Jan 06 2009
Living just enough, just enough for the City
The other night, our daughter was being a little monster. She was rampaging through one room, then the next, screaming, sometimes gleefully and giddily squealing, stopping to throw objects followed by tantrums. We knew that she wasn’t just tired, but overly so. We’ve learned from these moments to turn off lights (a habit that we do half an hour before her bedtime, and really what we should do before ours) and take her into her little sensory-deprived bedroom, where my wife tends to coo her and lay with her for about 15 minutes or so.
I’m not a big fan of manicured lawns (because the chemicals and water and energy put into caring for them are taxing on resources and the environment), but I miss the days of being able to run up and down our neighbors lawns playing freeze-tag or forms of catch or football. And I miss falling in the grass and just smelling it, touching the dirt. I can see why golfing is so popular.
My mind wants to take a nap while my daughter is catching up on her sleep right now. I just may allow it to do so, because I know too well the effects of not catching up on my own sleep and, in fact, not allowing myself to just be still and meditate for a moment.
Too much stimuli. Too many web pages open. Too many things on the calendar. The baby’s sleep schedule is all awry. Too many things start flooding the eyes and the brain patterns. The nerves start racking up, I think of all things I should be doing, all the things I could be doing. But I’m wrecked; I’m immobile; I can’t help but be overwhelmed.
I find myself listening to more folksy songs and less rock and rap. Several days will go by without any caffeine interference. I touch the ivy hanging in my living room because its the only green living nearby.
According to this article in the Boston Globe (fittingly titled, “How the City Hurts Your Brain”), too much city living’s not just not good for the soul, it’s taxing on the brain. Too much stimuli, too many things to be on the lookout for, too many lights, too little nature, too much of too much - our minds were not set up for such things and so our responses slow; we become sluggish; we lay our eyes down and start typing in weird words in our own blog posts… (or maybe that’s just me…). This all, of course, is nothing new. Urban planners knew this as long ago as the late 19th Century, when the boulevard system was set in place in Chicago and Central Park was developed in NYC.
Maybe if you’ve come to the end of this post and you’re a bit tired, a bit stressed, a bit over-stimulated. Now might be a good time to find a patch of green and meditate. Or, now might be a good time for a nap…
