Today, I harvested some more sweet woodruff, and a lot more nettles. Now, you might not think this is thinkering, but it is – it is.
You see, thinkering is all about freedom. Freedom to gorge on whatever information you need to broaden your horizon, freedom to respond from your heart not your brain, freedom to touch upon dark topics one moment, and lighter ones the next.
All you need for thinkering is a clear head and a clear path to the flow. This takes practice. (I know of a few thinkerers who’ve taken shortcuts, some illegal, some barely legal. Yay to them. I am on the slow track, aiming to keep all of my brain cells alive and functioning in the long run. Prissy? Sure. Careful? You bet ya. This body is my vessel, this brain is my processor. There is a lot riding on me being all there, the next forty-odd years.)
For me, a clear path has also meant experimenting with food. Over the years, I’ve found that certain types of food hamper me from being all there. For instance, as a rule, I don’t eat meat, and I rarely eat fish. Also, I don’t really do well on bread, which is a pity, because Top1 bakes perfect loafs of spelt bread. Dairy, with the exception of yoghurt and a moderate amount of cheese, wears me down, and anything high in sugary syrups sends me through the roof. Coffee? Certainly, but no more than two cups, and sometimes even that second cup is too much.
What keeps me afloat and in touch with the flow? Simple foods, often prepared in low tech ways, or not prepared at all. Fruits, vegetables (dark green leaves! J’adore!), beans and lentils, eggs, nuts and seeds, fermented foods like miso paste and tempeh, and…. tadadada…. herbs.
There is nothing that does not flow when it comes to foraging for herbs. You get to be a regular little hunter, paying attention to the flimsiest of changes in both weather and surroundings. You get to cut only part of the plant, so you know you have not killed it. You get to appreciate the little weeds for every ounce of glorified Green Power they offer – for free! You get to outsmart food monopolisers, which is becoming quite important these days. Sometimes, you also get to have fun with your daughter making Witch Soup, and, as I discovered today, once in a while you get to have a chat with innocent bystanders, teaching them the few herbal facts of life you’ve amassed over the years.
So, hey, aware that I may be that I am just a dot in time and space, part of a scattered collection of dots unable to consolidate and form lines that, when viewed from Mars, offer a beautifully rendered image of a gigantic heart – today I am a content little dot, for I have connected with the flow and with other dots, while making sure my body gets what it needs to help me keep on connecting.
PS Thank you, Corner Viewers, for all your comments. I will come back to them, I promise, but it might take a while, because of the Easter Break.