Spring Forward, Fall Back

Find your delight. Slow down.

What a GREAT day so far. I have not accomplished much by way of effort and taskings, but so much fun reading, walking, jogging and working on my core muscles. Next, I’m editing a chapter of a friend’s book, then cooking a dinner of curried cauliflower soup with chicken and apples. At this time a year and a half ago, I was walking down the hall to a staff meeting and trying not to roll my eyes throughout. Thanks be to the retirement gods for getting me out early to enjoy my life.

First, I tried to listen to a podcast on Buddhist meditation while I was speed walking, but I couldn’t focus on it very well - a bit dry and the voices weren’t pleasing. (Do you forego a podcast or book because you don’t like the reader? I do, all the time! I have learned that I am partial to a British accent, especially for mysteries. For podcasts, I like male or female as long as they use some inflection and don’t say ‘Like’ all the time. Like, Ed, like, what’s your favorite podcast for, like, going to work? Just shoot me.)

I did half an hour at a brisk pace, then came back in for my nordic walking sticks. Second half hour, I did figure eights around the local neighborhood listening to my Van Halen Pandora station. To finish up, I ran two laps, one on my heels, one on my toes at a sprint, then briskly skipped a lap and the final lap I did the Wizard of Oz yellow brick road dance - which I think is also a skip, but much less bouncy. Pretty sure my neighbors think I’m crazy, but it really helps to do lots of different body work and move different muscles.

To cool down, I walked about half a football field doing a cross-over side walk to loosen up my hip and back muscles. All pretty standard, right? Pretty vanilla workout and I’ve done something similar for the last year and a half while losing 70 pounds.

But here’s the fun part - the music! Van Halen is always good, but I switched over at the end to the Scritti Politti station I created. (If you weren’t around in the 80s, you have no clue about Scritti Politti. Pretty obscure little group, but so much fun. Check this. How could you not skip when you hear it?) Then next up was Rock Me Amadeus. Chills, people. I could have run another two laps, that’s how much I love Falco. Funny how when you hear music, you are the same person you were the first time you heard and loved it. And every time after that. The song creates ties back to memories and feelings, sort of like the smell of cinnamon takes me back to cinnamon toast in front of the Saturday morning cartoons.

Coincidentally, my podcast for yesterday’s walk, Dan Harris of 10% Happier interviewed Lisa Genova and they talked about music and memories. FASCINATING! I took a chance - the description said she was a neuroscientist specializing in Alzheimers and Dementia, so sort of a downer. But she was engaging, funny, passionate about her work and not at all depressing. She also has two highly rated Ted Talks. She mentioned that songs take us down memory channels, then branch out to what we were doing then, brought in other memories related to the song - driving in a car with friends, singing along, and so forth - just GREAT feelings from these random songs from my Pandora station. And this time, the memories didn’t make me sad, just a little nostalgic. I’m definitely on the down slope of this Retirement crisis.

Even C.S. Lewis had his down times. Which is sort of comforting. "Why is it that one can never think of the past without wanting to go back?" ⏤ C.S. Lewis, The Letters of C.S. Lewis to Arthur Greeves

This weekend we fall back an hour. Daylight Savings Time is sort of a scam, in my opinion, some sort of cruel plot to mess up my sleeping patterns twice a year. I mean, I recover in a week or so, but our cats? Nope. They don’t really care that 6 am is now 5 am. They eat at 6 am, period. End of story. Even if the clock says 5, they will jump on the bed until we climb out of it. Savings time does not exist in the animal world. Another great argument for getting rid of the damn thing.

ANYWAY, I found a wonderful writer on Twitter and now follow his substack, Echoes of an Old Hollow Tree. He had such a great take on today on his Twitter feed. Here’s my favorite part, but please go and read the entire piece.

The signals are all around us, imploring you to slow down and embrace the restful season between now and the solstice when the light starts to return; the frost on the grass, the trees ripped down to their fundamental structures, the animals bulking up before a long sleep. Yes, the geese sing their departure but the owls and foxes at the woodline implore us to stay, stay, stay in the clear November nights. . . So this is your answer. This is what you should focus on; the warm inertia of November juxtaposed by the cold brilliance of the outside. Light candles, admire the frost, linger at the table a little longer, and slow down.

Yeah, I can do that. Candles, linger, slow down. I was made for November. Who knew?