Actions are King

For the past five months I've been keeping a checklist of actions I've taken that support my long term goals of living simply and sustainably. Memory has a tendency to apply a rather flattering bias when recalling our past-selves, so I like to take notes on what really happened to set the record straight. I do this to confirm that the small steps I take from month to month lead me to where I want to be several years from now. It's all part of laying down the foundation for bigger change down the road. I imagine when I reach that point in the not-so-distant future I'll look back and marvel at how far I've come. Is that an arrogant thing to think? I'm not sure, but it seems to be a common occurrence these days. When I look back on who I was not even a year ago, I see that I've made real and significant progress.

During a visit to my brother's house, I walked over to the first, and only, house that I owned. My brother and I each built our homes at the same time about seven years ago. It's surreal now to think I used to own an entire house, and that I was the only occupant for most of the time I lived there. I don't deny that I have many great memories of that place. Indeed, for a time my identity was quite tied up in the fact that I'd built my own home. In the end, though, it is just a house and it's not the type of place I want anymore. I felt relief as I looked at its disheveled lawn and unkempt yard, and gratitude for finding the courage and foresight to sell it to open my life to grander adventures.

I don't know if it has to do with my age, or maturity, but I am far more comfortable now with slow, steady progress than I was ten years ago. I was a lot more impulsive and impetuous during my university days and if I wanted to change some aspect of myself or my lifestyle, I would dive into it head first, become immersed in the change for about a week or so, and then drop it out of exhaustion or boredom. That's a kind of wisdom that has to be earned I think, if the student is willing, and I realize now that steady and incremental changes in my behaviour lead to lasting change. It's far more effective than trying to change a half dozen major aspects of myself all at once, and far less tiring. I'm sure everyone who's reading this blog has personal experience trying to hold oneself to a litany of New Years Eve resolutions, only to see them all crumble away after that brief surge of post-Christmas willpower sputters and falls to the wayside.

Willpower is a funny thing; from my magical studies I've learned that willpower should be effortless, and not the 19th century Victorian clenched jaw kind that may come to mind. However, willpower shouldn't be used to instill long lasting behavioural change. It should, instead, be used to reinforce habits which are far more effective at modifying behaviours over the long term. A small action, such as five minutes of meditation practiced every morning as part of the morning routine, becomes habit quite easily, and willpower steps in on those mornings where I really didn't feel like it. Those incremental changes, applied slowly and one at a time, really help to instill positive habits. This is just one example of how my conscious choice of actions impacts my life. What can happen, and most often does because life is like that, is that another person's decision or series of decisions will have an impact on my life that I didn't expect. Case in point: meeting my girlfriend. It's been a wonderful experience meeting and getting to know her, and it's had a an effect on my plans for the months to come. This is where staying flexible and detached from outcomes really helps.

All of our lives are made up of decisions, small ones for the most part, and the effects of decisions made by other people. Truthfully we have little absolute control over the direction of our lives. Happenstance, fate, and destiny have a part to play in our lives that, I think, many of us would like to forget about. It would be a cruel world, though, if each person were solely responsible for their lot in life. Those who succeed like to think that they've earned that success solely through the results of their actions, and their actions alone. It's human nature and its ego that encourage that way of thinking. It's also comforting in a sense to think that the less fortunate "earned" their place in life because of poor choices that they've made in the past, rather than accepting that perhaps they were just dealt a shitty hand in life, and no amount of hard work or effort will really change that. Circumstance has a large part to play in all of our lives.

I used to be a firm believer in the concept of meritocracy, but I realize now the world is not so black and white as that. Yes, people who work hard will tend to see some success from all of their efforts, but there are others who work just as hard, if not more so, and yet never seem to catch a break. Here, as in all aspects of life, outside forces play a part in weaving a complex fabric of cause and effect. A man born in Africa who toils under a punishing and corrupt regime, trying to make a better for himself and his family, I would argue, works just as hard as a middle class, white collar, database administrator born and raised in the Greater Toronto area. Neither person choose the circumstances of where or to whom he was born to, nor how the influence of the society and culture they grew up in would affect him. All that each person can hope to do is focus on actions that have an effect on his immediate situation, and perhaps over time, incrementally change the situation in which he finds himself.

For my part, I choose to act in the ways that I have some control over so that I can try to get there. Thankfully the journey itself is quite satisfying and stimulating, so whether or not I reach the destination I have envisioned has less importance than it could. That falls in line with my trying to let go of attachment to outcome. It's better to act according to my values, and let the chips fall where they may. This breeds a way of thinking that tells me that whatever may happen, I can handle it.

I am happy with the progress I've made so far this year. I have things planned out to February of 2014, and I'm sure they'll change as the months go by according to what I'm doing and the circumstances at the time. Being adaptive and flexible will serve me a lot better than slavish adherence to a to-do list of items that my past-self planned knowing little of the future. That's a pretty major change to my personality and outlook, I believe, and I'm certain it's been influenced by the literature I read regarding our uncertain future. Whether or not we face a long societal decline, staying adaptive to whatever situation I find myself in certainly won't hurt.

