My current move is helping to host "media social" nights with friends every few weeks. Technically these events oppose the non-consumption initiative you touch on, but hear me out! We gather in person to share our art - the films, essays, poems, paintings, and sculptures we might usually post on social media - and instead of holding our breath for the dopamine hit of likes and comments, we get to experience responses on the spot. We give praise and ask questions. We share what the piece makes us think about. If invited, we offer suggestions for expansion. It's analog social media, but slower, deeper. Similar to your enjoyment of voice messaging, I love experiencing my friends physically embody their work and their genius. The in-person format allows each artist to fill up the whole room--a whole network of nervous systems. It's a really beautiful thing to witness, and I come away from these evenings with a full cup, absolutely rearing to create. I hope creators and makers everywhere get to experience something like it <3
Marin, THANK YOU for this example. Gorgeous. I love love love it. Gathering in any format to uphold connection and art is naturally soothing to the nervous systems involved. It's so good.
Two of my closest friends and I have decided to forgo texting each other. If we want to talk to each other, we call! Yesterday marked 2 weeks of this experiment and we all feel such joy in this arrangement - spontaneous 3 way calls, quick calls to say share something small. Talking in real time feels so much less distracting than reading a text. We were reflecting that, if we can't talk, we just don't answer the phone and this means we don't carry the sense of urgency or incompleteness that comes from reading a text and trying to remember to reply at some point. There's a spaciousness in not receiving information until we can talk about it.
Another way I've been reclaiming my attention is to focus on my breath or the feeling of my body while I'm in in-between moments - walking to work, driving, waiting for students to arrive to my classes, etc. In those in-between moments I have a habit of turning to my phone or ruminating on life's building to-do list. Last week, I practiced just being present in those moments, giving my mind some breathing room. I noticed how much holding I was doing - a feeling of tightness. Noticing that let me relax and soften.
Anna, thank you for sharing these. LOVE how the calling eliminates the urgency and that you are making space to receive information when you are ready. Also, the in-between moments. That is exactly what people name as the important creative seed space. Turning the phone wipes it away, and I hear you making tons of space for it to be there. Beautiful.
Hi Molly, voice-memos (vs voice-texting) is what I call them and they’re gold. They’re what close geographically miles to heart-connected souls and smiles. I love hearing the ambient noises of other spaces and time zones. Also for me, walking is the best. My body wants 2-5 miles a day and I’m enjoying the challenge some days to get it, along a river, in a mall (was REAL cold), or across campus. Your newsletters continue to be guideposts and mirrors. 🙌🏽
I loved this piece,Molly. Outside job, yes indeed. I at last am at the point I can take my life outside this room a bit, having spent much time on the inside work the last couple of years. World travel solo takes you outside no matter what, but it's been a couple months of finding my feet and some rhythm and ways to connect to so much foreign-ness. I joined meet up groups for writers and one for " meditators" I guess is the best description. I'm nourished by the after event dinner conversation on mind states and presence. The writers groups though are super edgy for me , like I've never done it and today I'm going to one and everyone reads a 4-5 minute story. But I've had a lot of contemplation on the spoken word bouncing around in my head and with the loam experiences sort of urging me forward , I'm trying this. I'm so very intrigued by the experiential difference when a story is heard vs read and how really so recent reading is in our human development. , Even just over 100 years ago most people didn't read. And I deeply wonder about the value of these lost connections. The written vs spoken and all the skills that were lost in that transition. Valuable skills. Skills we need right now. Skills of deeply listening to each other and remembering. People had to remember because they couldn't just Google.... Anyway. This is what going outside with right now. One thing. I'll see what else shows up
Cynthia, yes! The written vs spoken is so on my mind too. I crave the spoken far more than I ever have (as a receiver and as a creator). I love hearing that you are stepping into the space of shared story and that edge for you. So curious to see what unfolds.
Thank you for this, Molly. I opened the email, actually intending to unsubscribe! But it was so compelling, I'm sticking around for a while! I'm trying to unsubscribe from more and more lists as one way to maintain sanity. And I love the both/and of the inside/outside job. I'm doing some new energy work, and it is really helping my unhooking from technology. My baseline is no longer having that addictive pull towards technology, unless I'm putting my own work out there. Then when I'm submitting my work to the world, I get hooked in that loop again! How do we manage that situation? How do you manage that situation? Do you get the pull to check comments, to see who has opened emails, to see who is liking your work?
