Digital Exhaustion & Soft Fascination: Recovering a Lost ART

"Talkin' to myself and feelin' old

Sometimes I'd like to quit

Nothin' ever seems to fit

Hangin' around

Nothin' to do but frown

Rainy days and Mondays always get me down

What I've got they used to call the blues

Nothin' is really wrong

Feelin' like I don't belong

Walkin' around

Some kind of lonely clown

Rainy days and Mondays always get me down..."

(The Carpenters, "Rainy Days and Mondays" 1971)

Image courtesy of Unsplash photographer - Taylor Sondgeroth

"Just feeling down." It starts with a creeping malaise, then an exhausting melancholia that seeps into our muscles and bones. These are the "blues," the "blahs," the soul-sick depressive states that sap our energy and stifle our imagination.

It doesn't even need to be a rainy day or Monday. I hear it all the time in our posthuman context from those who are navigating change and feeling overwhelmed. Sometimes it's self-induced. Some report too much time scrolling, addicted to endless digital stimulus: checking email, social media feeds, news updates, texts and DMs. We're jumping at every buzz, beep, and ping. It's the death of critical reflection and creative flow, resulting in fractured focus and brain rot. Burnout. Sadness. Isolation. Anxiety. Just feeling down.

Image courtesy of Unsplash photographer - Simon Wilkes

"Let's begin with our breath." A gentle invitation to slow down, close our eyes, and focus on our breath. Deep breath in through the nose, hold it, count to three, and release through the mouth, letting all the air out of our lungs. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Breath is the surest sign of life. The surest hope that we can center and ground ourselves in what is real, what is now.

"Now we can immerse ourselves in Nature." Nature is the ultimate antidote for reclaiming our soul and for improving our mental, physical, and emotional health. It all starts with ART, Attention Restoration Therapy. ART is cultivated by soft fascination, a passive awareness that doesn't require an immediate response. It works by allowing the executive functioning of our central nervous system to chill for a while. We can pay attention without needing to respond, just listening, breathing, looking, feeling, being aware. It feels effortless because Nature is doing all the heavy lifting, beginning with a Nature-immersive soaking for sensory re-engagement. It's a healing bath.

Reflective - Image courtesy of Laura Weber

Nature captures our full sensory attention with nuance and a less-is-more approach. With subtle shifts of movement, fragrance, and tactile variety, Nature reaches out to stoke our sensory awareness with invitation, rather than pressure. Our senses learn to slow, deepen, and calibrate to Nature's rhythms, slowing respiration and heart rate without any compulsory response.

How does the magic of ART happen? The swishing of leaves, ripples on a pond, the call of bullfrogs, songbirds and night owls, raindrops splashing in puddling vessels, chipmunks scampering, brilliant sunlight on Autumn leaves, or passing cloud formations, squishy and delicious. These all invite, surround, and simply call us into the present moment. "Be here now."

Dreamy - Image courtesy of Laura Weber

Nature reveres the potency of being, being in relationship, and simply being. Nothing is pressuring us to buy, consume, fix, or respond immediately. Nature soothes the "fight-or-flight" stress cortisol and returns the body to a parasympathetic state, a "rest-and-digest" status. We can be at peace and hear our own breath, feel our own interior light begin to burn brightly again. We might experience new inspiration (>L. inspirare, to breathe into), new insight, new meaning. We can easily tap into gratitude. We often feel wonder or awe. We begin to feel rested and relaxed, more open, more engaged. We are able to connect at a deeper level with the life energy within and around us. It's evident in each slow, deep breath. We can go deeper. "Past thought, into silence... deeper still. Past silence, into the heart." (Chris McCombs, "Go Deeper")

The Artist's Canvas - Image courtesy of Laura Weber

Nature is composing poetry, music, and art in and through us if we pay attention. What's stirring in us? If we collaborate, we can recover our own poetic/musical/artistic self. The muse is bubbling once again, flowing through us, spilling over. Creating.

It's Autumn - Nature is in a prime state of seduction. What are we doing behind a screen? Let's go outside!

"Nature is calling and I must go." (riff on John Muir, "The mountains are calling and I must go.") Go. Fill up your senses. Listen.