How we start our days is how we spend our days

And, "how we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives."

If we pay attention, love is everywhere.

Hi there,

Life is meaning(ful)(less). Either way, what a relief!

Below is five things I thought were worth sharing this week:

1. I paid attention and realized something yesterday: how we start our days is how we spend our days. The offline world is slower in contrast to the online world. If you're reading a book, let’s say, you're just reading a book. If you're on your phone, or laptop, there's a million things you can be doing: check social media, read the news, listen to music, send a text, watch something on YouTube; phew! This means, when we start our day online, we are bombarded with high speed digital noise and clutter, and that sets the tone for the rest of the day. The whole day can end up feeling rushed, noisy and cluttered, too. In contrast, when we start the day offline at a slower pace, whether that’s for an hour without checking devices, or taking our commute offline, there is a slowness that spills into the rest of the day.

2. I’m slowly getting through a few (good) books at the moment: Hooked: Food, Free Will, and How the Food Giants Exploit Our Addictions, In Praise of Slow: How a Worldwide Movement is Challenging the Cult of Speed, Animal Farm, and thinking of giving audio books a try again with Brave New World. See a pattern? As Austin Kleon put it eloquently, it turns out the end of the world is slow and boring.

3. Announcing at the beginning that his main goal of this talk is for you to go out and smash your smart phone, Nicholas Carr tells the audience exactly What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, and it’s not pretty. Enjoy?

4. A quote I want to share with you this week:

   “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”
   — Annie Dillard

   But you already knew that.

5. Someone wrote kind words about me on the Internet so I must share it with you, but also it’s pretty damn good. Disordered longings and the abyss: Reflecting on "demonizing the tools" and liturgies. Love can be devotion: what are you devoting your time and attention to? After all, we are what we love. For more, check out the archive, and subscribe if you like what you read.

That’s all for this week!

Thank you for reading, and please share with anyone you think may benefit.

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Until next time,

Mehret