How Do You Know? | Thinking, Naturally with Rachelle

On reading, writing, knowing (or not), inquiry, pleasure, convention, art, attention, and change.

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Hello from a late-summer Sunday on my Brooklyn deck, which I’ve finally, almost, succeeded in mosquito-proofing in order to enjoy. None of the solutions are natural, so I’ll spare you those details. I’m determined to spend mornings on this deck in one of the many ways I’m trying to recreate some of my Costa Rican lifestyle here in NYC (a debatable process, I’m finding). There, it was naked coffee with hummingbirds and butterflies—often to the near-off sounds of monkeys—which is, obviously, a hell of a way to wake up every day.

this is not the aforementioned deck, though I wish it were.

This is an uncommon entry here—something more impromptu (we tend to love an editorial calendar, as I’m sure you’ve noticed), more meandering, more journal-esque, which I’m hoping to do more of. Now that I’m done writing my book, which absorbed most of my time for the last nine months, I’ve returned to writing other things, and reading, and listening to audio books, and even some podcasts. Honestly, the break from extra media consumption was enjoyable. I often quit most media when I’m traveling—for example, in Costa Rica, I didn’t even read. That’s because when I’m in an environment, or a phase of life, that I want to absorb every last second of, I drop the distractions. And yes, that means I consider reading a form of distraction. It is also, of course, a practice we should all do much more of, but we might also do more of doing nothing, which involves quite difficultly, not being distracted.

On this last trip to CR, I actively practiced paying very, very close attention to the moments, for every possible moment, every single day, for the entire two-plus months. And you know what? It “worked.” I now feel as if I’ve integrated that experience in a way that I carry it around inside of me, rather than feeling—as I did after February and March’s visits—that it’s only a memory now, something passed, “over.” There are other reasons for its present aliveness, which I’ll share more about later, but that attention practice having succeeded really impressed me. (Try it maybe, lmk if it works for you!)

As you’re reading this piece, I’d love to know what lines jump out to you. Save one and drop it in the comment. I’ll jump off from those in future writings.