Beautiful writing! Fascinated by the concept of adding the nose-breathing constraint to slow down, and the analogy to slowing down in life generally.
Love this section: "My run teaches me that meditation is everywhere. As long as I choose it. Where else have the false idols of ease and convenience robbed us of the beauty in life?"
What a great piece, Latham. THIS is what finding beauty in the mundane looks like. We are bound by the same artistic creed, and you have honored it in this piece beautifully.
There were many lines I liked, but this one I loved: It’s my communion with the world around me – the people who break this bread at my table, the fields that grew my wheat, the worms and bugs that enriched that soil, and the microbes that make it all possible. All are celebrated divinely in this meditation.
Every one has said what i wanted to say, so i will pick a phrase "with their unmistakable dance of mustard and cotton", "My religion was speed. Flying Mach 2 with my hair on fire was the only time I felt alive."
"The Self I inhabit doesn’t reveal itself on demand." Wow Latham, that is a profound statement, explaining why so many people feel lost and disconnected from themselves at the height of consumer culture. This re-selfing process that so many of us long to engage is not easy. We've been like wildlife photographers who travel into the forest by bulldozer, wondering why all the beautiful creatures we profess to love are not showing themselves. Now we have to learn how to go sit naked in the middle of the forest, disturbing nothing, waiting patiently for our own spirit-creature to emerge. Your writing seems to be getting more and more rich, and targeted, and evocative on these spirit matters.
Rick, I so look forward to your comments as I develop my thinking and writing. I love this concept of sitting naked in the middle of the forest, waiting patiently for our spirit-creature to emerge. A teacher once told me we need to be "in this world, but not of it." I think it's the same idea. We need to learn how to be here without losing ourselves in it or demanding it lose its beauty to us.
So grateful you are here. And we need to have that conversation sometime soon.
Running with your mouth shut! That can't be easy, therefore I now know that I will have to try it. I think that finding activities that force us to slow down and be present is indispensable. I can only hope to have such a beautiful experience as your morning run.
Love this one, Latham. Especially the sentiment that by slowing down and connecting more intentionally with your surroundings and food, you've come home to your Self. A lesson many need to hear and embody, thanks for sharing! :)
Thank you so much Charlie. I suspect that you'll find the way that feels most resonant to you. From reading your journal entry about co-drawing (and that drawing of a tree!) I get the feeling you're on the path.
I'm grateful you found your way here and even more grateful you liked this reflection.
Beautiful essay Latham! " Love this sentence on instant gratification: "I was conditioned by the Amazon Prime effect to expect my every desire to arrive faster than Aladdin’s gold and be placed on my doorstep with the click of a button so I never had to leave my couch."
Thank you Catalina. It's funny, when I worked at Samsara we used to talk about the Amazon effect as the gold standard for how to build our product. As I've gotten older, I look back and wonder what we lost. Thanks for reading and being here.
"I’ve started meditating as I bake bread, a decidedly slower choice than going to the local bakery. And our local bakery is legit. Instead, I take the time to mill my own wheat berries and I feel the brittle cracking of the bran newly separated from the flour. I mix the levain into the dough by hand. I wait. Rushing nature is a fool’s errand." -- This is beautiful, Latham. Slowing down is a process of self-discovery. As you say, it's meditation; a way to place yourself in a still picture and recognize your breathing presence there. Right there. I read somewhere a while ago that "You can't produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant". I don't even remember where. But this line stuck with me as, in its simplicity. This is an awesome piece, with an awesome underlying message.
Silvio, I always look forward to the conversations that we have through comments as much if not more than writing the piece in the first place. This was no exception.
Funny story, I once tried to play mad scientist with bread, figuring I could hurry things up and slow them down by changing the temperature. It turned out to be a disaster (mixed with a little too much red wine) and I got bread dough all over the walls, the counters, and the floor. Basically everywhere except the rising basket. I've learned my lesson the hard way. Turns out I'm not smarter than nature. Who knew?
Your line about producing a baby made me laugh. Thanks for sharing.
Beautiful writing! Fascinated by the concept of adding the nose-breathing constraint to slow down, and the analogy to slowing down in life generally.
Love this section: "My run teaches me that meditation is everywhere. As long as I choose it. Where else have the false idols of ease and convenience robbed us of the beauty in life?"
