The Heathen – 7.26.22

I have been on the road for a few months now, soaking up the wisdom of the natural world. Every sunrise that passes without cell phone reception, I realize that peace manifests in the absence of computer-bot notification fuckery.

I’m also aware that these machines open up portals of communication in which we are connecting at this very moment. Tricky. What is valid? What is right?

I’ve been pondering a few thoughts for your creative maniac mind.

spacebird-travels

Pay attention to what is mastering your attention

Flow states often birth from feeling peace and ease. Peace and ease are also feelings of being in a flow state. It’s a reciprocal vortex where the fruits are tasty and the quality of life is paramount.

To step into a flow state, there is no easier way than removing all of the distractive fuck-boxes that pillage your awareness. Social media. Text notifications. Mindless scrolling. Skinsuit swiping. Media propaganda. The grand ole’ boob tube.

Are you the master of your attention, or are you allowing massive chunks of your days to fade into these debilitating pits of darkness and distraction? Are you feeding your time and energy to the monsters?

Less stuff = less distraction

When you have less stuff (digital or physical) you have less distraction. When you have little to no distraction, you are the master of your awareness.  When you master your own awareness, you pay attention to the parts of life that matter the most like forming stronger relationships, engaging in higher levels of creativity, or reconnecting with the passion and curiosity of your inner child.

When you start to weave the support of strong relationships with creative exploration and child-like play, you will continuously open up new doors that lead directly to clarity and meaning in life.

And, when you live your life with clear intent, you will undoubtedly discover that the pursuit of happiness you dream of is not only possible, it’s absolute. It’s beating inside your chest right now. Can you feel it, or must you remove some distractions to get back to the source?

Don't feed the monsters!

Digital devices are like walking billboards. They suck in your attention and give you a dopamine hit to make you feel “liked” or “shareable.”

They leave you empty and longing for another fix. They make you see the world through the eyes of distortion.

They convince you that your digital identity is more important than your true form, that the digital world is more real than the wild abundant Earth.

These billboards sell you stories and dreams. Not your dreams, but their dreams. They help you find the information you “want”, convincing you that their tools are helpful and valid. Meanwhile, they track the information you seek and use it to put more billboards in front of your face.

Materials. Possibilities. Views through the eyes of “better” lives. You spend years on these platforms and all of a sudden they know who you are better than you do.

They hit you with ads that make you think “Woah babes, I was just thinking about that. What a coincidence! I guess this is synchronicity?? Did I manifest this? A universal sign? I should buy this!”

But in reality, they listen to every word you say and type. They know your favorite flavors. They know what colors you are most likely to click on. They know what secrets you keep tucked into your mind.

They know your weaknesses.

But hey… fuck em'. They have no power over you if you remove them from your life.

Quick ideas for destroying digital distraction gremlins

  • Remove social media, email, and other disruptive apps from your phone. Again, they are designed to give you little dopamine drips of instant (but false) gratification, all while disguising the impossibility of you ever actually creating sustainable happiness while under their spells. Check out Jaron Lanier’s Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now if you want to explore the deep dark world of how these platforms are manipulating your life and removing your ability to experience being human, even if it wasn’t the original intention of the creative pioneers.
  • Create hourly, partial day, or full-day phone blocks. I often schedule certain days (and sometimes full weeks) where I keep my phone off entirely. At the very least, put it on airplane mode and turn off the wifi to eliminate distractions. Let your close family and friends know when you are going silent so they don’t freak panic and call the police to come bust in on your while you’re naked in your bubble bath.
  • Replace your television with a projector. They are harder to set up, thus making it less likely that you’ll actually watch. If you can go without entirely, even better.

Quick ideas for rediscovering yourself after beating your distraction gremlins to a pulp

  • Do the goddamned thing! There is something really trippy that happens when you start using digital blocks. All of a sudden, it feels like your days are five times as long and you don’t know what to do with your time. This is because you are now mastering your awareness instead of sacrificing it to the distractive hell realms. The boredom you feel wants to transform into play. Start reading books, planning projects, going on walks outside, meditating, and listening to your curiosity and intuition. What is something exciting to you that you’ve always wanted to start but never did? Take a few hours to make a big list. I recently picked up pottery and wilderness survival, and I’m in love with them both.
  • Call and/or hang out with your friends and family in the flesh. Find out what they are struggling with, fighting for, creating, and overcoming. We’ve been conned into believing that a “like” or “comment” on a social media post is a true form of relating and caring. We feel like we are letting our friends know we “support” them, but we actually aren’t truly connecting with them in any human form. We build expectations that others will validate our lives through liking and commenting on what we share, yet we end up feeling empty and alone regardless. Sharing pictures and thoughts via digital communication platforms can be rewarding in some ways, but it is never a replacement for real human connection. Call your friends, your mom, your children, and your partners. Make physical plans often and meet up to explore new places and pathways. Our planet is infinitely gorgeous, and you deserve to discover the nectars with awesome people and real connections. There is nothing more important than sitting around a fire under the stars, staring each other in the eyes, and saying “I fucking love you.”
  • Send postcards or hand-written letters to your baller friends instead of texting them. Plan a trip. Slap each other’s butts. We don’t remember texts from yesterday, but postcards and letters are filled with love and intention. Find creative ways to reconnect with those you care about and start fresh connections with new, exciting people who are in alignment with your values.

Creative maniac quotes for you

“Create a place for people to live like human beings instead of slaves to some bullshit concept of progress that is driving us all mad.” – Hunter S. Thompson

“Weird, lovely, fantastic objects of nature have the curious ability to remind us — like rock and sunlight and wind and wilderness— that out there is a different world, older and greater and deeper by far than ours, a world which surrounds and sustains the little world of men as sea and sky surround and sustain a ship. The shock of the real. For al little while we are again able to see, as the child sees, a world of marvels. For a few moments we discover that nothing can be taken for granted, for if this ring of stone is marvelous then all which shaped it is marvelous, and our journey here on earth, able to see and touch and hear in the midst of tangible and mysterious things-in-themselves, is the most strange and daring of all adventures” – Edward Abbey

“We no longer buy oranges, we buy vitality. We do not just buy an auto, we buy prestige. And so with all the rest. In toothpaste, for example, we buy not a mere cleanser and antiseptic, but release from the fear of being sexually repulsive. In vodka and whisky, we are not buying protoplasmic poison which in small doses, may depress the nervous system in a psychologically valuable way; we are buying friendliness and good fellowship.” – Aldous Huxley

 

Look, I know it’s remarkably hard to avoid these devices in a society ridden with technological blackholes. However, I urge you to implement some of these practices right now. Don’t wait or create a “plan” for doing it next week. If you wait, they win. If you wait, you sacrifice yourself.

Tell the truth. Love yourself. Love everyone else even if you feel rage toward them (and tell some of them.) Expect nothing. Assume nothing. Explore. Create. Be Curious. Greet the sun. Hug the moon. Surrender and let go. Share your light.

Thanks for reading “The Heathen.”

Until next time,

–Heath

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Here is a quick link to share this message with an alien you know:

https://heatharmstrong.com/less-stuff-less-distraction/

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