We value what we create
The life we create is the input. The output is the set of values that infuse and change the world.
When I started vegetable gardening in earnest, one of the biggest insights I had about that process was my changed attitude toward food. All of a sudden, a cucumber was not just any cucumber; a pepper was not just any pepper; a tomato was not just any tomato.
I nurture each of those from seed or seedling, tending to them daily, assessing their needs, marveling at their growth. Their daily life is intertwined with mine—and like a neonatal nurse I stroll among the “babies” in their beds, picking off an aphid here and there, assessing their needs for additional nutrition, relieving their thirst with my watering, which I always do by hand—hand watering being the horticultural equivalent of choosing the breast over the bottle for the benefit of the increased bond.
The relationship I have with food I grow is entirely unlike the relationship I have with the food I pay for at the supermarket. I don’t share a lot of love for those cucumbers. I’ll use them for one thing or another, then wrap them up and relegate them to a refrigerator drawer where they quickly sink into the oblivion of other not-so-fresh food until I find them a week later, soft and sprouting mold, at which point our relationship ends with a quick toss into the compost.
But I celebrate the pickings from the garden! My husband and I plan meals around them, wasting little time from when they are harvested to their preparation for a meal in order to take advantage of the still sun-kissed freshness. Sometimes I even take a picture. I will admit that I sometimes even caress the fruits and thank them before transforming them into sustenance. My energy becomes their energy. Their energy becomes my energy. For this reason there is rarely any waste. We value these “creations” too much.
I was re-reading philosopher-writer, environmentalist and activist Derrick Jensen’s A Language Older Than Words the other day, and came across this phrase: We value what we create. The more we invest our lives into something, the more valuable that something becomes. A thought, an idea, a quilt, a chair, a relationship, a lifestyle, a culture, or a country attains value directly in proportion to the amount of our hearts and hands that go into its being.
The Exit 9 series of steps are specifically designed to take us on a “be the change” journey from self-reflection to personal action to high-value changemaking.
The first three Mile Markers: Self-reflection
The first three Mile Markers: Becoming mindful, Slowing down, and Seeing Beauty prime the pump: they are meant to clarify intentions and clear the decks so that you can shed the auto-pilot mode in your daily life and become more active participants.
The middle three Mile Markers: Personal action
The next three Exit 9 Mile Markers will be about transforming your yearnings and intentions into action. Now that your addictions to the mindless portions of your day have been recognized, you can go ahead, eliminate them, and do your thing—whatever that might be—writing poetry, or mentoring, or starting a small business, or painting a mural, or building a garden shed. The more your actions change, the more you will.
“We do not think ourselves into new ways of living, we live ourselves into new ways of thinking.” Richard Rohr, OFM
The final three Mile Markers: Changemaking
The last three Mile Markers will be about becoming change agents in the world. You will be beyond the exit ramp at this point, charting your path and being the trailblazer for others.
You will actively pass your learnings on. Now, living a true life, you will not only take steps to protect what you live for, but you will share it with others. You will have come full circle—from living the common, habitual patterns the culture instilled in you, to embarking on the expedition of your life, to bringing change back to the community.
That is the classic Hero’s Journey. That is how change happens. It may not be fast, and it may not be easy, but when enough people join in, it can move mountains and rivers. In the meantime, you are enjoying your own personal ride.
I am writing this on November 6, the day after Election Day in the US.
So, what are we creating these days, as citizens, as a community, a culture, a country? What does our “creation” say about our values? We will have a new leader in January. How has the innumerable collection of daily life choices we have individually made created the collective set of values we are living by? What kind of Hero’s Journey are we on?
As we move forward into the middle three Mile Markers of meaningful purpose and creation, know that as you go about building your days, whatever you choose do will harden into habit and build your beliefs. Those habits and beliefs will broadcast to others exactly what you hold dear. And if enough of us are committed to a high-value life of conscious creativity, we can all be change agents for our communities and for the world.
Create your life wisely.
And become part of the Exit 9 tribe.
Recommended Resources
Film: Finding Joe
Books
A Language Older Than Words. Derrick Jensen
Noble Purpose. William Damon
Self-Reliance. Ralph Waldo Emerson
The Good Life: Helen and Scott Nearing’s Sixty Years of Self-sufficient Living. Helen and Scott Nearing
The Hero with A Thousand Faces. Joseph Campbell
The Road to Character. David Brooks
Walden. Henry David Thoreau