Wisdom from Within

I needed a reset and a creative boost.

I had to do something to get back in the flow.

A poem by David Whyte invited me to:

Start close in,
don’t take the second step
or the third,
start with the first
thing
close in,
the step
you don’t want to take.

The first thing close in for me is my phone—and my attachment to news, games, laughter, music, whatever comes up next in the feed. I could scroll all day, especially over the past month, which I spent in COVID recovery and grief. As my energy returned, the small screen that had been a comfort was now taking up clock time and space in my head. Moving from article to article, platform to platform, and watching mindless entertainment poured information, opinions, and other peoples’ stories into my mind. Mucking up my imagination. Some of it was nurturing, and inspiring, sure. I grew restless, though, trapped at the screen. How could anything new come to me when I’m wading in someone else’s view?

I learned (or was reacquainted with) some things while on break from the small screen:

• Taking a break from the screen for a week, a day, or even a morning or evening, is good for the eyes, head, neck, back and hands.
• What shows up on my screen is there because algorithms pay attention to what I’ve previously clicked on, spent time reading, purchased, or even said (which my phone overheard, somehow). It’s comforting, but it closes off my worldview and shuts down my creativity.
• The content is crafted to make me feel something, even if it’s presented as information. Once I’m connected to a person, event, song, or story by a feeling, it becomes a part of me. Feelings are powerful. They’ll pretty much override facts and data, every time. Many content creators exploit this influence.
• Everything I read and experience online is filtered through a story. The person writing the piece is working within their worldview. As a reader, I bring who I am and my story to how I interpret what they’re writing. This is part of the human experience. We can’t help it.
• The invitation is to choose wisely about what I allow into my view, my space, my awareness, and my feelings. Who and what I show up for is an essential part of how I will show up in the world. What I take in ultimately comes out.
• After a day or two, I wondered what compelled me to scroll. Was a part of me avoiding another part of me, or my life, by filling that quiet space with what popped up on my phone? The answers came in the space created by leaving the d@#n phone alone.
• Poetry helps.

The poet advises:
Start with your own
question,
give up on other
people’s questions,
don’t let them
smother something simple.
…
Start right now
take a small step
you can call your own
don’t follow
someone else’s
heroics, be humble
and focused,
start close in,
don’t mistake
that other
for your own.

Excerpts from “Start Close In” by David Whyte, from his collection Essentials.