Isn't it funny how things are harder than you expect?

It has now been just about fifteen days since I started my media fast.

Isn't it funny how things are harder than you expect?

I spent the first week or more in a state of almost physical withdrawal, staring down the impulse to pick up my phone, glance at the news, dance around to Lil Nas X during my little home workouts.

But I didn't. And gradually that impulse faded. And in those moments of restlessness, of wanting, I got into the habit of putting 20 minutes on my Insight Timer and just sitting it out.

So what have I learned?

Well, I've (re)learned that even my regular diet of very moderate media consumption has impacts on consciousness.

I've learned that my mind is more settled, more clear, and more able to hold dharma when I let go of these inputs.

Also that democracy* continues its bumpy uphill climb without my guzzling every apocalyptic headline.

In the process, and perhaps influenced by this sense of wholesome containment, of cloister, I've been experimenting with a subtle shift in my teaching: unwittingly, I had gotten in the habit of "going out" while speaking to my dharma friends; now I'm playing with inviting in.

Probably nobody notices the difference. But I do. I feel a little less tipped forward, and like I have a bit more energy at the end of the day.

So that's my report.

Sending lots of love from smokey Ashland,
nico hase

*For the record, I do believe that an informed citizenry is essential to our political system and I’m not advocating a permanent check out . . . but that’s a conversation for another time . . .