How am I? Thank you for asking. Not great. My nervous system is out of sync and feels like a faulty smoke alarm. The aphorism, “between a rock and a hard place” grows trite with overuse as the Earth’s populations are subjected to an incessant barrage of information (factual, propaganda, and in-between) shooting from the oft-quoted “firehose of daily news.” Serious people the world over reel from this seeming rip in the fabric of the universe.
I use a meditation and mindfulness app, Breethe, as a coping mechanism to help regulate the fight/flight or freeze response of the sympathetic nervous system. The parasympathetic system, a kind of there-there comforter, allows for calmer emotions. The body seeks homeostasis, a function to maintain a stable internal environment when external conditions are swinging wildly out of control. By setting a daily intention such as, “May Peace prevail,” and observing routine or rituals, we tease a productive life. Thomas Moore (the author) writes, “Appointed hours free us from the burden of free will.” Equanimity regarding them can then meet us.
Summer and early fall are busy times on the croft. I tweak my schedule to allow for my watering practice, a funny way to describe the Monday-Saturday period of pulling the hose around to orchard trees, grapevines, bushes and plants. Jeff cares for the two gardens’ watering needs and the weeding. Among the myriad chores. My latest book, CROFTER, A Wyoming Homestead Manual and Radical Memoir, Rooted in Place, describes the work further and is designed to inform the next caretakers.
I like to wake around 5:20—(if I have slept well). Sitting up in bed, coffee at hand, I write in my journal then plan my day, a helpful practice. The current intention is to postpone checking emails and texts until I have completed the morning ritual, including my writing stint in the cabin. Jeff and I remind one another often to guard our early morning peace of mind. Choosing gentle music over a radio newscast helps. One news up-date a day should suffice. Shouldn’t it? I’ll report back in a month to let you know how my experiment is going.
So, how am I? . . . How are you? I ask. During my morning walk I learned an insightful phrase by Happiness teacher, Gretchen Rubin: “One day, ‘now’ will be a long time ago.” How are you now?
Braeburn Croft 