So much of your work is about awareness. How do you cultivate awareness in the hyper mundane?
I'm at my best inside a balance of opposites — dedicated time alone and hyper-engaging social stimulation; trivial rituals and moments where I feel part of something transcendently bigger; yammering about Carl Jung while I'm crying about garbage TV. I think what most grounds me is surrounding myself with people, art, community, places, and experiences that are continually refreshing and renewing my perspective.
While we often think of "ritual" in terms of action, participating in ritual is as much about storytelling (the ones we tell ourselves about ourselves, the ones the world tells us about us) as it is about anything else. What kinds of stories do you craft with your own ritual experiences?
One of my favorite *parts* about Moon Lists is that after I do it, I realize I have better stories to tell. More accurate ones to tell myself, more interesting ones to tell others, more compelling ones to challenge pre-existing beliefs.
The idea of ritual has become so commodified that the word itself feels a bit empty — a placeholder for branded content selling unregulated mystery tinctures. I think the idea needs an updated contextualization to not feel like it mandates solitary rigor or a dedication to a well-marketed product. I personally choose to understand ritual in the instances where I have committed myself to fully showing up, whether that looks like 10 minutes of journaling so I can better understand what I'm missing...or making plans with friends who challenge me...or getting outside to feel the sun on my face and remember that none of this solipsism matters at all!
You make so much other beauty in addition to Moon Lists... we've even seen it reduced to being called your "side hustle". Maintaining wonder is vigorous work, as they say. How do you help yourself achieve balance between staying present, cultivating that wonder, and... the hustle?
Uhhhh I am bad at this. I help myself with: therapy, laughing at nonsense, exercise, reading fiction, and a partner who routinely tells me to (kindly) chill the F out.