The Horse and Pony Show
this equine interaction is saving me right now.
(Thank God for the invention of the laptop because this was written Sunday, February 1st, from bed with a cold cloth on my forehead):
I have spent some time the last few days on YouTube listening to various men and women of my son’s Millennial-Gen who have spent the last 30+ hours going through the Epstein files. These horrific documents - to put it mildly - and the information they contain, are resulting in my neighborhood horse and pony getting overfed with carrots on an almost daily basis. (Consequently, their eyesight has improved to where they see me coming two blocks away.) They are best friends and graze about a mile away from my cottage, roaming free in the Scottish countryside chomping grass, heather, and other moorland vegetation. A startling portion of my weekly food budget is going toward this effort, but I see it as a form of therapy for me now, with them as the therapists, keeping me sane and tamping down my anxiety as well as my random homicidal musings and thoughts toward pedophiles and rapists.
My original draft for the YogaHag Journal this week was on how to refresh your eye pillow by washing the silk casing and adding some dried lavender to the flax seed filling. However, I find that crucially, we must push pause on all distraction which turns us away from the multitude of moments at hand which are evolving at lightning-fast speed in America and in the world. It is truly head-spinning. We writers, influencers, podcasters, poets, and teachers need to, at least temporarily, drop the normal and usual topics about how to up your protein intake and what poses are best for sciatica relief and talk about what is right in front of our faces right now by acknowledging it. If you do not acknowledge the elephant(s) in the room, it makes you sound tone-deaf and indifferent. And that is not OK. And while you are at it, stop paywalling your content for a fucking minute.
Good Man of the Week: Liam @theplantslant2431
I read a lot. I am alone on an island with my only company being equine and living well over a mile away from my doorstep. Sometimes, I can’t even find them! And I know that the islanders driving by say to themselves, “There’s the crazy American with the carrots.” So, a habit of sharing with you the best of what I come across on this platform and on YouTube - where you can see my animal and peaceful island waterscape here - has developed, and I like it. It takes a village…
“Mental health supports you when things fall apart. Mental fitness is what you train so you can cope before everything feels overwhelming.” This is a truth written this week by a fellow Substack writer, Desiree Brown-Quilty. She outlines the following regarding what is and what is not “mental rest,” which I think is helpful in this hellish moment while we gear up for more of the hellish moments that are on the way:
Mental rest
Tool: Non-Performative Rest
Mental rest is not scrolling or numbing out. It is giving your mind permission to stop performing.
A simple practice is ten minutes of non-performative rest each day.
Sit or lie down without music, podcasts, or your phone. Do not plan, reflect, or solve problems. If thoughts come up, let them pass without engaging.
This is not meditation, nor is it productivity. It is recovery.
Without this kind of rest, mental strength drains faster than you realize.
This good advice may help prevent waking up in the middle of the night with your mind racing. Sometimes it is hard to get back to sleep when the world is on fire.
Anne LaMott’s most recent post from Hallelujah Anyway contains this gem:
What else can one do to help hold back the darkness? We can shine a little brighter. I know you are sick of me using this line, but lighthouses do not run all over the island looking for boats to save. They just stand there, giving off light. Now, in the face of the current streams of evil, some days are just too long, period, and all one can do is to keep the patient comfortable—hot tea, warm baths, gentle walks, bingeing on TV series. This is exactly what Jesus or Buddha would recommend: rest as a spiritual act, noticing when too much sand has leaked out of our souls’ burlap sacks, and intentionally filling back up. (Not positive Buddha would support a Below Deck binge, but Jesus would roll His eyes and say that it was fine, as long as we were loving and forgiving with ourselves.)
God, how I love her.
And more to my GenX sensibilities, Francesca Fiorentini says in the most intelligent summation rant of the week below, “The MeToo Movement was a trial run, motherfuckers. It might take us a while to get up the strength and the force, but it’s coming.” Namaste.
Most Intelligent Summation Rant of the Week: These Epstein Files are Demonic
Gotta Love Italy (This strangely soothes me when I listen to it for a few minutes)
Playlist: we are cycling back to: In Case of Emergency
Recipe of the Week: pumpkin seeds. No recipe - just eat them.
Blessings & Love,
I love what you said - "simple presence without an agenda" is harder than it seems at first. Agreed. Simple presence is essential for our heart to remain open - or open further. I rarely wear buds on outdoor walks - there is so much to hear and receive from the sounds of nature in the birds and water. Plus, I have to avoid getting mowed down by cars around here - no sidewalks out there in nature. x
Love this take on animals as informal therapists! The idea of non-performative rest really cuts through so much wellness noise that ironicaly adds more pressure. I started taking walks without headphones last month and realized how much mental space I'd been fillign with constant input. Simple presense without an agenda is harder than it seems at first.