october 2019: what I’m learning and loving

I invite you to share in my monthly(ish) practice of reflecting back on what I’ve been learning and loving from the previous month. Here’s my list from October:

What I’m loving

The Overstory. This is definitely one of my top reads, if not the top read, of the year. I love intersecting stories like this anyway, but then add in the tree element, and it’s like it was written just for me. But obviously not just for me since it won the Pulitzer. The power of story is when it helps you to think of something or someone in a new way, and The Overstory excels at that. It is also a story about climate change, and we need more and better stories, like this one, that compel us to action instead of lull us into complacency.

Vitamin D drops. I’m working on a supplement/homeopathic post to have all of my recommendations in one place, but in the meantime, I thought I would share one of our sick-season go-tos: Vitamin D drops. We take Vitamin D throughout the year, but, during sick season or if someone comes home with the sniffles, we all add a drop on our tongue in the morning before breakfast. We get less sun in the fall and winter (obviously), so it makes sense to up your Vitamin D intake anyway. These drops are easy and last forever.

Instant Pot Beef Roast. I’ve been making different variations of this for the last several weeks depending on what is in the fridge. MarketWagon farms have had tons of root vegetables on sale lately (because it is root vegetable season), so I’ve been loading up on exotic radishes, turnips, and fall carrots (they’re the sweetest right now). Recipe at the bottom of the post.

Rothy’s. Grant bought me some as an anniversary gift because I’ve been dropping lots of hints, and I like them even more than all of my favorite podcasters promised me I would. They’re made out of recycled plastic, and they take sustainability very seriously from beginning to end. But they’re also super comfy, cute, AND machine washable. I’ll be asking for the other styles for many birthdays to come.

What I’m learning

“The world was made to be free in.” I heard this excerpt from a poem by David Whyte last month, and it has kept ringing in my ears. The older I get, the more I am realizing that so much of my work in my late 30s (and beyond, I’m sure) is to re-learn to recognize, listen, and trust that still, small voice inside. I think our culture (and for many of us, our spiritual tradition) tells us that we can’t be trusted to do the “right” thing, so instead we listen to other people’s opinions about what we should or shouldn’t do. Perhaps eventually finding ourselves having done all of the “right” things and feeling dissatisfied or disillusioned or, likely, both. While I think seeking wisdom from others is helpful, it has to ultimately be aligned with our own core values and desires. I think what Whyte is saying here is that God/Source/the Universe (whatever you want to call Her; I don’t think She really cares) designed the world with freedom in mind, but so many of us walk around enslaved to cultural, religious, family expectations instead of getting quiet and still with ourselves to figure out what really makes us come alive.

Life is brutiful. Glennon says this, and it has become increasingly apparent for us in 2019. We’re in a really sweet, beautiful spot as a family, and we are leaning hard into our appreciation for this season. At the same time, we have several friends-who-are-family that are facing excruciating stuff. We’re trying to practice holding both of these things – the beautiful and the brutal – at the same time. We aren’t always doing it well, but we’re trying to learn together.

One size fits most, but we act like one size fits all. I heard this quote on this great podcast episode that was about megachurches, but I actually related to on many different levels. The host was talking about how megachurches (stick with me – this isn’t really about megachurches, just uses that as an easy example), due to their sheer size, have to create a way of being that fits most of the attendees. They’re too big to be able to fit everyone’s needs, so they try to fit the needs of most of the people – let’s say 65 percent of their potential attendees. The leaders accept this, knowing that once you reach a certain size, you can’t figure out what works well for everyone, but instead you have to go with the least common denominator, so to speak. So you design your services and ministries for the 65ish percent majority. We create a space that is one size fits most.

My aha moment from the podcast was this: but we don’t tell the other 35 percent that we’ve done this, instead, most of the time unintentionally, we act like our one-size-fits-most spaces are actually one-size-fits-all, which leaves the 35ish percent feeling crazy or like they’re doing it wrong or, most damaging of all, trying to re-shape ourselves to fit in.

OF COURSE this isn’t just true of churches. It is true of EVERY thing. Some examples off the top of my head:

• Around 75 percent of people are estimated to be sensory types according to Myers-Briggs personality profile. Only around 25 percent are intuitive types. I’ve written about this before, but this impacts so many of us because our schools and workplaces are setup for the majority – the sensors!
• Around 20 percent of the population are highly sensitive people (take the test here), so if you’re an HSP, you have to protect your energy differently than the rest of the population. But with this comes the super power of easier capacity for empathy, so we need these people in our communities.
• The math on introverts vs extroverts is a little fuzzy, but it is easy to imagine how, especially in the past, spaces were created more with extroverts in mind just because the extroverts were more likely to speak up in the designing process.
• The current Congress is the most female Congress in history, but still is only 23.7 percent women despite making up 50 percent of the population. Don’t you think having men control the legislative process has had some consequences for women (and I would argue everyone else and nature) over the past 200+ years?

These days, we’re beginning to appreciate the value of diversity in all sorts of areas, whether we’re talking about sexual orientation or race or neurological diversity. But in order to bring more diversity into our spaces of work, governance, worship, education, etc., we have to recognize that even our most inclusive spaces aren’t. We have to name it and not only be open to hearing from the people who look or think or act differently than us, but invite them into conversation about how we can all learn from one another.

Instant Pot Beef Roast Formula

Ingredients

One onion, diced or sliced
One pound (pastured, grass-fed and finished, local) beef stew meat, chopped in about one-inch pieces and salted and peppered
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 cup stock or water
3 cloves garlic, smashed
4 cups of veggies/shrooms, chopped roughly. Options: mushrooms, parsnips, turnips, potatoes, carrots, radishes.
Thyme and rosemary – or herb combination of your choice depending on what “flavor profile” you’re going for.

Directions

Turn IP to saute function. Add some fat (lard, EVOO, avocado oil), and saute the meat, browning all sides. Once the meat is browned, add the onions and continue sauteing until the onions are soft. Add the tomato paste, herbs, and garlic, stir until fragrant. Add the stock and all of the vegetables. Turn off the saute function, and put the lid on your Instant Pot. Pressure cook for 20 minutes, and then let the pressure naturally release (usually about another 10ish minutes). Once the pressure has released, I like to turn on saute again and cook down the sauce for another 5-10 minutes, but that is up to you. If you want a thicker gravy, you could add flour at this point, but we prefer a thinner sauce.