Sun-drenched summer dreaming & rest
& some thoughts about social media, smart phone use & presence
What I want for you and myself and everyone who wants it is to really be able to sink into the relaxation that summer can offer and come out the other side renewed to the deepest level.
The Earth is always spinning and the wandering stars moving in their courses, and this is a non-astrology post for you, a post about what I care about most: Living a meaningful life.
Some summer images to show you what I mean:
Collecting elderflowers into a basket, the sky a brilliant blue, listening to the shrill call of a redwing blackbird, sweating but it feels good.
Two girls sunbathing in a secluded spot by the creek, seen on my walk from the sandstone cliff above.
Sitting on the porch on a still-warm evening, the sky shifting from twilight to full darkness and the fireflies rising, twinkling, from the ground.
The sweet smell of grasses baked in the late summer sun.
The feeling of the sun on your skin, relaxing all your muscles, the sound of cold water splashing and babbling, or waves crashing - nothing to do and nowhere to go.
(To the handful of Southern hemisphere-dwellers who may read this: I see you too. Stay cozy.)
I’m thinking about hydration and the magic of water
to nourish, purify and heal (see Isabel Friend’s work on caring for water and our bodies of water - it isn’t just about drinking a certain amount). Water is everything; we are water.
I’m thinking about sunshine
and how we photosynthesize vitamin D - like plants! - which we desperately need for our bodies to work. The Sun is a sacred being who gives us much more than vitamin D, but vitamin D can be a place to start, especially for the science-minded. I try to get outside and get sun every day and have for a long time, and now that I have the DMinder app on my phone, I can see I am probably still low in vitamin D! It seems like, for my skin tone, I need to be outside for at least couple hours a day (or 45 minutes around 1 pm) and when it’s very hot, that doesn’t work for me. So I’m figuring out if and how I can gently increase that time, in the morning and late afternoon, not the heat of the day. For you, those numbers will vary and I also urge you to be careful about sunburn if you aren’t used to being in the sun much at all. Don’t be reckless.
I’m thinking about earthing
about getting direct body contact with the electromagnetic energy of the Earth - and how all these things together help our human bodies and minds function the way they ought to. Which means fewer problems and more peacefulness. Less or no anxiety.
These are what I’m thinking about every day a little bit, as I try to care for my human body.
I’m also thinking about smart phone addiction
(I had to go there.)
…and specifically social media on smartphones, and how much it can take us out of the present moment and our actual reality and into other people’s thoughts and feelings - often people we don’t actually know - and keep our minds altogether busier than we would like.
This is not a controversial topic anymore. It used to be. But it seems to me that most people are pretty sick of being distracted and emotionally manipulated constantly and will tell you so - and at the same time, I know people can feel frustrated and defensive at this point because they feel they can’t opt out or don’t want to opt out entirely. But this isn’t about opting out or judging anyone or being absolutist. This is very much a collective problem we are all grappling with and trying to make meaning of. I’m curious if…
…you feel like the people you surround yourself with are often distracted by their phones and not present, and also…
…you spend more time on your phone than you’d like.
…you feel distracted when you really just want to be present in the moment enjoying yourself.
…you feel your mind cluttered with other people’s thoughts, feelings and opinions way more than you’d like.
…you feel like your own life is shabby in comparison to what you see online.
…you feel the need to perform your life for others and you don’t like how that feels.
…you feel too busy to do some of the relaxing or creative things you really want to do, that feed your spirit.
I see you. I feel you. I have 100% been there. I also believe in your ability to make good changes in your life and choices that support your living a fulfilling and meaningful life. That doesn’t have to look a certain way or like anyone else’s life. No one is handing out points for…anything…actually.
I left social media two years ago
and I’ve noticed the difference it made in my being able to be present and more emotionally regulated. Which is nuts because I am the moodiest person I know. I’ll take any help I can get. The short blip in my life in which I was very active on instagram was some crazy bullshit and I hope to never be so distracted again.
And, I still check my email and my text messages more than I would like and feel a certain sense of being on-call, in a way I didn’t feel before I had a smart phone in the first place. The truth is, the times I haven’t had a phone at all (yes, I have had those times - for a week or two, a month twice, three months once) I noticed I felt noticeably more mental peace than usual. I don’t expect to go without a phone entirely now, at this season in my life, but I am curious how to create more space for that sort of peacefulness.
The book Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport is the thing that helped me the most. I like his podcast too, Deep Questions with Cal Newport. (He feels like someone I would have been friends with in junior high.)
My old buddy Cal asserts that social media use doesn’t have to be black and white: Either you are a mind slave to the Infinite Scroll or you are a luddite who abstains - or that you take so-called ‘digital detoxes’ and then jump right back into your same habits the next day, but instead that you can create your own personal philosophy of use for social media to actually support the life you want to live. You can use it in particular ways, for particular reasons, when it truly makes the most sense for you - and leave the rest.
