Thoughts: Andrew explores the lyrics 'Mind So Clear' EP17

Andrew Crone: I really love these lyrics to a big thief song that go There's no fear, mind so clear, mind so free. Let's explore that together. Hello everybody and welcome to a new feature in this podcast series that I'm going to call Simply Thoughts. I'll still have my regular interviews, and those will have their own episode numbers. But in there you'll see some bonus episodes under the title Thoughts, where I'm just going to talk to you one-on-one. And This is something I've been thinking about for a long time, but have been, I guess, kind of uncertain on how I want to go about it, because I really thrive when I talk to my guests and I get really curious and have lots of questions for them. But just talking to you directly, I kind of doubt myself on what I have to say is really important enough for your time. So in this, I'm gonna ask you guys to email me at chasing the timeless at gmail.com and let me know. what you want to talk about. Do you have any questions you want me to address? And that way I can feel like I'm actually talking more directly to you one on one with these conversations rather than trying to have some kind of idea that I need to present to you. And in these segments, I'm not necessarily going to have any conclusion. It's just what I'm thinking about, what my thoughts are. So this first one I'm gonna talk about a several things. I was at a concert in the Twin Cities in Minnesota last weekend for Big Thief. They're one of my favorite bands. And there's a song in there, can't remember the name the song. But there's a line where they say, Wonderful, cruel, and beautiful world. And that captures a lot of I think the source of stress for people, they see a world where there's cruelty, challenges for them, but yet they also know that there's beautiful moments in life. And how can a world be so wonderful that has both of those? But I think it made me think about seeing the whole picture clearly. and level headed and pure and what it takes to get to that perspective where you can see the world as it is rather than as it may be presented to us because the way it's presented to us in social media or through friends is filtered through somebody else's perspective and how can we let go of that? And I recently watched somebody talking about the stress that we live under because of the our all collective addiction to our cellphones. Not everybody, but for the most part I think the entire world is you know, addicted to their cell phones. And this person said, put down your cell phone and set it aside and see how long you can go without thinking about it, without having an urge to pick it up. And I realized that I do that quite a bit when there's a pause in my life when I'm not specifically trying to do something or trying to look something up online or not being fed something from entertainment. If I just have a a couple second pause where I'm waiting for my coffee to come out of coffee shop, I'm gonna reach for my phone and look. Did somebody respond to a text that I sent earlier? And it's something that controls me rather than me being in control of my actions and responses. And one of the suggestions was to just don't look at your phone for the first hour of the day. When you wake up, just go through your day, have your breakfast, and then afterwards when you're ready to Do work or whatever you need to do, then you can look it up and look at it. But that first hour really sets the mood for your entire day. A couple of the other suggestions were to not pick up your phone when you're with somebody else, especially during mealtime, and don't look at it the last hour of the day. And boy, that's really really difficult. And it's not just your phone, it's all Technology. And I get so used to having technology in my life and it's definitely changed the way I think, the thoughts that enter my head and my yeah, the first thing you have to do is just admit that you're addicted to some extent. And I want to tie that to something else that just recently entered my my world. There's these new humongous power lines that are being proposed to be run through Wisconsin, through some of the most beautiful rural farmland areas, the driftless area to the southwest of Wisconsin, out near my neighborhood where there's the kettle moraine. And these are huge power lines that are gonna be two hundred feet tall, require an easements of two hundred and fifty feet through areas where I grew up. I used to ride my bike through the rural farmland around my town where there's rarely any cars that come through. And it it's a real peaceful way to live, to ride your bikes outside of town and not be worried about cars. I mean I did that as a kid. There's lots of streams and creeks that run around that run through the areas around me where people can go fishing. I went fishing as a kid where you'd leave your bike on the side of some rural road and hike back to some good fishing spots. You can go kayaking through these areas. A lot of people go on road bike. trips, you know, big groups of people because it's such a great place to to be. But with these power lines, they'll be visible for miles. If you get up to some of the higher bluffs, it could be ten or fifteen miles away that you see it. And boy what a difference of stopping at an artesian well to fill up your water bottle and having these humongous power lines running right over you versus being out in almost feel like you're in the middle of nowhere, nobody around. Instead of hearing the the crickets and the cicadas and the red-winged blackbirds. chirping in the distance, you might be hearing the buzz of these massive power lines. And the thing is they aren't even serving Wisconsin. They're passing through in order to facilitate potential future data centers. And to see that in a part of the country where I came here because it's a great place for kids to be. They can ride their bikes to school, walk to school all the time. And why is it so important to not have those power lines? And I was thinking about it and it's There's a flow, a state of mind you can get into when kids are just playing out in rural areas. The wind, the sun and the birds without a care in the world. But when this beautiful pastoral view has huge cuts through it, these power lines that are bigger than anything that exists currently in Wisconsin. it reminds you like, I'm in an in an industrial space. 'Cause when you see those power lines, it's like, what are they feeding? Are they feeding a large city? Are they f feeding large industry nearby? And maybe you see him. running along the interstates or different corridors that are already, you know, signs of big development, but having them just cut through small rural communities where none of that is nearby. really kinda takes that peace and presence from us, from our kids, in order to provide the profits to the data center someplace else. And I feel like Hmm, okay, there's another verse that I heard in this big thief concert. And it said, No fear, mind so clear. And what does it feel like to have a clear mind? And I'm not sure when the last time I really felt like I had a clear mind, whether it's being drawn to my phone or Being aware of man-made industry around me or being absorbed by some news story. Where can we go to have a clear mind? No fear, where nothing is controlling how we think, but we're just there. We're just in a place, feeling life and the world. exists naturally around us with no goals, nothing pulling us, just being. And that's the way I felt as a kid when I'd ride my bike from Whitewater several miles down to a lake called Whitewater Lake. It would take me, you know, half hour or an hour to ride my bike there maybe. Yeah, at least it takes twenty minutes to drive there. But yeah, you're just going by these farms, these fields And that's such an important way to live. And yeah, so in these segments I don't necessarily have any conclusions that I'm gonna draw or endings that feel right. It's just what I'm thinking about. So please respond to this in the comments. but especially if if there's something that you want Me to talk about, send me an email at chasingthetimeless at gmail dot com. And I'll see you again soon. Thanks.