Demons on the Beach (03/28/2021)
This Sunday's journeys: Demons on the Beach | The Big, Stuck Boat Is Glorious | SXSW 2021 Shorts | Marcella Hazan's Tomato Sauce With Onion & Butter
High Five! It’s Sunday.
Grab a warm drink, turn on the speaker, and settle in.
🔊 Zone In: Geoffrey LaRue’s A Serious Mix With No Jokes Whatsoever (Sensibly Sponsored by Cigarettes, Snacks & School Supplies)
01 - Demons on the Beach
It was 84° out here on Friday, so after a long and busy week, we decided to take the day off and drive out to Hippie Hollow - one of Austin's lake beaches. We got there early enough to grab one of the few tree-shaded spots, looking forward to a quiet afternoon of reading and napping in the sun.
As more people started showing up and filling the beach I saw my relaxing dreams slowly fade away. Whenever I spotted someone surveying the area near us I noticed myself getting anxious: "great, there goes our quiet afternoon. This person's gonna blast their music/party with their friends/try to start a conversation". You can already tell, I got some social anxiety issues.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about shadow aspects: these traits and behaviors that make our jaws clench and trigger a strong visceral reaction when they're on display - by ourselves or others. Sure, people can do really hurtful things to us, so I'm not referring to that. Yet we can get really bothered when someone is acting a certain way around us, even if it has nothing to do with us directly. More ironically, we can spot these behaviors a mile away, and they can take all of our attention, regardless of what we're doing or how much we really don't want to pay attention to it. Trying to relax on the beach, just the thought of these behaviors (none of them actually happened around us) raised my anxiety level.
So what makes us have such a strong reaction in these situations? The keyword in the description of shadow is rejected. Debbie Ford, in one of the most popular books that talk about shadow aspects (The Dark Side of the Light Chasers) describes the holographic model of the universe: “every piece of the universe contains the intelligence of the whole... Each of us possess every human quality. There is nothing we can see or perceive that we are not, and the purpose of our journey is to restore ourselves to this wholeness". For one reason or another, we decided behavior x is bad, and that (often early, unconscious) decision is what's steering our conscious wheel now.
Regardless of the specific approach to the topic (and there are endless possible angles out there, from analytical psychology to new age to quantum physics to Buddhism) the starting point in addressing one's shadow aspects is identifying what they are. Triggers and projections are great signs for what your shadow aspects might be (and also advice you find yourself give others - that's probably advice you'd want to act on yourself). For me, I could definitely do some work on not feeling all charged up over casual conversations with strangers (or god forbid even enjoy them) - who knows, my beach experience might actually become relaxing...
Can you already tell what are a couple of your personal shadows? What behaviors get a (somewhat unreasonable) reaction out of you?
Surprisingly, shadows can also cover aspects that we consider as positive. Some our of shadow aspects are where our greatest talents are buried, so next week I'm going to share more about our Golden Shadows and how they could be the key to your motivation.
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Saturday, April 10: The Unconscious Shadow Workshop
If you're curious to dive deeper into exploring this idea of shadow aspects and learn how to deal with them join me on Saturday, April 10 for The Unconscious Shadow workshop. We'll spend the morning together looking into different approaches and trying a few exercises to uncover your personal shadow, and start transforming it into something that can actually help you get out of a rut.
02 - The Big, Stuck Boat Is Glorious
Amanda Mull on The Atlantic
“…something consumer psychologists call “friction” is introduced into the buying process. Retailers, manufacturers, and shippers alike benefit if purchase decisions feel unencumbered by anything but consumers’ personal desire, which means the origins of the things we buy are usually obscured.
You know what else creates friction? Sand.”
I’m obsessed with this (unevolving) story, oscillating between awe, cringe and ROTFL. If you share this ambivalence, this essay might help breakdown why.
03 - SXSW 2021 Shorts
In 2015 I got to attend the Berlinale - Berlin’s international film festival. Watching 19 movies in 9 days was definitely a record for me, and it changed the way I’ve been watching films since. The short programs were always a nice “break”, in the form of bite-size stories. Like everything else, this year’s SXSW festival too was held online, and you can now watch their short films program for free online:
04 - Marcella Hazan's Tomato Sauce With Onion & Butter
Marcella Hazan on Food52
This is the easiest (TASTY) tomato sauce I’ve ever made.
Perfect for lazy Sunday dinner, just toss together tomatoes (ripe or canned), onion, butter, salt. The catch? It all cooks together for 45 minutes, so put it on the stove, watch a couple of shorts, and toss the pasta in the water 10 minutes before it’s done.
🌳 That's all for today.
Loved the Atlantic article, the poem, and I’ve made Marcella Hazan’s sauce before and it really is the best! Well-said insights about shadows, too.