what I’m learning & loving: october and november 2018

The end of October and beginning of November seemed to rush by especially quickly, so I missed my end of October post and am inserting the things I learned and loved in October and November here instead.

What I’m loving

The Durrells in Corfu. We finished this season of Poldark (I loved it; Grant said it started slow but liked the way it ended) and wanted something to replace that drama/Masterpiece itch. We tried a few episodes of Durrells and are in love. I think the Durrells might be one of my favorite TV families of all time. They’re hilarious, weird, and, most of all, real. Without a doubt, Theo is my favorite TV character ever, and I keep asking Grant for a tshirt with his picture on it for Christmas 🙂

Walking. I was on a roll of getting up early in the early fall, but then DST hit. With the really dark mornings and not feeling 100 percent over the last month, I’ve been focusing on moving my body in ways that feel good instead of ones that are necessarily the most “efficient” (as I am prone to do). For me, walking always feels good. Getting outside does more for my mental state than just about anything else. I’ve been “just” walking more this month, shooting for 10K steps on days that I work and 15K steps on days that I don’t work at the office, but not stressing out when I don’t hit that. I feel really good in my body, but I’ve especially noticed how much clearer my head is when I get a long walk outside in everyday. And I also miss lifting heavy things so I’ll get back to that at some point soon.

Sit spot. I’m stealing this one from Jasper. He went to a wilderness camp a few years ago. He learned two things there that have become everyday habits in our house: rose/bud/thorn (which replaced our dinner ritual of highs and lows after his camp and is now a mainstay of our dinners) and the sit spot. At the camp, the instructors taught the kids how – and why – to meditate, but they called it a “sit spot.” So despite me trying to find different ways of teaching the kids to practice mindfulness for years, Jasper came home from this camp raving about all of the benefits of a sit spot and doing it several times a week or whenever he needs a break. He usually does his sit spot with the chickens, but his persistence in this practice has influenced all of us. He recognizes in himself when he needs a little time out. We see him out there sitting with the chickens and realize that perhaps we should go outside for a sit spot of our own. I love that the $200ish that we spent at White Pines three years ago has returned countless long-term benefits for our whole family.

Jesus H. Christ Robcast series. Grant and I can’t stop talking about this series, and I plan to re-listen to all of these with a notebook in hand (I’ve listened to most of them on those aforementioned long walks). They are gold and sum up so much about what I’ve been learning about the story of Jesus over the last few years.

Jøtul season. Grant has wanted a wood burning stove for years, and we finally took the plunge last year. It is definitely one of our best purchases ever, and I am already loving the excuse to cuddle up with a good book in front of the fire (and the physical labor of hauling fire wood – see below on movement for more on that!).

What I’m learning

Think about movement like you do nutrition/food. As I mentioned in a past WILL post, I have gone down the natural movement rabbit hole – and I went even deeper down it this month.

I’m not really a big fan of the “cheat day” (a term in dieting in which you eat “clean” all week and then get to binge on whatever you want for a day). Maybe it works for some people, but I think it’s better to refrain from labeling real foods “good” or “bad” and instead notice how your body feels and eat accordingly. However, I have been sort of treating my movement with this cheat day mentality – working out once for 20ish minutes a day, and then being relatively sedentary the rest of the day. During the garden season, I get a ton of movement in, but not until after work. That is still a TON of time just sitting (or standing) in the same position (take this test to see your sitting percentage for yourself).

Instead of thinking of getting our exercise in three times a week or even once a day, we need to think about movement more like food – we need it multiple times every day. The question is how are we going to work it into our day throughout our day, not what we’re going to do for 20 minutes to check it off the list and then go sit the rest of the day.

I’m not sure my analogy is really working, so just watch this instead.

While this may sound like I’m piling more on your and my to-do list, this has actually freed me up to think about movement in less strict categories. So I’m adding in movement breaks (or snacks!) throughout my day, switching up how I’m sitting and standing, and adding in much more walking. Playing with the kids, working outside, cleaning the house all become simple ways to get more movement in instead of feeling like chores. Our bodies were made to move, so this new mentality just gives me confidence to JUST MOVE MY BODY often and in a variety of ways and not get so caught up with the messages that the fitness industry, scientific studies that are too narrow in scope, and Instagram are telling me.

I am racist at times (or maybe much of time – I’m still learning). How is that for a provocative sentence? Over the last few years, I have been trying to learn more about American history, my own privilege as  a white person, and how racism works, but Evolving Faith (day two specifically, but really the whole lineup in various ways) opened my eyes in new ways to my own racism and privilege. I have been trying to learn and listen primarily to people of color about this since then. Like anything else, naming things has power. We can’t deal with anything if we are unwilling to name it, so I’m trying to identify my own prejudices, power, and stereotypes in this area so that I can see the water we all swim in a bit more clearly.

I’ve also been learning that the reason to do this work is because we’re all connected and, for that reason, we all heal and suffer together. Like so many other -isms (sexism, classism, ableism, etc.), the work of digging into our blind spots isn’t some kind of self-flagellation, instead it is the better way for all of us whether we’re on the side of power or on the margins.

I’m new to this, so I’m not going to write much else here because I am committed to trying to listen and learn instead of react. If you’re interested in learning more, I recommend the following as starting off points:

• The Faith Angle podcast episodes with Austin Channing Brown and George Yancey.
• The Liturgist episode on race (this originally blew my mind on this topic a few years ago and is a great starting-off place).
• Scene on Radio’s series on “Seeing White.”
• Austin Channing Brown’s book, I’m Still Here.
• Be the Bridge has TONS of resources on their website and Facebook groups. They have compiled an Amazon list of all of their recommended books (if you buy directly from that link, a small percentage goes back to Be the Bridge).
• Code Switch podcast (Description: Ever find yourself in a conversation about race and identity where you just get…stuck? Code Switch can help. We’re all journalists of color, and this isn’t just the work we do. It’s the lives we lead. Sometimes, we’ll make you laugh. Other times, you’ll get uncomfortable. But we’ll always be unflinchingly honest and empathetic. Come mix it up with us.)
• On Ramp podcast (Description: Talking about issues around race can be uncomfortable, it can also be difficult to find a place to start. That’s where On Ramp comes in. On Ramp is your starting point in learning more about race, racism, and reconciliation, and it’s all through the lens of Christian spirituality.)

Climate change is a man-made problem with feminist solutions. That is the tagline for the Mothers of Invention podcast, which I binged in two days, and I have quickly become convinced that it is true. By saying “feminist solutions,” the creators of the podcast don’t mean that only women have the answers; they mean that the solutions need to be more feminist in nature. The feminine tends to be smaller, more collective, closer to the earth. The solutions they highlight are more from-the-bottom-up versus the top-down mentality of more masculine efforts (which has been the cultural way of operating since at least the Industrial Revolution). The first season’s stories made it clear to me that dealing with climate change is intersectional, meaning that it is all connected. My sister works in the field of international adolescent health. Public health is already being drastically impacted by climate change in the developing world and, less so, here in America – so far. But it’s coming, and sooner than we thought.

In the last month, two climate change reports have come out (one from the IPCC and one from the Trump administration, released on Black Friday probably in hopes that we would be too busy shopping to notice) with drastic and dire consequences predicted far sooner than earlier predicted. Even if you don’t care about climate change, it will impact you and your children far sooner than we thought – look at the North Carolina floods after Florence and the California wildfires for some very recent examples. Listen to Mothers of Invention and be inspired about how leaders around the world are tackling climate change head on in creative and practical ways.

Your turn – what have YOU been learning and loving lately?