U.S. Politics, muscadines, and learning to be the mountain
TSD #004 - tips & insights on cultivating a slower, well-rooted life
Before we dive in to this week’s edition of the slow down, I wanted to say a quick thank you to those of you who read this week’s essay on the newest turn in my faith journey. Your emails and texts were so encouraging. I feel abundantly grateful for your readership and look forward to continuing the conversation.
To that end, I’ll be doing a Q+A special podcast later this month and would love to answer any questions you have about life, faith, work, etc. Submit your questions here or by clicking the button below!
Welcome to the slow down, a column featuring tips and insights to create a slower, well-rooted life.
This week, like many of us, politics have been on my brain. I’ve been wondering, What is a slow, rooted approach to this election season? I don’t have it all figured out, but here are a few tips & insights that are holding me down as we move through these strange and confounding days.
the slow down tip
Stay present; stay soft.
Leading a slower, more contemplative life is about building our capacity to weather the storms of our days with more attentiveness and less anxiousness. It is the opposite of escapism and avoidance. It’s about being in touch with what’s happening within you in the present moment so that you can make decisions from a place of awareness and inner resilience. Staying present and staying soft is about being honest with our anger and our fear. It’s about being truthful about our frustrations and making space to lament all that is not right and well in the world. If time and resources are available to you, it’s also about raising your voice, calling representatives, talking to loved ones, joining local political campaigns and more. Each of our lives are different and our capacity varies, but staying present and staying soft is what it means to be human.
What does this look like for me right now? I’m following the news of whether or not Biden will step down very closely and I’m hoping he will. Yes, it will be messy but I think we’re up for it. I’m also ramping up my exercise and sleep routine to help me move through my anger and frustration in constructive ways. Lastly, after catching up on news and moving my body, I’ve been turning towards care for my home and my work. Creating a beautiful life each day holds me down when the world seems out of control. If you’ve got more questions about how I think about political things, you can submit those for this month’s Q+A.
nature speaks
The muscadine harvest is one of my highlights each summer. They typically ripen in mid-to-late August so we’re still about six weeks out. Yesterday while walking through one of my dad’s cattle fields, we came upon the muscadine vines. They are full of green, unripe fruit. I’ve never tried an unripe muscadine before so I had to pluck one to see what it was like.
If you’re unfamiliar, muscadines are wild grapes. The ones that grow near us are bright green as the emerge, but deepen into a rich, dark purple as they soften and ripen.
The green fruit I plucked was firm to the touch, but still fragrant. My dad and husband looked at me like I was ridiculous as I bit into the unripened grape just to see what it was like. Unsurprisingly, it was bright, sour, and very bitter. I spit it out and tossed it into the woods. I’m happy I tried it.
Nature speaks: This is a very silly story but the point it illustrates is clear. The best things in life are ready when they’re ready. You can’t rush it. To force the fruit to ripen would compromises its richness and its gifts. It’s much better to wait for harvest time.
quotable
“The marvelous world of thoughts, sensation, emotions, and inspiration, the spectacular world of creation around us, are all patterns of stunning weather on the holy mountain of God.
But we are not the weather. We are the mountain.
Weather is happening—delightful sunshine, dull sky, or destructive storm—this is undeniable. But if we think we are the weather happening on Mount Zion, then the fundamental trust of our union with God remains obscured and our sense of painful alienation heightened. When the mind is brought to stillness we see that we are the mountain and not the changing patters of weather appearing on the mountain.”
Martin Laird, Into the Silent Land, pp. 16
off the shelf
I haven’t done much reading over the past week so I don’t have a book recommendation to share, but earlier this year I wrote a syllabus for A More Beautiful Way which features the books I reference, think about, and revisit most often. Find my evergreen book recommendations here.
worth lingering over
Here are the links that have helped me make sense of this political mayhem we’re living through.
Beth and Sarah Pantsuit Politics are my political therapists. Not literally, but kind of. Their reflections always help me clarify my own thinking. Their most recent episodes, America Lost the Debate and Presidential Immunity: The Hubris is Nuclear were tremendously helpful.
I also have been loving The Daily by the New York Times.
And then this post by Oh Happy Dani blessed and grounded me as I moved through complex emotions about the 4th of July holiday.
in case you missed it
> last week’s the slow down, check it out here
> this week’s essay, On being Christian again is available here
> the last time I wrote about muscadines featured some reflections on living with anxiety too. you can read about it here.
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