The Tao of Content

How do you balance your content input and output?

The other day, I awoke a bit late, as my migration back to the upstairs bedroom from the downstairs hammock has made good sleep elusive. Not to diss my mattress; honestly, it rocks, but sleeping in a hammock is awesome. The hammock is still there for afternoon naps, but it is time to be a big boy and sleep in my big boy's bed again.

Regardless of my difficulty falling asleep, I still had pleasant dreams, and my Morning Pages began with a transcription of a vision of participating in a Japanese Tea Ceremony.

Source: Photo by Roméo A. on Unsplash

After putting the imagery of a quiet and relaxing tea ceremony to words in my Morning Pages, my thoughts moved on to the Tao, which has been on my mind lately. After all, it was discovering Taoism and Buddhism that changed my life path. I would not live in Japan now if I had never encountered the Tao. My interests in martial arts and Asian philosophy and my strong desire to teach brought me to Japan.

The concepts of Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism came up in my conversation with the Fisherman’s Wife the other day. I don’t recall precisely why, as to be honest, the conversation was quite dizzying. The Fisherman’s Wife loves to talk, but her topics flitted about like a butterfly. It wasn't easy to follow where it was headed or where we had even been. Amusingly, the Fisherman would occasionally tap her on the lap and say, “まだ飛んだよ！” (You’ve jumped topics again!). She is a talker, and he is a listener, so it is an interesting balance of sorts.

Coffee on the beach and the Fisherman’s Wife

That brings me to what I take away from the Tao: balance. All things must exist in equilibrium. Without darkness, there is no light. For there to be joy, pain must exist. Or, as I learned it in New Hampshire as a child:

“If ya cahn't take the winters, ya don't deserve the summahs.”

That is sound Yankee wisdom for you. There is also the Maine classic, "Yuh cahn't get theyah from heah." I always thought that was just a funny thing Maine people said to mess with lost tourists, but now I think it’s a Yankee Zen Koan.

To the point: Is Your Consumption and Creation in Balance?

For a long time, I have tried to apply balance to my content consumption, and in a way, this Substack is part of that.

Maintaining a healthy balance between what you consume and create is a challenge all writers, artists, and researchers face. I try to approach my content consumption with this balanced mentality, but the reality of living with Anxiety and Depression is that it is never that easy. Everything may seem fine, but my mental health issues suddenly appear like an unbalanced load in the washer. The warm water and bubbles feel great until the spin cycle starts up, and suddenly, all the heavy stuff is on one side, and the washer is making a ruckus.

Some people find it easier to stop the machine and adjust the load, but others don’t have direct access to that solution.

I find comfort and escape in content consumption.

For some, it is easy to fall into the passive Consumption stage, where I often fall. Others dive deep into the creation, like a hunter chasing prey or a detective recording clues before the connections escape their minds.

Consumption and Creation are Aspects of Yin and Yang; they must be balanced to foster the happiness that comes from feeling centered.

I recognize my tendency to fall into content consumption, as it is an escape, and when you have Anxiety, that is an attractive option. When I read fiction, I leave this world behind. I live in the book, and all my anxiety, worries, and troubles are gone. They are on the shelf in another book, Reality. I choose to shelve that and dive into worlds where I exist as in a dream. I am a third-person observer. The battles, the joys, the adventures, and the pain are not mine. I am there to bear witness, and in focusing on the emotional twists and turns of the characters in these books, my own are lost to me.

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, said Jojen. The man who never reads lives only one.” ―George R.R. Martin,A Dance with Dragons

Simply writing this out has me questioning which came first: my love for reading or my need for the escape it affords me from my anxiety. Just writing that out makes reading feel tainted to me…

How do we reclaim the balance? How do we balance the load?

For me, it is through little agreements I have made with myself. For example, I have an index card on my desk with “No Watching TV Alone” written on it. Since I put that there about two months ago, I have only watched Netflix alone once on the computer. (In my defense, I was badly in need of immersion in another world, so it was medicinal.) Beyond that, I occasionally watch Netflix with my wife. Recently, we have been working through After Life with Ricky Gervais. You should check it out.

Another little agreement I made with myself is “No Content Consumption on the Computer Without Being Prepared to Take Notes.” Just now, after typing this, I added “No Notebook? No Consumption” to the notecard.

A constant reminder to keep me in balance.

Whenever I open Substack, I can use my Readwise Reader plug-in to capture quotes as I consume. These become seeds for content somewhere down the creative road. I do the same thing with YouTube. With the exception of music and the occasional Norm Macdonald video, I use YouTube to learn.

Recently, I have become interested in drawing again, so I have been exploring the vast library of sketching tutorials on YouTube.

The point is I am making a concerted effort to balance my content consumption and creation and enjoying it immensely. Rather than waiting to see if the washer will start jumping around during the spin cycle, I now take care to balance the load from the beginning to keep the washer in good running condition.

The Takeaway おみやげ

• Take note of your content consumption and creation balance. Too much consumption can dull the mind, but too much creation can hinder creativity.

• Plan ahead and prepare to consume actively. Mark up your books, write in the margins, clip quotes from web pages, or write them in a journal. Capture the seeds, let them sit for a while, and see what grows. (This reminds me of a good friend who was always excited when pumpkins or some other random vegetable started growing out of his compost pile. 😂 )

And it seems fitting to end with a chapter from the Tao Te Ching.

The supreme good is like water,
which nourishes all things without trying to.
It is content with the low places that people disdain.
Thus it is like the Tao.

In dwelling, live close to the ground.
In thinking, keep to the simple.
In conflict, be fair and generous.
In governing, don't try to control.
In work, do what you enjoy.
In family life, be completely present.

When you are content to be simply yourself
and don't compete or compare,
everybody will respect you.

-Tao Te Ching #8, Stephen Mitchell translation