Oh my, Marta, this honest response is WONDERFUL. I unsubscribe from so much and want to applaud others when they are doing it (even if it's from my newsletter). Truly. less is more. And whatever is left should sing to you. In terms of how I manage it... I do occasionally check stats and such, but I have learned over the years to not get attached. It's hard. It's exciting when more people subscribe and I still get a little sad downward chest energy when I see unsubscribes, BUT, I then zoom out and remember that the goal is that everyone finds their way and their media and so someone unsubscribing from my work is hopefully for the greater good. It feels cleaner. I don't want to be an annoying thing no one reads in their inbox, you know? I do read comments because comments = connection and I'm a connecting animal!
I don’t know if you’re reading comments whilst on sabbatical. I just want to say a generalized thank you for your work. In all honesty, I skim your newsletters because I get way too much content and I can’t deal with it. But I also get good tidbits that seem to be just what I need. I read Body Full of Stars years ago when I snitched a copy that was donated to the library I worked at at the time. I was a 25 year old who was afraid to reveal I wanted to be a mother and your book was just what I needed then. I still have it. Your newsletters now are what I need as I also happen to be reclaiming my attention. So cheers and thank you! :)
Ema, Thank you for this! I think you speak to exactly what I'm saying: we are all getting too much content and we can't deal with it. There it is! I'm so touched to hear your story about Body Full of Stars. Makes me smile.
Thank you for this, Molly. I love the clear distinction, and considering what can be changed Outside. Will have to compost and see what arises as an Outside move that would feel nourishing. I'm grateful for the wonder, it's planted a seed.
I'm a big fan of vocal messages, too! Stopped having capacity to write long emails in 2019 while deep in grief, and turned to vocaroo.com if sending an email. I didn't have energy to craft exactly what I wanted in typed words. Recording vocal after vocal grew my trust in Presence and Enough, and now it's the default. I love having that energy back for myself. And I call them "vocal messages" *shrug* ;P
A decade+ or so ago when I was more on the internet, writing on Medium, I wondered what the internet would look/feel like if all blog post comments (& FB posts) were vocal recordings, or video of your human self speaking your words. I thought it would be a kinder place with more nuance.
My current move is helping to host "media social" nights with friends every few weeks. Technically these events oppose the non-consumption initiative you touch on, but hear me out! We gather in person to share our art - the films, essays, poems, paintings, and sculptures we might usually post on social media - and instead of holding our breath for the dopamine hit of likes and comments, we get to experience responses on the spot. We give praise and ask questions. We share what the piece makes us think about. If invited, we offer suggestions for expansion. It's analog social media, but slower, deeper. Similar to your enjoyment of voice messaging, I love experiencing my friends physically embody their work and their genius. The in-person format allows each artist to fill up the whole room--a whole network of nervous systems. It's a really beautiful thing to witness, and I come away from these evenings with a full cup, absolutely rearing to create. I hope creators and makers everywhere get to experience something like it <3
Marin, THANK YOU for this example. Gorgeous. I love love love it. Gathering in any format to uphold connection and art is naturally soothing to the nervous systems involved. It's so good.
Two of my closest friends and I have decided to forgo texting each other. If we want to talk to each other, we call! Yesterday marked 2 weeks of this experiment and we all feel such joy in this arrangement - spontaneous 3 way calls, quick calls to say share something small. Talking in real time feels so much less distracting than reading a text. We were reflecting that, if we can't talk, we just don't answer the phone and this means we don't carry the sense of urgency or incompleteness that comes from reading a text and trying to remember to reply at some point. There's a spaciousness in not receiving information until we can talk about it.
Another way I've been reclaiming my attention is to focus on my breath or the feeling of my body while I'm in in-between moments - walking to work, driving, waiting for students to arrive to my classes, etc. In those in-between moments I have a habit of turning to my phone or ruminating on life's building to-do list. Last week, I practiced just being present in those moments, giving my mind some breathing room. I noticed how much holding I was doing - a feeling of tightness. Noticing that let me relax and soften.
Anna, thank you for sharing these. LOVE how the calling eliminates the urgency and that you are making space to receive information when you are ready. Also, the in-between moments. That is exactly what people name as the important creative seed space. Turning the phone wipes it away, and I hear you making tons of space for it to be there. Beautiful.