Productivity

Yesterday afternoon I was in the Lord Roberts Community Center hoop house to work in some peat moss and compost into the compacted soil in preparation for planting. My girlfriend was eager to help out, and between the two of us we managed to finish prepping the entire area. The hoop house has about 200 square feet of growing space, which allows for a surprising amount of food to be grown in a semi-regulated environment.

The hoop house is an inexpensive and effective way to increase yields. It can extend the growing season by a couple of months, and also allow us to grow plants that wouldn't normally do well in our climate. The key to ensuring the hoop house works most efficiently is through regular monitoring of the weather conditions, and adjusting it accordingly. Along the lengths of the structure, the plastic sheeting can be rolled up from zero to about five feet off the ground, and anywhere in between. This allows for air movement, and also prevents the interior from getting too hot or too cold. On the hot, sunny days Winnipeg is known for, it's critical that someone come in the morning to open up the sides so that the veggies and fruit don't cook in the intense greenhouse effect of the hoop house. To help regulate the temperature during the evenings, the sides are again rolled down so that the soil stays warm, and moisture doesn't escape too quickly. This all requires someone, or more likely some people, to keep an eye on it. This is where community involvement is critical.

One of the key objectives of the co-operative I'm part of is to encourage community participation. The neighbours adjoining the Lord Roberts garden plot have adopted it, and keep an eye on it to make sure nothing grows legs and disappears overnight. On occasion they'll also actively lend a hand with the garden. Yesterday as we worked to move compost into the hoop house, a local resident stopped by on his way home from work. We chatted for some time, discussing what's happening with the garden. He mentioned that he and some other neighbours would set up the bean pole fence for us, without being asked to do so. It's that kind of voluntary involvement that's so important to encourage the first tentative steps towards building a more resilient and self-sufficient community.

Personally, I find the work very enjoyable, and educational. I'm learning about the stuff that really matters to me. Working with friends, family or colleagues makes it that much more entertaining. The work may seem mindless and dull, but it energizes me. To see good, tilled soil ready for the season's plantings is akin to looking at a bright, white page beckoning for the writer's pen or the artist's brush. In some ways, nothing is more creative than encouraging and supporting life to grow under gentle guidance. The pay off for all that work is delicious and satisfying. It's confirmation that I am able to provide for myself. At the end of the day, relaxing to a beautiful sunset with a cold beer in hand, I can look back on what I've done and say, "today's been a productive day." That brings a smile to my face.

The Slow Death of Imagination

You may want to chalk this post up to me becoming an ornery old man, but it seems that the power of imagination is the sacrificial lamb of the never ending progress of media and entertainment. What is the end game, here? To make movies and video games indistinguishable from reality? To make them better than reality? Supposing that the natural conclusion of the evolution of visual media (primarily) is to supersede, nay replace, the real world is a little unsettling, to say the least. What place would imagination have in that brave, new world? The creators of entertainment are reaching a point where they have such fine control over the display of their creations that they can readily manipulate consumers' perceptions and interpretations. There are few gaps left for the audience to fill with their imaginings, their essence. I think that's a sad thing.

In a way, I believe media creators have become lost in the endless pursuit of fidelity, and their creations suffer for it. Yes, I can now watch a computer generated video where a character's skin shows those little black dimples and hairs all over the place, but I ask, what value does that add to the creator's story and message? My brain, and imagination, are quite willing and capable to fill in the little details that are pertinent to the story. "The character has acne," is not something I need to know unless it's this commercial. I argue that modern stories would be stronger if they were to allow the audience to engage its imagination while consuming them. They'd have their work cut out for them, however, because the ability to visualize has atrophied for a good majority of the people out there.


The common refrain from adults is "I don't have much of an imagination." Bullshit. That's a self-limiting belief that's been reinforced by the modern media and society. Every mentally healthy person out there has a very powerful ability to visualize and create within the framework of their own minds an internal reality. When I say visualize, I don't mean imagining visually. Visualization is the brain's ability to create a scene, a story, or a feeling within one's own mind. This process has been shown to improve the performance of athletes, musicians, performers, you name it, when they visualize ahead of time whatever it is they need to do. With practice, the brain is unable to distinguish visualized experiences from real ones. This is the power of imagination, and it's a terrible shame we're letting it languish rather than encouraging its use.

However, I don't think it's an accident that modern "progress" wants to supplant the need for imagination. Without imagination, we cannot imagine our lives being any different than they are currently. The status quo is maintained, the consumerist lifestyle lives on until it can't anymore, and we're all none the wiser.

Imagine yourself sitting down to think about the things that really matter to you. That's where it all starts. A voice will intrude, "that's all well and fine, but you have all these things that you are responsible for." The next part is difficult, the next part requires some pretty warmed up and limber visualizing muscle. Imagine all those things you simply couldn't live without were gone. How would you feel? Would it be the end of you? Would you go out and work to win all those things back, or would you stop for a moment and perhaps have a split second realization that all that bullshit doesn't really matter? In that opened space, you may taste freedom. Imagine, how would you fill that space? What would guide your decisions? Imagine yourself sitting down to think about the things that really matter to you.

Will you?