Mindful Mondays #30: Poetry and Mindfulness
Why you should read more poetry, becoming yourself by doing less, Taoist alchemy, and a vintage Gary Snyder poem
Good morning, and welcome to Mindful Mondays. I just got back from a leadership retreat out in the desert, and I still feel a little dehydrated! I also accidentally left my laptop at home for this trip, which was disconcerting to me as a writer, but probably good for my psyche.
This week, I published an essay on why you—a person who’s interested in being more mindful—should really consider reading more poetry. I’m also sharing an article on how saying ‘no’ to things can help you become yourself, a podcast about Taoism, and a poem from Gary Snyder. Enjoy!
Article of Interest
Becoming yourself is a process of reduction: Isabel from Mind Mine writes eloquently about the power of saying ‘no’ to all the things so that you can say ‘yes’ to the things that truly matter to you:
When you do less, the things you do become better, because they contain a more potent concentration of you. When we put our full focus on something, we express ourselves through it without constraint, without thinking: should I really be doing x when I also have to do y, z, and q? When we try to budget our power across too many domains, we feel the constant weight of never doing well enough at any of them—of never really feeling like we are in our full power.
As someone who often takes on too many things at once, I resonated with this hard. And I find myself craving the feeling of having that kind of focus in the the areas of my life I care most about, like writing, therapy, spirituality, and my most important relationships.
Podcast of the Week
Daoist Inner Alchemy with Damo Mitchell: In this episode of the excellent Guru Viking podcast, Damo Mitchell shares his story of growing up training in karate, struggling with fear and anger, encountering Daoist practices like Taijiquan (AKA T’ai Chi) and inner alchemy, and ultimately how these have transformed his consciousness. As someone who spent years (on and off) studying T’ai Chi, I appreciated Damo’s insights. The Daoist arts are not as well known in the West as Buddhism and Yoga, and as Damo points out, there are plenty of frauds and scoundrels in the Daoist world. But Damo seems to know what he’s talking about and to approach teaching these arts in an ethical and grounded way.
Poet’s Corner
Here’s a poem that I returned to as part of my daily reading practice this week. I’ve long been a fan of Gary Snyder’s early work. Snyder, like others in the Beat generation, worked as a lookout for the forest service during fire season. In the 50s and 60s, it was a cheap way to live in nature for an extended period and have time to read, write, and meditate. In this poem, in particular, I can hear the influence of the Chinese hermit Han Shan, who famously lived in a cave and wrote his poems on rocks and trees.
Mid-August at Sourdough Mountain Lookout Down valley a smoke haze Three days heat, after five days rain Pitch glows on the fir-cones Across rocks and meadows Swarms of new flies. I cannot remember things I once read A few friends, but they are in cities. Drinking cold snow-water from a tin cup Looking down for miles Through high still air. --Gary Snyder
That’s all for this week! As always, I appreciate your feedback on Mindful Mondays. What was your favorite thing I shared this week? What would you like to read more about? Just reply to this email or leave a comment on Substack or Notes to let me know.
Thanks for reading,
Chris Cordry, LMFT
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