The title is not about me. It’s about what this tree looks like it’s doing.
* * *
This is about me: I’m doing a lot of reading.
I don’t think I’ve had this much introspection since my college years. That is a good thing. It’s hard to keep looking, keep poking sometimes, but that is a part of the hard work of owning my past and fixing my future. This isn’t some big grandiose revelation. It’s more about how I process inputs, how I my thoughts form and how I can slow all of that down. My mind works like an AND/OR gate sometimes. This has to be infuriating to people. I’ve worked hard my whole life to slow my mind down, particularly when speaking, but boy is it difficult. I’m not saying this because I look down on myself. I’m saying this because maybe somebody out there knows what I’m on about and maybe there are some words of wisdom, some tips or some mechanisms for learning to slow the mind down. I’m not talking about psychotropics or illegal substances. I’m talking about things like meditation, mindfulness and thought exercises. I recall this piece on Zen Habits from a few years back, How to Slow Down Now:
“Slowing down, even a small amount, can help you be less demanding, less impulsive, and more patient with yourself and others. If slowing down makes you more considerate of other people, you’ll be even more likable than you are now.”
Yep.
