community, free from the attention-grabbing headlines that make it seem like the world is on an inescapable collision course with disaster.

In each week's paper I learn about local students who are giving back. I am introduced to local people who are going out on a limb to pursue their dreams of literally opening businesses on Main Street. I read about local people who have formed organizations that directly improve lives, the environment and our community. In short, whenever I read the local paper, my confidence in humanity is at least somewhat buoyed by connecting to the community I'm embedded within and emergent from. As a complement to the weekly news magazine I read, subscribing to the local paper has been a welcome support in pursuing the endless and proper work of paying attention.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

30-years in the Driftless

-
Image
Thirty years ago I inadvertently landed in Wisconsin's Driftless Region. Lured by the call of Yoga, community and sustainable agriculture, I found a place that I have called home for the better part of my life. Over Memorial Day Weekend 1994, I made the somewhat impulsive decision to relocate to Blue Mounds, WI; a decision I have not regretted. I was drawn to the Driftless by the 1994 Memorial Day Teacher's Hang Out Weekend The Spring of 1994 was a pivotal time in my life. I'd recently graduated from college, and with a group of friends, co-founded the St. Paul Yoga Center . Despite the path that was unfolding, I felt an itchiness to explore and reevaluate my emerging adult life. I yearned to live closer to the land, and simultaneously felt that the Yoga I practiced and taught was detached from the natural world. The call of the 4th Annual Memorial Day Teacher's Hang Out Weekend could not have come at a more opportune time. It seems almost quaint, now, to receive an inv...
Read more

100,000 Miles on the Tesla

-
Image
I've been a car guy  my entire life. Toy cars were my childhood obsession. As a teenager, I somehow took obsessed  to the next level, and literally memorized tracts of my favorite auto repair manuals. (Yes, I had favorite repair manuals). I slightly downregulated these obsessions in my middle years, though I was still keenly aware of the cars around me, gimbaling to lock in on an unfamiliar model or automotive rarity. This Tesla Model Y has been on many roadtrips. When the Tesla Model S came out in 2012, I was swept off my feet by its aesthetics, performance and the underlying technology. Initially Tesla sightings were infrequent, and I employed the unproven technique of staring/not-staring in an inept attempt to avoid stalking the early adopters. Within a few years, however, the more-affordable Model 3 opened the sales flood gates, and it suddenly seemed like Teslas were everywhere. The "Idiot Book" was my favorite repair manual. By the time the Tesla Model Y (the small ...
Read more

Aging & Inflammation

-
Image
Aging well is largely about managing inflammation. You will likely feel better and have more energy if your baseline levels of inflammation are lower, and will likely struggle more with aches, pains and low energy when your baseline levels of inflammation are higher. Managing inflammation is essential to aging well, and requires more than anti-inflammatory supplements and down time . Reducing baseline levels of inflammation requires the strategic application of inflammation. Known as hormesis , regular applications of inflammation can lower baseline levels of inflammation. To some small extent, that which doesn’t kill you may well make you stronger. The trick is getting the dose just right, as the dose of inflammation either makes the poison or the medicine. Yes, this is an eBike. I adjust the level of assist to maintain the just-right challenge. Exercise, particularly cardio, is inflammatory. This is among the many reasons why doing cardio is an essential element in aging well. In th...
Read more