Back From The Edge

I normally don’t get a chance to listen to Morning Edition on NPR. However, the other day I caught the last segment. It was an interview with William Powers the author of Hamlet’s BlackBerry: A Practical Philosophy for Building a Good Life in the Digital Age. The title grabbed me (it is truly an obscure Shakespearean reference). As I listened to the interview, I realized it fit the theme of slowness I have been exploring this week. I haven’t read this book yet, so I can’t recommend it. However, it is intriguing to me.

The author begins with the following: “This book is about a yearning and a need. It’s about finding a quiet, spacious place where the mind can wander free. We all know what that place feels like, and we used to know how to get there. But lately we’re having trouble finding it”. That bit sings to me. As I venture back from the edge, I have become increasingly aware of how busy my mind is. I have been exploring different ways to get to a place where my “mind can wander free”.

I have begun reading Carl Horné’s book In Praise of Slowness: How A Worldwide Movement Is Challenging the Cult of Speed. The two books appear to explore much the same theme but from different angles.

Since I haven’t read the book yet, I didn’t include it in the rotation of weekly recommendations. I decided to go ahead and post in a rare Saturday posting so I could include it in this week’s theme.

If you’ve read it, I’d love to know what you thought of it.

Yesterday I posted a video in which Carl Honore talked about the slow movement. It struck me because I am an adrenaline junky. I’m not into extreme sports, I don’t ride a motorcycle, I don’t parachute, I don’t do any of that stuff. What I do is distract myself and am constantly looking for a new stimulus. I move from activity to activity without pause. I go from working on the computer, to watching TV, to playing on the computer. My day is full of large and small adrenaline hits. One of the most difficult things for me to do is to be still and quiet. I am nurturing a habit of daily meditation. I have started recording my success rate. As of today it was 50%. I find it very difficult to sit still for 10 minutes and when I do meditate I invariably have monkey mind. This is where my thoughts jump from one to the other just like monkey swinging and jumping from tree to tree.

Professor Guttorm Fløistad summarized the slow movements philosophy this way:

The only thing for certain is that everything changes. The rate of change increases. If you want to hang on you better speed up. That is the message of today. It could however be useful to remind everyone that our basic needs never change. The need to be seen and appreciated! It is the need to belong. The need for nearness and care, and for a little love! This is given only through slowness in human relations. In order to master changes, we have to recover slowness, reflection and togetherness. There we will find real renewal.

I ordered a book by Carl Honore entitled In Praise of Slowness: How A Worldwide Movement Is Challenging the Cult of Speed. It will be my next read. I’ll let you know what I think. In the mean time, take a look at the website http://www.slowmovement.com/ it provides insights and resources for those interested in the slow movement.

Steven Pressfield is normally known for his novels (The Legend of Bagger Vance; Gates of Fire). In The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles, however, he delves into the artist’s psyche. The book is best termed self-help. The War of Art deals with what he terms “Resistance”. Resistance is the negative force one encounters when attempting to create art, be creative, or make positive change. He helps to identify, understand, and overcome this enemy so that the individual can achieve “the unlived life within”.

I have reread the book many times and I take away different insights each time. As the quote from Esquire states on the cover, the book is “a vital gem…a kick in the ass”

I am in the middle of reading what has turned out to be a phenomenal book. It is entitled Wrestling with Our Inner Angels: Faith, Mental Illness, and the Journey to Wholeness. It is about a psychologist who is a nun exploring the place of faith and spirituality in the treatment of individuals with mental health issues. It also turns out to be about how her blazing this trail brings her healing as well.

It is a short read (only about 140 pages) but I am finding it full of insight and beauty.

I’d love for you to read it and let me know what you think.

One of the freeing things I have implemented is what Merlin Mann calls Inbox Zero. It is a practice of zeroing out my email every time I check it. It does not mean responding to every email, but it also does not mean just leave it be. Instead, it is a series of decisions about what action needs to be taken based on this email.

Below is Merlin talking to the folks at Google about how to tame their inbox.

I have tried a number of Getting Things Done (GTD) tools in an attempt to make it easier to bring my box to zero. The one that works for me is a Firefox add-on to be used with Gmail call GTDinbox (now known as Active Inbox). The program integrates with my Gmail and provides me with read to go labels for emails. It makes it easy to decide on an action and to find the email later to take action.

It is so satisfying not only seeing that my inbox is empty, but that I have either acted on the email or sorted them into the appropriate places for action or reference. It is like removing a popcorn kernel from my brain.

Below is a sample of David Allen’s book:

There many actions and behaviors I have put into place in the last year that have allowed my mind to calm down and has allowed me to be at rest and feel contented.

1. I have started using David Allen’s method of Getting Things Done (GTD). It is a bottom up system that is based on ubiquitous capture of thoughts, ideas, action items (“oh, yeah, I’ve got to…”).

2. Daily meditation. I spend 10 minutes every morning focused on my breathing. It is not a religious exercise, it is an exercise of living in the moment (yes, I do have monkey mind quite a bit).

3. The practice of doing what I am doing. Most of the time while I am doing something I am somewhere else in my thoughts. When I drink my tea, I remember to be present to drinking tea. When I am speaking with someone, I try to focus on the words I am hearing rather than what I want to say next. I find that the practice of living these simple moments translates into my living moment to moment with more ease.

I will write about GTD in another post. But below is a primer on GTD via our friends at YouTube.

What is it that helps you to feel at peace and to be present?

The Sufi poet Rumi wrote: “Out beyond ideas of right and wrong doing there is a field. I’ll meet you there”.

Communication is at the center of so much pain in my life. I have been working for years to learn how to communicate more effectively. I am still not a very good communicator, but I have come a long way.

I heard a part of a presentation by Marshall Rosenberg. His entry in Wikipedia says it well:  “[He is] the creator of Nonviolent Communication, a communication process that helps people to exchange the information necessary to resolve conflicts and differences peacefully”. At first glance it may seem this style of communication is best suited for negotiations between companies and countries. However, I have found it useful in my interactions with individuals. For me it is about understanding what is at the heart of another person’s communication with me. It is about getting beyond the exterior and into the heart of the feeling and the meaning. I highly recommend his books, especially Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life.

What has been important to you in developing more effective communication?