START AGAIN MONDAY
15/3/21
Welcome to Start Again Mondays
This week I’m coming to you from my kitchen table
Alrighty… start again
Something I’m Pondering
I spent Saturday night in the wild
I’ve wanted to try it for a long time
Im not talking about camping, with tents and gear
I mean walking into the bush
Finding a natural shelter
Making a fire
And spending the night under the stars
So me and a buddy hiked a few hours into the Blue Mountains
Found a river
(And a Brown snake)
And placed our sleeping bags under a collection of big boulders where we had some protection from the elements
As darkness fell, the heartbeats started to rise
We had a fire
Some meat from a lamb I butchered a few months ago
And a hip flask of whiskey (thanks Jack)
But as we lost the light
So too we lost the sense of knowing what was around us
And at midnight, a crack of thunder burst through the darkness
The wind hurled ambers in our faces
The rain drenched our fire, taking with it the last remaining light
And water began to run down the sides of the rocks above us
Very quickly, we felt very small
And for about an hour, I didn’t stop smiling
I’m still trying to figure out why
Maybe it was the acceptance that there were so few things I could control
Maybe it was that I had so few choices available for me to make
Maybe it was simply being in nature, a place I have found solace in since I was very young
But reflecting on it in my warm bed this morning
There was a humility that night
One that maybe I haven’t felt in a while
That nature can put me back in the soil anytime she wants
And no matter how hard I try
How much I want to achieve certain things
How much I want to control things or be sure they will happen
At the end of the day
Im just a small vulnerable human being
Who has no idea why he’s here, or what what he’s doing
I think what I felt that night
(which Im not feeling even just 36 hours later as I write this back in my comfort zone)
Was the deep acceptance of not knowing
That I don’t know… and that thats okay
Something I’m Doing
I have been redoing an exercise I did about 5 years ago
It is absolutely… magical
Probably one of the most important exercises I’ve ever done actually
I could try explain it but I’ll let Debbie do it as her voice is like honey and I sound like a toad after my big weekend
I’ll throw this quote in:
“Write like your life depends on it, because it does”
Debbie Millman Exercise: A Remarkable Life
(Debbie explains it around the 1:35:00 mark)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8S_Ims5oX-s
Something for Process
I did a podcast last week with Rachel Baker & the Hub Studio
It goes for about at hour
We chat about acting stuff
Podcast: Don’t Be So Dramatic
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Email: info@michaelsheasby.com
Articles: www.michaelsheasby.com/articles
Process: www.michaelsheasby.com/process