Hi Molly, voice-memos (vs voice-texting) is what I call them and they’re gold. They’re what close geographically miles to heart-connected souls and smiles. I love hearing the ambient noises of other spaces and time zones. Also for me, walking is the best. My body wants 2-5 miles a day and I’m enjoying the challenge some days to get it, along a river, in a mall (was REAL cold), or across campus. Your newsletters continue to be guideposts and mirrors. 🙌🏽
Emily, yes the ambient noise!!! Walking too. I love that you are enjoying the challenge. That bolsters me.
I loved this piece,Molly. Outside job, yes indeed. I at last am at the point I can take my life outside this room a bit, having spent much time on the inside work the last couple of years. World travel solo takes you outside no matter what, but it's been a couple months of finding my feet and some rhythm and ways to connect to so much foreign-ness. I joined meet up groups for writers and one for " meditators" I guess is the best description. I'm nourished by the after event dinner conversation on mind states and presence. The writers groups though are super edgy for me , like I've never done it and today I'm going to one and everyone reads a 4-5 minute story. But I've had a lot of contemplation on the spoken word bouncing around in my head and with the loam experiences sort of urging me forward , I'm trying this. I'm so very intrigued by the experiential difference when a story is heard vs read and how really so recent reading is in our human development. , Even just over 100 years ago most people didn't read. And I deeply wonder about the value of these lost connections. The written vs spoken and all the skills that were lost in that transition. Valuable skills. Skills we need right now. Skills of deeply listening to each other and remembering. People had to remember because they couldn't just Google.... Anyway. This is what going outside with right now. One thing. I'll see what else shows up
Cynthia, yes! The written vs spoken is so on my mind too. I crave the spoken far more than I ever have (as a receiver and as a creator). I love hearing that you are stepping into the space of shared story and that edge for you. So curious to see what unfolds.
Thank you for this, Molly. I opened the email, actually intending to unsubscribe! But it was so compelling, I'm sticking around for a while! I'm trying to unsubscribe from more and more lists as one way to maintain sanity. And I love the both/and of the inside/outside job. I'm doing some new energy work, and it is really helping my unhooking from technology. My baseline is no longer having that addictive pull towards technology, unless I'm putting my own work out there. Then when I'm submitting my work to the world, I get hooked in that loop again! How do we manage that situation? How do you manage that situation? Do you get the pull to check comments, to see who has opened emails, to see who is liking your work?
Oh my, Marta, this honest response is WONDERFUL. I unsubscribe from so much and want to applaud others when they are doing it (even if it's from my newsletter). Truly. less is more. And whatever is left should sing to you. In terms of how I manage it... I do occasionally check stats and such, but I have learned over the years to not get attached. It's hard. It's exciting when more people subscribe and I still get a little sad downward chest energy when I see unsubscribes, BUT, I then zoom out and remember that the goal is that everyone finds their way and their media and so someone unsubscribing from my work is hopefully for the greater good. It feels cleaner. I don't want to be an annoying thing no one reads in their inbox, you know? I do read comments because comments = connection and I'm a connecting animal!
I don’t know if you’re reading comments whilst on sabbatical. I just want to say a generalized thank you for your work. In all honesty, I skim your newsletters because I get way too much content and I can’t deal with it. But I also get good tidbits that seem to be just what I need. I read Body Full of Stars years ago when I snitched a copy that was donated to the library I worked at at the time. I was a 25 year old who was afraid to reveal I wanted to be a mother and your book was just what I needed then. I still have it. Your newsletters now are what I need as I also happen to be reclaiming my attention. So cheers and thank you! :)
Ema, Thank you for this! I think you speak to exactly what I'm saying: we are all getting too much content and we can't deal with it. There it is! I'm so touched to hear your story about Body Full of Stars. Makes me smile.
Thank you for this, Molly. I love the clear distinction, and considering what can be changed Outside. Will have to compost and see what arises as an Outside move that would feel nourishing. I'm grateful for the wonder, it's planted a seed.
I'm a big fan of vocal messages, too! Stopped having capacity to write long emails in 2019 while deep in grief, and turned to vocaroo.com if sending an email. I didn't have energy to craft exactly what I wanted in typed words. Recording vocal after vocal grew my trust in Presence and Enough, and now it's the default. I love having that energy back for myself. And I call them "vocal messages" *shrug* ;P
A decade+ or so ago when I was more on the internet, writing on Medium, I wondered what the internet would look/feel like if all blog post comments (& FB posts) were vocal recordings, or video of your human self speaking your words. I thought it would be a kinder place with more nuance.
Rebecca, What an interesting wondering! Imagine if it were all vocal. Wow wow wow. The world would indeed be different. I love imagining that.