Thinking About Thinking

Being an unabashed introvert, it will not surprise you to hear that I am a thinker. While reading How To Think Like A Freak recently, one of the authors asked the question, 'How much time do you spend thinking? Do you spend any time really just thinking?" This led me to think about what role thinking plays in my own life. Well, it's a big one. Sure, you can say that we're humans, therefore we're always thinking and trust me, if you've ever tried to meditate, it feels like we cannot ever stop thinking. But what Levitt and Dubner are really asking is how much time we spend actually mulling things over, thinking about something instead of just absorbing what is hitting our brains with the force of water from a fire hose. Not much actual thinking when there's a fire hose involved. We are so bombarded, so surrounded and so steeped in opinions, images and headlines, I'm not sure we know where to start real thinking. Within the first chapters they propose that actually thinking about something, perhaps from a different point of view, or with a slight twist, we can work our way into explanations and eventually solutions for every day problems. The reviews on Goodreads weren't very kind to this book, saying it was 'dumbed down' and certainly 'didn't provide any actual help.' But along the way, they keep mentioning how we need to keep it simple, but not too simple. Peeling back the layers of our interconnected lives and constant awareness of everyone else's opinions, maybe it is that simple. Think about it. Think about a problem in a real, honest way and there may just be a solution, or at least an explanation, which could eventually lead to a solution. If it is that easy, why aren't people doing it, you ask? I didn't say it was easy, I said it was simple. Thinking about things isn't easy. It's hard and messy and very time consuming.

I believe, in order to be engaged citizens, mindful parents and all around good people, we must think. We must be informed about the opinions we carry and be able to change our position, intentionally, when the situation calls for it. Shaun and I have worked hard to create a life for ourselves that allows this. For me, it's silence. I pause the podcast, physically leave the computer or close the book for a moment. Being in silence gives the thought a little elbow room, going for a walk or run out in the sunshine gives it nutrients to grow and then finally discussing it with a friend brings all sorts of roots and branches to the thing that otherwise may have just slipped right in one ear and out the other. So, when asked if I think? Yes, I think. I think a lot. I've been told I think too much, an over-thinker perhaps. Alas, I'll take it.

In thinking about thinking, well, I started looking at all of the time, energy and effort that has gone into thinking in past versions of society. Women of Jane Austen's time, who certainly weren't headed for a boardroom or corner office, were still expected to have a solid grasp of mathematics, understand history, speak several languages, be proficient at an instrument know how to embroider, mend and manage a household. Men spent hours and hours in front of a chess board or engaged in political discussion. At least the upper crust of that particular society was expected to think quite a bit. I couldn't help but look at today's society and blink. Where is the space for thinking? Our instant culture wants reactionary soundbites and it wants them now. It also demands that we stick our steak into the ground on a side of every single issue that exists, and make sure it's deep. There are lots of examples I could give about me changing my opinion about something after I've had a chance to actually give it some thought. With no space for thinking, we react and then when called upon to defend our position, we simply end up further entrenched. Individual thinking is not even shown anymore, much less taught or fostered. I am not sure how we got here, and although I'm certain it would be an interesting research project, I am more curious about how we can move back toward actual thinking and into discussion about thoughts and ideas and opinions without any name calling, pouting or mudslinging (11 days until the election and counting). We certainly can look to no political entity, news broadcasting agency or social media outlet for a good example.

I also recently listened to a podcast (Inflection Point with Lauren Schiller) where I got to hear an interview with Joan Blades and John Gable. Joan is politically left and John is right. There is a lot they don't agree on, but there is much more they do agree on and they've decided to spread the need for listening and dialogue and thinking, (see, you knew I could tie it all together!) though something called Living Room Conversations*. You invite one person with a different view point into your home and each of you invite two friends. Six people with differing views then talk and listen to each other in a controlled and safe space. Real people sitting around a real home thinking, together, about real issues. This is how change happens. This is how thinking gets back into the mix. This is how we begin to see those areas where we do agree, instead of being blinded by the red or blue that we tend to color over every piece of a person's being. Not one of us is entirely one color, no one can be purely defined so easily, and when we start looking at places where we're both green, we can start to soften our own hard edges. We can slowly lift the tinted glasses through which we see our world. Once this happens, we can look at issues and problems within our communities with a much wider perspective and work on solving them, instead of worrying about defending our territory. Thinking about Congress makes steam come out of my ears when I hear more about not granting hearings for a Supreme Court Justice nominee. They're so busy defending and doubling down on this position, they're harming the foundation of our nation that already makes us great.  I can see this happen all over social media as well. What once was a superficial crack between us has grown so deep and wide, we can hardly see the other side, much less realize there are actual human beings standing over there.