What a great piece, Latham. THIS is what finding beauty in the mundane looks like. We are bound by the same artistic creed, and you have honored it in this piece beautifully.
There were many lines I liked, but this one I loved: It’s my communion with the world around me – the people who break this bread at my table, the fields that grew my wheat, the worms and bugs that enriched that soil, and the microbes that make it all possible. All are celebrated divinely in this meditation.
Every one has said what i wanted to say, so i will pick a phrase "with their unmistakable dance of mustard and cotton", "My religion was speed. Flying Mach 2 with my hair on fire was the only time I felt alive."
And the photos are stunning
"The Self I inhabit doesn’t reveal itself on demand." Wow Latham, that is a profound statement, explaining why so many people feel lost and disconnected from themselves at the height of consumer culture. This re-selfing process that so many of us long to engage is not easy. We've been like wildlife photographers who travel into the forest by bulldozer, wondering why all the beautiful creatures we profess to love are not showing themselves. Now we have to learn how to go sit naked in the middle of the forest, disturbing nothing, waiting patiently for our own spirit-creature to emerge. Your writing seems to be getting more and more rich, and targeted, and evocative on these spirit matters.
Rick, I so look forward to your comments as I develop my thinking and writing. I love this concept of sitting naked in the middle of the forest, waiting patiently for our spirit-creature to emerge. A teacher once told me we need to be "in this world, but not of it." I think it's the same idea. We need to learn how to be here without losing ourselves in it or demanding it lose its beauty to us.
So grateful you are here. And we need to have that conversation sometime soon.
“By denying myself, I find my Self.” This made me reflect on how self-regulation and self-discipline often leads to self-discovery.
I’m on a running hiatus, and your wonderful meditation on running motivates me to lace up my sneakers and the hit trail again.
I was on a running hiatus for a few years. But once I moved to MT and had this amazing trail system, it felt natural. And this seems to be the result
Running with your mouth shut! That can't be easy, therefore I now know that I will have to try it. I think that finding activities that force us to slow down and be present is indispensable. I can only hope to have such a beautiful experience as your morning run.
Thank you Martin. I should warn, not every run is this poetic. But I’m choosing to find the beauty in it.
Love this one, Latham. Especially the sentiment that by slowing down and connecting more intentionally with your surroundings and food, you've come home to your Self. A lesson many need to hear and embody, thanks for sharing! :)
Thank you for reading Eliza. It's a lesson I've had to learn the hard way so many times.
This is beautiful. You've captured the feeling of Self I've been hoping some day to be able to put into words.
Thank you so much Charlie. I suspect that you'll find the way that feels most resonant to you. From reading your journal entry about co-drawing (and that drawing of a tree!) I get the feeling you're on the path.
I'm grateful you found your way here and even more grateful you liked this reflection.
Beautiful essay Latham! " Love this sentence on instant gratification: "I was conditioned by the Amazon Prime effect to expect my every desire to arrive faster than Aladdin’s gold and be placed on my doorstep with the click of a button so I never had to leave my couch."
Thank you Catalina. It's funny, when I worked at Samsara we used to talk about the Amazon effect as the gold standard for how to build our product. As I've gotten older, I look back and wonder what we lost. Thanks for reading and being here.
"I’ve started meditating as I bake bread, a decidedly slower choice than going to the local bakery. And our local bakery is legit. Instead, I take the time to mill my own wheat berries and I feel the brittle cracking of the bran newly separated from the flour. I mix the levain into the dough by hand. I wait. Rushing nature is a fool’s errand." -- This is beautiful, Latham. Slowing down is a process of self-discovery. As you say, it's meditation; a way to place yourself in a still picture and recognize your breathing presence there. Right there. I read somewhere a while ago that "You can't produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant". I don't even remember where. But this line stuck with me as, in its simplicity. This is an awesome piece, with an awesome underlying message.
Silvio, I always look forward to the conversations that we have through comments as much if not more than writing the piece in the first place. This was no exception.
Funny story, I once tried to play mad scientist with bread, figuring I could hurry things up and slow them down by changing the temperature. It turned out to be a disaster (mixed with a little too much red wine) and I got bread dough all over the walls, the counters, and the floor. Basically everywhere except the rising basket. I've learned my lesson the hard way. Turns out I'm not smarter than nature. Who knew?
Your line about producing a baby made me laugh. Thanks for sharing.