first contact

I’ve got several of Andy Crouch’s most recent books lined up to read. Getting them was a long wait from the bookstore, so I listened to some podcast interviews with him to start to absorb some ideas. In talking through the recommendations from The Tech-Wise Family, he mentioned that one easy and important habit for him is going outside upon waking. Very first thing, before any other task. He says he does it if he’s staying on the 54th floor of a hotel or at home. Sometimes, of course, it’s an outing of five seconds, and sometimes five minutes. But the getting outside, first thing, is the easiest way to break the hooked-in circulation with the digital world that can follow us to sleep and beckon when we wake.

This is working for me, too. I do best when I also include meditation and prayer, plus Morning Pages, though I don’t have the kind of life right now that allows a really steady hour-plus morning ritual every day. But getting outside is the first contact I need.

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