Happy Autumn Equinox. The season of harvesting - and the age of wisdom. A season of letting go, and putting our visions out there into the world š
01: Letās Move ā this weeks yoga flow
33 mins!! a fun equinox class with movement and breath!!
I think my AirPods were about to die so there is slight robot twinge to my voice LOL - but other than that I think its fun.
Playlist for the class HERE if you want to play it louder
02: Song I ran into the ground this week
This is a fun one to be emotional and sing/yell loudly.
Prior weeks song selections playlist here
03: Article/Essay I read this week
Everyone is numbing out ā
Light topic of how we all lack meaning in life - ek. Kidding that was dramaticā¦ but I do love this article from Catherine Shannon.
She talks about the growing apathetic mood of our society, and the ironic detachment coping mechanism utilized to shield ourselves from life's chaos. All of this exacerbated by the internet where we often are numbing out and avoiding any real attempt to cultivate deeper meaning in our lives.
My Highlights:
People started coping with this lack of meaning through a kind of ironic detachment (which is very much still around), but it has matured into a pervasive cultural apathy, a permeating numbness. This isnāt nihilism per se. (Even nihilists have a sincere belief system; they just sincerely believe that life is meaningless.) What weāre dealing with is worse than nihilism.
ā¦ so many of the things that once gave the average personās life real meaning are now treated with sarcasm and contempt: college is a waste of money, work is a waste of your life, getting married is just a piece of paper, having kids is a nightmare, family is a burden, hobbies are merely quaint, earnestly expressing yourself is cringe, leaving the house is exhausting, religion is for idiots, the list goes on. If you allow yourself to internalize this perspective, eventually everything becomes a dumb joke.
Everything is delivered with a wink from one eye and an eye-roll from the other. We live in a mud puddle of memes, ironic hot takes, and self-conscious self-reference.
We look around the world, struggle to see the meaning in its chaos, and unconsciously tell ourselves that finding meaning isnāt that important. If I canāt pursue my own fulfillment, at least I can pursue my own pleasure. This is a somewhat reasonable reaction to the present circumstances. It feels straightforward enoughāitās binary, measurable, and everyone else is doing it. This is how the numbness starts.
ā¦.
Being ironically detached from life is endlessly glamorized in our culture. Thereās a certain status in pretending nothing affects you and you donāt care. Cue photo montage of a strung-out Kate Moss staring listlessly into the middle distance.
It is a disaster not to be found, a total disaster to not be able to connect with others because we were too preoccupied with ourselves. The whole reason for ironic detachment is to build a protective wall between oneself and the world. We think weāre building a wall, but weāre really hollowing ourselves out from the inside. Eventually, without really noticing it, there will be nothing left for the wall to defend. There will be no one to find.
ā¦.
The opposite of love is not hate, but apathy. I hope itās obvious why this is a problem, but maybe youāre still thinking so what. To put it succinctly: when you take an ironic, negative, or numb attitude to everything, you are by definition not on the line for solutions, and when you stop looking for solutions, you lose all agency and will in your life.
woof - that felt bleak but she goes on to offer a beckon of light, because we know this must changeā¦
We can practice:
basic honesty : telling the truth to ourselves and others
embracing reality : not the idealized version of our reality
stand for something : itās ok to be seen trying
This was one of those essays I read that I felt like I was highlighting every line and being like āyes that is exactly it, that is how Iām feeling.ā
The nonchalant attitude to life and being apathetic to what I want or need, for me its comes up when Iām fearful to share or show who I honestly am, and its far easier to just then not show/have an opinion ā but then we start to lose these little pieces of ourselves.
My friend and mentor
once shared this bit below that Iāve come back time and time again that I feel can also apply hereā¦āYou've got to be willing to make a mess and clean it up. That is literally how we learn.ā And I think, that when we're unwilling to make a mess or be imperfect, that's when we get stuck. We must be willing to fail. Hearing how Judith (Lasater) framed it felt like a very tender invitation to be human. A vote of confidence in our ability to show up, take risks, and grow ā all without this cloud of shame hanging over us always ready to engulf us and our choices.
Letās get out there make a mess (but willing to clean it up lol) because standing for something and caring is cool and foundational to deep life meaningš.
04: Rabbit hole of the week: ???
As I always say you cannot force a rabbit hole. And it was one of those weekās, where nothing strongly pulled on the heart strings. Maybe timely to the article I shared above but I have definitely swung the pendulum to mentally numbing out a decent amount recently.
Not to contradict what I shared above but sharing the quote Iāve shared before on numbing out from a book called On Connectionā¦
This has been both positive and negative. Numbness can be beautiful. It can be necessary. We need balance. When a life slips too far into disconnection or too far into connection, it is an exhausting process, trying to reanimate the avatar or re-root the uprooted.
Balance Balance Balance!!
When I feel myself slipping too far into disconnect and trying reanimate the avatar a little mantra I come back to often:
What a treat it is to be here right now. I have this dense past behind me and my beaming future in front of me and I get to be here right in the center and nowhere else to be but here now.
see you next week
xx kaitlyn