When was the last time you took the opportunity to walk in the woods? Can you remember when your feet last sank into the muddy earth of an expansive field? Have you picked up a leaf this fall and marveled at its colour? As simple as it sounds, getting back to nature replenishes the body and mind. Author Jules Pretty states that, “spending as little as five minutes in the fresh air lifts your spirits, boosts self-esteem, and short-circuits stress.” In this fast paced culture we rarely jump at the chance to disconnect from the buzzing and ringing of everyday life. We are slave to the devices which whir and wiz all day long. Look back to the old days of the farm and take a leaf from the decaying book!
I’ll bet you can’t imagine not taking the latest message that is beeping at your fingertips. Perhaps you haven’t taken your ear phones out for long enough to make eye contact with the person across from you on the subway. Between the e-mails, calls, tweets and pings, it’s hard to keep your head up long enough to avoid tripping on the person ahead of you on the sidewalk.
I was recently told that we cannot do more than one thing at once effectively. That doesn’t translate well when applied to the rapid-fire technological blitz, which has us by the scruff of the neck.
JANIE LIU/THE VARSITY
Stephen L. Talbott, 53, is the editor of an e-mail newsletter called NetFuture. The year prior to starting NetFuture, he moved his family to Harlemville in upstate New York. They moved into a house with an idyllic porch surrounded by hills and trees. He repelled the computer on which he did his work because he felt he was stepping outside of his haven each time he began tapping on the keys. In 1998 Talbott made the drastic decision to begin writing on a notepad. He can sit anywhere in his house with a window-view of the land and sometimes he turns in his pencil for binoculars to observe the wildlife around him. “I’m in the writing more, birds notwithstanding, it’s been a real pleasure to discover my own error.”
This past summer I ventured up to the Des Moines River. It had been 10 years since I had visited the big log cabin with the picturesque view of the glimmering trees and mesmerizing water. When we entered the logging road we lost all access to electricity and technology. For four days I thought about one thing at a time. I ran, I swam, I canoed, I read, I ate. The simplified model of the world brought me back to authentic conversation by the fireside, the sensation of the breath moving through my belly and leafing through a good book without straying from the plotline. It was at that point I realized, we are inundating our brains with a whirring pace for which we are not equipped to manage.
Lift your eyes at the dinner table in spite of that vibrating cell-phone. Stick to the task you’re on — your emails will wait. Take the dog for a spin — enter deep into the woods and slow your step. Ask a friend out and leave your phone at the doorway. Believe it or not the world will wait! And, while it does you will be released into the simplicity of old fashioned ways. Turn back the clock, tune the radio to jazz and listen to the stories of days gone by.
