Sleepwalking No More
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Hello friends, While out running errands the other day, I paused to snap a photo of a sticker on a concrete barrier. The sticker read, in bold print, Realize You’re Alive. It seems like a simple injunction, doesn’t it? Too obvious to say out loud. Of course we realize we’re alive! We’re breathing, aren’t we? We’re thinking. Moving through the world… But do we actually pause long enough to feel this? This thing called us, on this planet, rotating in space, living. How often are we sleepwalking through life, rather than actively living? Is our morning routine rote, or intentional? Do we notice our surroundings as we walk or drive or take the bus to work? How much consciousness is sunken into our internal complaints? Do we pause to notice and breathe? To make a choice about what comes next? We all make choices, every moment of the day, but all too often, they are choices made by default. It’s a powerful thing to consciously choose. If life has become too filled with routine, the start of a new year—no matter how arbitrary a marker—is a great time to make small changes. We can re-set our intentions and strategize on how to follow through. We can commit to a series of small daily choices. What kind of year would you like to have? What facets of that are in your control? What are three small shifts in attitude or habit you can make to bring about what you want, need, or desire? May we all cultivate lives filled with presence and choice. Best wishes - Thorn I'll be launching a revised, expanded edition of Resistance Matters on Kickstarter, January 21st. To be notified upon launch, please click the link!
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T. Thorn Coyle
Hello friends, There are a wide variety of humans, but today I’m thinking about two basic types. There are the people who take themselves out of the picture. Write themselves out of the story. Slink to the edges of the frame. Others take center stage at all times. They fill the image, crowding out or overshadowing those around them. These people are the stars of the show, and the only Main Characters. But here’s the thing: no matter what our tendencies or training, we would all do well to...
Hello friends, I wrote this week’s newsletter in advance, because I’m camping with no cell service. It’s so good for my psyche to disconnect from electronics, stare at mountains, and walk along streams for a week. I’m a mind-racer, and this disconnection—like meditation or prayer—helps slow me down inside. The meditation on nature is always a gift to me, even in the small city where I live. For example, on the summer solstice, it was cool enough for me to take a long afternoon walk. I headed...
Hello friends, It’s Pride weekend, and I’m thinking of all the brave people who fought so hard to be allowed to simply exist. And I think of those who are still fighting, myself included. Do we want to fight? No. We’d rather just live our lives, do our work, laugh with friends, raise families, read books, and tend our gardens. Just like immigrants and other people under attack do. “The first Pride was a riot,” it is often said, and whether something is called a riot or an uprising depends on...