Can you think about an issue from the other side? Is it possible to take off those bias glasses and look at an issue straight on? Do you have people in your life with different views, opinions and life situations? Could you have a conversation with any of them about one of those differences and your relationship remain intact? I know I have people on either side of that question. But somehow, if we remain in each other's lives, doesn't that also mean we already have something in common? Even it if is only blood itself, it's something, right?

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*Joan and John have also founded an organization called All Sides for Schools which looks at bipartisan ways to help schools succeed. Also a terrific idea!

The importance of fiction

In talking with a friend about the two most recent books I read (see previous post) and how much reading fiction impacts my life, I realized I should discuss this more. I believe in fiction, I believe in the power of stories and connections and the capacity that fiction has to bring us all together and help us with compassion and empathy. I understand the need for non-fiction, I really do! I read plenty of that as well, and find a nice neat shelf in my brain to store all of those nice, neat little facts, arguments and checklists (subtle shoutout to Atul Gawande for his great work). I am better for what I have learned from non-fiction. I finally realized that being and introvert was not only normal but actually great. I understand the reality of decision fatigue, and how incredibly powerful the placebo effect is. I have greatly benefited from the science behind anxiety and how I can use that to make my days better. I loved learning all about how Sweetgrass grows much better if it's harvested, speaking to our place on this planet, and how an Octopus may just be the smartest creature in the ocean. I appreciate non-fiction for showing me the reality of the justice system in Alabama today and I have a stronger marriage because of the wonderful Sarah Napthali and her work on Buddhisim and Marriage. But these works, these facts and figures and sentences with footnotes and bibliographies that are sometimes longer than the actual text (I'm looking at you, Sam Harris!), they are interesting in a cerebral and heady way. A scratch your chin and look up and to the right kind of "hummm," sort of way. Not so with fiction. Not even close with fiction.

The real beauty of fiction is that you cannot pick out a book for any specific reason. You cannot wander through the isles, let your fingers drag along the spines and decide what you're going to read (and by default what you're going to learn) about. No sir. Fiction has a mind of it's own. Well, really, fiction uses your own, already working 24/7 mind to come up with all sorts of things that you aren't really focused on, consciously anyway. Still not buying it? Well, just take the last two books I read, What Alice Forgot and Dark Matter. Good old Alice is categorized as 'Women's Fiction' and Dark Matter is Science Fiction at it's best. these two books would never sit side by side in any catalog, book shelf or required reading list (my Goodreads feed may be the only place, ever they've existed side by side! Or in this version of the multiverse anyway). The great thing about fiction is that these two books, these two vastly different set of characters and plot lines, they tell the same story! To me at least, their messages were so similar it honestly made me shiver. The importance of decision making and consciously leaning into choices in a mindful and intentional way is the main take away from both of these worlds. I also understand String Theory in a way that is only possible through story. Rest assured, I couldn't read any non-fiction on the multiverse and understand it to 1/10th the degree that it was brought to life for me as I followed Jason from one strand to another and watched him watch himself in another reality. Sound confusing? It's mind boggling, but I didn't sleep for two nights after I finished it because I understood String Theory so well that the vastness and implications drove me down into a long and very dark hole for a bit. I had to actually distance myself from the idea quite intentionally because it could have made me, literally, go crazy.

