Monday, May 31, 2010

Excuses to Bump Into Neighbors I: Solar Cooking

If you have any love for the following, you'll have a blast experimenting with solar cooking: meeting neighbors, science, interesting conversation, living lightly on the planet, arts and crafts, engineering, thermodynamics, cooking and baking, cutting edge technology, common sense, saving energy, survival skills... the list goes on.

I love putting something out to cook in my solar oven and doing other things within earshot or with it in view. I notice people noticing, or I notice neighbors not noticing, and I have an innocent excuse to strike up conversation: check on my food that's cooking thanks to the sunshine!

"Would you like to see my dinner in progress?"
"Woah, check out this thermometer!"
"Your dog is curious about my ______ dish. Come look!"

Next thing you know, we're talking about alternative energy efforts they're making or considering, or about little changes they've made to live lightly, sometimes diet is the topic, other times its engineering and science. No matter what, it's much more fun and engaging to share an experience than to talk about ourselves, in my experience. I love solar cooking! ...and it's yummy too.

It's one way to meet neighbors on purpose.

Longing and BElonging

I asked myself the following question one day, and I have felt like I belong ever since: "In a perfect world, in which everyone's needs are met, and we all know how to stay that way, where do I live?"

...I imagined myself stirring, waking from sleep in a new place. I asked myself: what does it smell like here? how does the light on my eyelids feel? what's the temperature like? how do the sheets feel on my skin? as I get out of bed, what does the floor feel like beneath my feet? what size and shape is the room? what other activities take place in this room? where is my desk/creation station? what communication tools are present? ...and I just noticed the wordless answers - the sense of the space...

Next, I asked myself: when I open my bedroom door, how does the doorknob feel in my hand? what does my door communicate to the outside? what is just outside my door? who is there? how does our connection feel? what is just down the path? what do I do there?

...I simply soaked in the sensations that came to mind. For me, this involved coaching myself "just go with the image, it's just a dream, no need to stop, just finish the exercise" ...and I am soh. glad. I. did!

I knew from then on what kind of neighbor I longed-to-be, and being-the-longing, I found myself becoming... a neighbor on purpose!

turning to one another

Margaret Wheatley wrote a wonderful book that liberated me from some important cart-before-the-horse thinking. When I started reading 'turning to one another', I immediately felt a deep sense of trust in this author.

I soon found myself scanning the appendices for what schools of thought and conversation formats she appreciated enough to mention there. I feasted on the list: some were familiar, some new. I felt my energy go 'high' out of my desired range and the accompanying thoughts were:
"I must study all of these! I love this! A comprehensive list of the Great Conversation Formats! Yay! ...and... oh no... that would take years... I feel so ignorant... Well, I will always be a beginner, and having a 'beginner's mind' is good..."

I read on and discovered that this wise woman recommends that we Just Do It: Just turn to one another! The title of the book is even devoid of capitalization, as if to say: "this is not a Method, separate from you. this is what humans DO." I feel relieved of some kind of tension I never knew I held. I promptly started sharing my Neighbors On Purpose project with neighbors, and haven't looked back. I have access to more intuition, and feel more rapport with others thanks to this book. I feel I gave myself permission to move forward, to be a neighbor now, freestyle, feeling on purpose.