Week 22.29 Living Ultra-Light

I have had the good fortune of enjoying simple pleasures this past week. I am prioritizing living over working this month, and so far, I would rate myself a 7 out of 10 for effort. But this past week, I enjoyed delicious meals prepared with love and served outside with good friends. I spend more time on the small boats in the bay, which I find incredibly rejuvenating. I walked more and sat less. I read fiction which I understand is my personal barometer for relaxing. I was not on the phone or ZOOM. At the end of the day on Sunday, my muscles were tired from activity, not exercise. In general, none of the activities involved stuff; even when it did, it was stuff that had been well-worn and minimal for the occasion. Relative to my regular week, I was living ultra-light.?

I love the idea of living ultra-light and was reminded of it listening to the Ezra Klein podcast interview with Kim Stanley Robinson. In his new book, High Sierra, a love story, Robinson observes that the modern hiking industrial complex designs and provides products that look and feel amazing in the story but serve to weigh down the hiker on the trail. Each new purchase purports to make the hike a better one, to allow the hiker to overcome more obstacles, achieve greater heights, and enjoy the hike more. In fact, too much stuff inevitably weighs the hiker down, sweating under the weight of the pack, spending too much effort carrying to enjoy the experience of hiking. He points to a new breed of hiker, who travel longer distances (2760 miles!) faster (100 days!), who examine each gram of weight they carry to determine if the benefit is worth the cost of the carry. It got me thinking...what would I pack if I wanted to live the ultra-light life?

First up, what is the stuff I want to carry with me? I can totally empathize with the novice backpacker confronted with the great gear that promised to make the hike better, faster, and more enjoyable. High-tech stove - that sounds amazing? A foldable, lightweight table would make dinner so much more enjoyable. Similarly, the new iPhone seems to have features I cannot live without. New gear to improve the quality of ZOOM calls, new sneakers that are cushier than the ones I have, and perhaps new luggage that is a little lighter and fits more stuff all beckon to me. I am outgunned by the perfection of their message, triggering my brain just so. I have to remember that each purchase adds weight. Money spent on this cannot be spent on that (or saved for something else.) The purchase of the new thing means that the planet (my planet) will carry the weight of the old item. Weighing all costs of the stuff that seems like a simple purchase yields a deeper appreciation and helps me make more responsible decisions.?

Next, what are the relationships I want to carry with me? Harry Kraemer famously writes everyone only has 168 hours in a week. Every relationship we have carries weight, and I would argue that ounce for ounce, it is more precious than gold. Our relationships define us by association, influence, and context framing. And when we choose time to spend time with one person, we take away the opportunity to spend time with another. It takes time to call (or see) your parents, children, and loved ones. Balancing the time for office, personal, professional, and relationships that nourish you is a tricky balance; there never seems to be enough time. No matter how full you pack, at certain times in your life and year, it appears that something has to be left behind. Choosing that carefully is critical.?

Finally, what personal characteristics do I want to carry with me? We cannot be everything to everyone, as anyone who has tried can confirm. The final set of decisions we need to make to travel ultra-light is who we want to be and how we want to be known. If we choose carefully, we can hold two attributes that seem in conflict, such as caring and driven, but we can't do that too often. The more things we want to be, the more precarious the balancing act to hold them is. Each of us determines what is heavy or light for us. As we learn what to give and what to take, when to ask for help, and when to give help, we see what lightens our load and what makes it heavier. By redesigning our own gear through the ups and downs of life and intentionally determining what we need, we can reach the top and enjoy the view.?

Stuff, relationships, and characteristics are each elements that will either allow me to farther faster or shorter slower. In life and leadership, we should continuously reassess what is worth the effort, what is a distraction, what is making us happier, and what is making us less happy. As we make decisions, we should ask ourselves, what are we doing this for? As we juggle these elements, we can consider how we lighten our minds as we reset our balance. We might ask ourselves, in a kind way, "what are we doing this for?" I want to choose more harmony in my life, and I think I will find it easier with less stuff. As Robinson says, "less heightens experiences," and I agree. When I decide what I want to bring into my life and what I need to let go of, I will ask if this serves my ultra-light life.

A Weird, Wonderful Conversation with Kim Stanley Robinson The Ezra Klein Show

Ezra and Kim discuss why Robinson decided to start writing outdoors, what it was like to experience the Sierras on psychedelics in his youth, what “actor-network theory” is and how it helps us understand our relationship to the planet and to our own bodies, why we should think of climate change more like we do plane crashes, what hiking backpacks say about American consumerism, how we should change our relationship to technology in order to be happier, why the politics of wanting are so confusing yet important, why Robinson is so excited about ideas like a wage ratio and rewilding schemes, how the “structure of feeling” around climate has changed, why Robinson is feeling more hopeful about Earth’s future these days and more. I am a huge fan of EK and this episode, exceptionally rich and thoughtful, introduced me to the work of Robinson who seems to me to be in the class of Richard Powers.

Values: The Courage to Lead and Live By Example by Terence Jackson, Ph.D.

There are a lot of so-called leaders out there making decisions for everyone, claiming it’s because of their personal values. In many cases, those values are little more than lip service. A closer look at the people who claim that they are operating based on values often shows actions and activity that is opposed to what they are saying. Worse, many people conflate values with religious beliefs and, in so doing, try to impose their beliefs, even on people who don’t share them. In this article, Dr. Terry Jackson explores and reveals the difference from having values and just talking about them.

The Economics of Wellbeing & Global Human Flourishing July 26, 2022 10 AM - 12 PM Moderated by Dr Noemie Le Pertel

This event is co-hosted by the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard in partnership with the Institute for Global Flourishing, the World Economic Forum Global Shapers Manhattan Hub, Gallup, and the Templeton World Charity Foundation. Moderated by Dr. Noémie Le Pertel, this inaugural symposium will be the first in a series of symposia that will serve as space for bringing global leaders into collective dialogue around an economics of wellbeing and global flourishing. Speakers will discuss measurement, practice, and the role of institutions in shifting the perceptions of economics in our communities and society. Please join these thought leaders and help shape a growing social movement for redefining economics in our communities and institutions in ways that foster sustainable flourishing. Click here for information or click here to go directly to registration for zoom event