Fiction is the nitty gritty, the real and the raw parts of life that we like to skim over in intellectual conversations. Fiction lets us see each other in ways that matter on a daily basis. We root for the child with dyslexia, instead of wanting her disciplined, because we feel her struggle (Fish in a Tree) and we talk about how it would feel to be so different from the other kids. We see how gender roles have boxed us into corners where we feel uncomfortable (The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate) and have discussion around if things have changed today. Fiction breeds discussion because we don't all get the same exact thing out of one story. Feeling the struggle between being African-American and African in America was something I was not aware of until I walked next to the shoes of a recent immigrant (Americanah). The seamless intertwining of religion and tradition into life (Outlander) was made real for me and I now have someone to look up to when I bump into uncomfortable places. We all percolate thoughts in our minds constantly and heaven knows we've all got different ideas about most things. Fiction gives us a common language through which to have these rich and thought provoking discussions. I've read books around World War II from the point of view of so many sides (Japanese Kamikaze pilot included) I feel like I have a good understanding of the human toll, much more than I ever would have gotten from the facts presented in non-fiction. One book read by many people gives them some ground from which to launch all sorts of new ways to solve problems and different angles with which to come at life. Fiction whips us forward and backward though time and space and forces us to see the filth of 1900's New York City (Brooklyn, Triangle) and the violence of 1740's Scotland (Outlander, yes again). We can be propelled into other worlds but still face common problems because they're human problems whether we're in Michigan or Mordor (The Lord of the Rings). Fiction shows us how to summon courage in a patronis, how to navigate friendships and how to age gracefully (Harry Potter). But fiction does it all while also allowing us to hide under invisibility cloaks, fly on broomsticks, travel along the chimneys of London using floo powder, touch a stone and be transported into another time or take up a bow and arrow and inspire a revolution. We get to try on characters and see how it would feel to be someone else, to live in another time, to fight, to win, to loose, to be sick or in a dangerous relationship without actually putting skin in the game.

I read to my girls for about 45 minutes every night and I audibly sighed with relief to hear a teacher suggest I was supposed to continue reading aloud to them though "middle school, at a minimum." I dread the day when we don't have a common story in our home.

Stories, Choices and Possibility

Have you ever read a book that stayed with you? I mean really stayed with you, like you were actually living in that book for days after you'd actually finished reading? This happens to me a lot. Stories get to me. They get under my skin and live deep in my bones for a while. When I was growing up, this meant my thrillers would keep me up late into the night and then seep into my bedroom. In order to get any sleep, I'd have to go wake my peacefully sleeping sister, beg her to come sleep with me and even give up my already warm side of the bed. She did it. Every single time. Thank heavens for her, because I'm not sure I would have made it through high school! Now, thankfully, my husband sleeps beside me (without any begging!) and wakes me up from any book residue that haunts my dreams. I don't read many thrillers anymore, because my sleep is vital to me now, and also because they so deeply color the world I live in. I don't want to be so close to the violent and high strung world they drop me into. But lately, two books I've read have really gotten to me. It was not violence or anxiety or ugliness that got to me with these two, however, it was possibility and the absolute affect of the choices we make.

What Alice Forgot by Laine Moriarty is a novel about a woman who, after falling off of her spin bike and hitting her head, wakes up with no memory of the preceding ten years. She thinks she is happily married, pregnant with her first child and very full of potential. She slowly realizes what happened and how the last 10 years have changed her. She's given this perspective that is nearly impossible for those with a head full of memories. She can look through her ten-years-ago eyes and be reminded of who she was and what was important to her then, instead of being muddled by experience and circumstance. Over time, things build so slowly we don't even see it happening. Like the family members who see your kids once every few months and remark on how much they've grown, or comparing their school pictures year after year. It's there, but the change is so incremental, it's hard to recognize. Life happens this way too. This book made me try, as best as I could, to do the same. Go back ten years and try and remember who I was, what my dreams were and where I was headed. Before the reality of kids and marriage. Before the messiness and sleep deprivation made their marks on my life. Thankfully, very much unlike Alice, I am quite happy with my circumstances and I think my 29 year old self would be proud (surprised, but that's ok) of who I've become and what my life looks like now. Through the shiny newness of early marriage and new pregnancy, it's hard to grasp the difficulty that comes along with theses choices. Then again, Shaun and I have always been nose-to-the-grindstone kind of people. We work really hard to make our reality and it has paid off in spades. The deeper question I rolled around, however, was the more personal one. What kind of person am I now and what would most surprise my 29 year old self. Things that were so desperately important to me then (career!), aren't even part of my life anymore. People with whom I spoke and interacted on a daily basis back then, I haven't talked to since then. Wow. The new people in my life are understandable, but some of the friendships that haven't stood the test of time would be startling. For several days, I was able to see each little part of my 'now' world through these 'then' eyes. Thankfully I'm quite pleased what what I've found, but what an inspiring reminder about life and change and growth.

