Hippie For The Win

I can easily look back on the happiest times of my life and see the commonality.  Nature.  Lack of technology.  No computer, no phone, no email, no blog, no twitter, no facebook.  No tv, no cable, no REALITY tv.  

Me, Mother Nature, the open road (sometimes).  Living by the day as nature designed.  Up with the sun.  Firelight after dark, or bed.  

No air conditioning, no cookie dough, well, you get the idea.

When I really need to center myself I lie in the grass.  Stand in the rain.  Face the wind.  And it often works.  It takes summoning the energy to actually get off the couch and outside, though, and that is easier said than done.  

This topic came up in therapy a few weeks ago, and coincidentally, my therapist came across and printed out an article for me regarding this very thing. 

Don't Let Chaos Get You Down is an exerpt from a book by Andrew Weil, M.D. printed by Newsweek last Fall.  It's worth a read.  And it makes sense, at least to me, especially when I really think about it.  

I hate how much tv I watch (thanks Mom for the free cable, damn you!).  I despise my dependence on my "smart"phone.  My need for human contact has been changed from a need for PHYSICAL interaction to VIRTUAL interaction.  Yes, it's emotionally safer.  And the support is broader.  I certainly am able to find people with whom I have things in common much easier.  But it ends up thwarting me.  I have become a couch potato.  Fuck.

It needs to change.  I watch tv ALL. DAY. LONG.  Unless we have to go somewhere.  It's on in the background constantly.  P doesn't really watch, but he likes it being on, too.  Quiet inside a house is almost unnerving.  

I would love to get back to being more unplugged.  More off the grid.  That means some serious sacrifices.  But if I want P to know it's good to get out, I have to get out.  And off.  Off the grid.  Off the phone.  Off this very laptop I am using to share this.  Power off.

I don't expect technology to go away, and it has it's place.  But as with so many other things, there needs to be a balance.  Somehow, I have lost that balance.  

I have lost balance in so many aspects of my life.  This is one more thing.  But together, rebalanced, reorganized, they all hold the key.  The key to figuring out a way to live that works for me.  And so, I am putting down the technology, turning off the brain sucking tv, and taking my son for a swim.  Or a walk.  Or at the very least, sitting on the floor with him.  (It's hot out!)

Peace, y'all.