This made a lot of sense to me when I read it. I ended up leaving entirely anyway. I kept my accounts on facebook and instagram, and I do occasionally use them to look something up or attempt to sell or buy something on facebook marketplace. In no way does this draw me back in or make me want to scroll.
Once I had some distance, the whole game felt absurd: It was just “keeping up with the Jones’s”. I love my work, but it required a certain pace I didn’t want to live. It felt like some insatiable beast always needed to be fed. Which is something worth considering for longer but is perhaps beyond the scope here.
I think the medium really is the message.* The ends really are the means. There is no separation between the two. When I got real with that, for me personally instagram and facebook were not a good fit, for me and the business and the life I want to live. I knew that I could build this business in other ways besides social media, because I had done it once before with my first business in 2012.
I don’t have your answers. I don’t know what will work best for you if you want to be more present and decrease smart phone addiction, but I hope that by sharing some of my own journey and some resources I have found helpful, it helps you find them for yourself.
What I do now
Instead of feeding the Beast of the Infinite Scroll, I usually spend a half day on Mondays working on the podcast and newsletter, plus a some more time sometimes on Tuesdays to finish it up, and guest interviews here and there. I enjoy all of this and find it to be valuable time to think and create. I don’t resent it in any way and the pace feels good. I lift weights and do stretches while I listen (editing as needed, very minimally - mostly I just listen to make sure there isn’t some weird problem with the audio) so I get some movement and don’t sit the whole time.
I also give mini readings in person and teach astrology classes, which one would generally consider promotion, although I do earn money doing those things as well. I’m still growing this business and it’s not paying all my bills yet so perhaps I’m not a good example of what to do, but nevertheless this is my reality so it’s what I have to share.
Today though, since I knew I wanted to write this piece and not do a podcast episode, I rode my bike to the park, walked in the woods, then sat under a tree and wrote a first draft of this in my notebook, then studied a chart for a friend, then read some of the book I’m reading about Mary Magdalene, then walked back to my bike, then rode home, seeing a deer and a fox(!) on the way. Now I’m home typing it up, listening to the cicadas singing.
One doesn’t always have that kind of time, but you don’t need it. Do what you can and want to and I’ll do the same, trying to weave in as much outside time as I can and being as present as I can.
Here are some Ideas for you to play with. Ponder these with an open heart and mind. You don’t have to have an answer now or hold yourself to any standard:
Is there a way you could be less ‘on-call’?
Could you go somewhere without your phone?
Zoom out and see yourself from a stranger’s eyes when you are on your phone. What do you see? (This is an interesting one for me.)
Could you do something cool and visually interesting without taking photos or video of it?
What happens when you aren’t working, no one is texting you and you aren’t doing anything in particular? Does it feel like a panic attack is looming? An existential crisis? Especially if you are 25 or younger, it really might. What happens in the quiet moments?
Are there things you’d like to do - like practicing your Spanish, or playing guitar or building a shelf or helping your neighbor weed her yard - that take a bit more effort, and you haven’t found time for them lately? Hint: These are things you can do in those quiet moments, if you want to. There’s also always meditation, and you don’t actually need an app for that.
Okay that’s what I’ve got for you today. Have a blessed Mercury day -
The links
🎧listen to the Soil & Stars Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, and now right here too!
Book an astrology reading with me here to get my support during this juncture of your life
Learn about the Prairie Herbalist Conference that happens in July
Want me to teach an astrology class at your event or business or online community? (Or one you are a part of). Or give mini readings at your party or some cool venue? Email me soilandstarsart@gmail.com and we can talk.
Stay tuned for an art drop maybe next week: I’ll be adding some new pieces to the shop this week!
* “The medium is the message. This is merely to say that the personal and social consequences of any medium / that is, of any extension of ourselves / result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology.”
— Marshall McLuhan
Mm, such a good post! I checked out that dminder app, it's a bit clunky but I got the hang of it. Turns out that on a sunny day if I have lunch on the porch I can get about 1500-2000 IU of Vitamin D! Also, I have a pretty good view of their guesstimation because the number they estimated for my blood levels is pretty much exactly what it was when I got tested a couple years ago.
Regarding water, Natalie Diaz has a wonderful poem called "exhibits from The American Museum of Water" in which there is a particular segment called to mind: "301. The Magic Show // Only water can change water, can heal itself. Not even God made water. Not on any of the seven days. It was already here. Or maybe God is water, because I am water, and you are water." Her collection of poems, "Post-colonial Love Song" has lots of water references, very good poetry.
Regarding smartphone addiction... ::sigh:: I don't do social media anymore, but I still find myself wasting far too much time on my device. I almost bought a Light Phone but I didn't in the end because I wanted something that we could use for keeping up on email and anything else of that sort when we travel; but there is a part of me that thinks maybe it would've actually been better to get the Light Phone and buy a small tablet for when we travel. My latest idea is to make a special box for my phone (and the phones of my visitors, if they'd like to put theirs in as well) and make a habit of putting it in the box when I "get home", so that I'm more intentional about when I take it out.