The second book kinda made my head explode. I like it when books do that to me, even though I'm currently reeling in the aftermath. Dark Matter by Blake Crouch was recommended on NPR's Science Friday show several months ago. It's also a novel, but its story line is based in String Theory. I am understand String Theory like I understand much of physics. I am aware it is there, I know the most basic idea of the idea, but from there, I pretty much leave it alone. Science Friday recommended it as one of the best science books of the year, and one that is pretty accurate with the science part. So, I decided to try it out. I haven't read a whole lot of science fiction, but I really do enjoy it once in a while. I think trying to wrap my brain around something so foreign is good exercise and just plain fun. Lets just say that I'm still there, reeling in the ideas put forth by this story. I thought the science portion was perfect, just enough explanation to maybe get the gist of what was going on, but it was the story line, as usual, that put the whole thing into play for me. A physicist, married with a family, gets kidnapped and somehow wakes up in an alternate reality where he is a world renowned physicist who has figured out how to 'beat the system' and travel within the multiverse proposed by String Theory. Every choice we make, no matter how seemingly unimportant, produces two versions of reality and all realities co-exist within the multiverse. Or at least, something like that. Again, this theme of choices comes up and it makes me realize how incredibly important choice is in our otherwise mundane lives. Of course there are the big ones, I chose to come to Colorado for college instead of staying in New Mexico. Obviously this choice had a huge effect on the trajectory of my life (I wouldn't have gotten my job at Mentor Graphics where I met Shaun, for example). But there are little choices we make that we don't even realize have such overarching effect on our day to day. Have you ever missed being in an accident by just a couple of seconds and thought about stopping at the yellow light instead of zooming through? That was a choice, and String Theory would say that in one version of reality, you went through the light and ended up in that accident. At first, I was interested, and thought, 'of course, every decisions matters, yea, I get it.' But then, this story takes it to the extreme and really shows how vast and incredible this multiverse really is. There are versions of me on such a different path, it would be hard to even recognize me in there. The implications of how experience impacts us and how vital choices are really made me stop and think about where I am now and how I got here. Maybe I'm lucky to be here. Maybe I'm smart. Maybe I have no idea what could have been. I can't really tell right now, however, because those synapses up in my brain are still forging through, trying to make sense of it all. 

Fall

"I'm so happy to live in a world 

where there are Octobers!"

~LM Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

Oh fall, you get me! 

Your warm sunshine on my face reaches deep into my soul, your chilly evenings force me to cuddle up with those I love and just be. Dark mornings say, "Here is an extra moment, be still. No need to hurry." Walking to school, my eyes almost hurt from the clear sky and multicolored trees. Looking to the mountains, I can see every individual layer before the Rockies, as they all have come out to be seen. The crisp air puts a little bounce in my step, the laziness of late summer gone for another year. The golden aspen leaves exude an urgency that says 'notice me now, and notice me well, for I will not be around much longer.' Sometimes I feel like I need to stop blinking for October. 

Our windows are still open during the day and into the evenings, but now I close the house up tight before bed, tucking our cozy family in together each night. The crickets have quieted, they know what's coming. The rustle of dry leaves already on the ground sound comforting to my ears. 

And the spices. Oh the spices! 

Fall, you get me!

Pots full of simmering goodness spread cumin and coriander throughout the house. Cinnamon, ginger and cloves waft from the oven and delight my senses. Walking through our front door on a day like today begs you to come in, sit down and savor it all. It's a time of paying attention, the world itself just begs to be seen and that memory carried into the next season. Harvest in full swing, farmers' markets and grocery stores are overflowing with all of my favorite things, pulling me quickly into the kitchen. During the last weeks of summer, I don't even feel like eating, much less cooking. But fall? Fall makes me want to bake and cook and eat all of the deliciousness that has been working so hard to grow all summer long. We had pumpkin scones earlier this week and we will have pie before the week ends. Why wait until Thanksgiving? October is for pumpkins! Butternut risotto and roasted broccoli with fresh pesto. Roasted beets, delicata squash and carrots. 

October is for absorbing it all. 

I feel like the little mice in the children's book Frederick by Leo Lioni, taking it all in, both literally and figuratively. For me, though, in this time and place, it's more about the gathering, the absorbing, the collecting and the relishing and less about the preparing for winter. October is a time to reflect. I learned about the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashana recently and was struck with the power of taking a look at the past year's mistakes, trying to make them right and then letting them go. It seems fitting for this time of year. Fall is also the time for the Mexican holiday of Dia de los Muertos, with altars that honor and remember the dead. We have long had an altar in our home, and I always find it fulfilling to talk with the girls as we put up pictures and little tokens for those who've left us. Shaun's grandmother gets four aces, my grandfather has a crossword puzzle and there is even a bit of grass for the horse who taught the girls to ride. Things get added every year, and we talk a little more deeply about it as the girls get older, but it adds such a richness to October. 

Oh fall, you get me.