Wolfen Joins the Wander Society

[WolfDreamer]

"Solvitur ambulando." -- St. Augustine

 

I'm going to keep this one mostly non-specific and open, rather than making a list of required tasks to check off.

 

With the changing of the seasons, I felt it necessary to choose a challenge that inspires me to get outside and into nature. In addition to starting a new tour of Soulcon and continuing my Spartan-motivated training (see past challenge here), I have a few goals, the first of which are taken from the book The Wander Society. If you're not familiar with it, author Keri Smith "discovered" a secret society known as The Wander Society, an elite group of thinkers that has existed for more than a century and whose members include such wandering souls as Walt Whitman (considered the patron saint of TWS), Gertrude Stein, John Muir, William Wordsworth, Baudelaire, Thoreau, Aristotle, Langston Hughes, Thich Nhat Hanh, and many others.

 

 

So as you can see, the movement is very much inspired by mindfulness and meditation, "wandering" but not mindlessly, rather in search of an adventure. It is also about disconnecting, putting down our devices for a while and allowing our bodies, minds, and souls to "wander," to experience the world directly. So here are the goals, or what TWS calls the Precepts:

 

1. Wander every day (at least 10,000 steps)

2. Do not plan your wanderings. Start in any direction. The location is not important.

3. Use whatever you have. (You have everything you need.) Use your senses.

4. Collect and gather. Document experiences and findings.

5. Remain open. Breathe deeply. Ask the question, ‘What can I discover?’

6. Allow ideas to come in. Write them down.

7. Question everything you have been told.

8. Use your imagination in your wanderings.

9. Use your intuition. Follow your hunches. Go toward what you are drawn to.

10. Encourage your own wild nature. What makes you feel truly alive?

 

 

In addition, I have a few specific goals that I need to add to my usual (again, see past challenges) habits:

• Read for at least 20 minutes every day--this means sitting down for at least 20 minutes and reading without interruption and without distraction.
• Write for at least 20 minutes every day--same specs as above.

[annyshay]

You always share the neatest ideas. *takes copious notes*

 

Cannot wait to see where your wanderings take you this time!

[WolfDreamer]

1 minute ago, annyshay said:

You always share the neatest ideas. *takes copious notes*

 

Cannot wait to see where your wanderings take you this time!

 

Thank you! It means a lot to hear you say this. When I first came to the boards, I felt very small and incapable of creating some of the epic challenge "narratives" of some other members (this includes you, btw). Then I stopped trying and just started creating challenges that I enjoy and that motivate me to do more and be more. I'm glad to hear they inspire you because the feeling is mutual. 

[annyshay]

2 minutes ago, Wolfen said:

 

Thank you! It means a lot to hear you say this. When I first came to the boards, I felt very small and incapable of creating some of the epic challenge "narratives" of some other members (this includes you, btw). Then I stopped trying and just started creating challenges that I enjoy and that motivate me to do more and be more. I'm glad to hear they inspire you because the feeling is mutual. 

D'aw. Thanks, sir.

 

It's funny because I never thought that I would have challenges be big sweeping arcs when I started out. I get so excited by so many ideas that when I start a new challenge I want to include ALL THE THINGS! It took a while to settle into a routine and then just put random gifs that reference the other stuff in when I'm feeling... wanderlust. (see what I did there? ah? ah?) That and dabbling around in mini-challenges and throwing myself into other people's challenges as well. In the long run though, the epic narratives make me more patient with myself.

[Sylvaa]

You are such an Adventurer! That website is very neat, I see myself falling into a black internet hole at some point.

 

I love how your challenges naturally meander along the same path. 

[fleaball]

Your challenges are dangerous because there are always so many cool links and videos and maaaan I'm supposed to be doing other things but it's all so interesting. D:

 

How dare you.

[Plazmotic]

Oh man this challenge sounds incredible! Can't wait to see where it takes you.

[WolfDreamer]

6 hours ago, Sylvaa said:

I love how your challenges naturally meander along the same path.

 

They do? That's really comforting because sometimes I feel like I'm all over the place. LOL.

6 hours ago, fleaball said:

How dare you.

 

You're welcome. 

 

5 hours ago, Plazmotic said:

Oh man this challenge sounds incredible! Can't wait to see where it takes you.

 

Thank you. I'm pretty excited about it.

[WolfDreamer]

Week 0: Monday

 

Soulcon:

• Woke up to my alarm at 4:30.
• Said the Lord's Prayer as well as a more personal prayer for my wife and daughters.
• Read the Soulcon daily devotional
• Ran 3.2 miles in 33:11 barefoot and on an empty stomach (I don't say that to brag because it always amazes me that I can even run one mile like this).
• Test-in for Soulcon India: 27 pushups in 2 minutes and 48 situps in 2 minutes.
• I just found out this evening that two of my friends are also doing Soulcon; this gives me some accountability.

 

Wandering:

• On my break today I wandered across campus in the direction of the library.
• On the way, I spotted something I had never noticed before. Sticking out of one of the brick walls near the building where my office is located are two small pipes. I also noticed some cracks and loose bricks; I tried to pull at a few of these but they would not budge. However, a piece of one of the bricks did slip off, so I kept it. I climbed up to the seating area on the other side of the wall and realized that the pipes must have been drain pipes since they were located along the  floor of the upper area of the other side of the wall, even though they are at eye level on the outside. I spotted another small hole that seemed to be plugged a few inches down. I may consider hiding a secret message here for someone to find.
• One of the ashtrays along the sidewalk has dandelion growing in it, even though the ashtray is filled with sand and cigarette butts; this says a lot about life being able to blossom even from something like an ashtray. Very symbolic.
• I walked to one of my favorite sections of the library (philosophy) and found a book I have read before and enjoyed (Cloud-Hidden, Whereabouts Unknown by Alan Watts). Instead of picking up this book, though, I counted three books to the left and found a two-volume edition from some scholar and theologian whose name I can't remember and whose work was so complex and dry that I only made it two pages. I walked upstairs to a section that includes books that have won or been nominated for either the Caldecott award or the Newberry award. I found a copy of Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book and again counted three books over (to the right this time). There was a children's book titled The Day We Saw the Sun Come Up by Alice E. Goudey. It is about a brother and sister who wake up before sunrise and spend the entire day marveling at the sun's daily cycle, admiring their shadows and how the sun's light impacts the earth. Next, I wandered to the bottom floor of the library to the reference section until I saw a black book with the words THE BIG BOOK OF VAMPIRES on the spine. I smiled and again counted over three books until I found an antique looking volume with intricate embossed markings and a title that would have made Harry Potter fans drool: A Dictionary of Fabulous Beasts. The book is exactly what it says it is, about 120 pages of famous creatures from mythology, fantasy, and legend. The book's best feature, though, is its illustrations, which resemble wood or stone carvings.
• 19,998 steps total today.

 

Spartan:

As some of you know, I missed an opportunity to participate in a Spartan race this year. I plan to spend the next year mindfully preparing my body for a possible Trifecta weekend; if it's another missed opportunity, at least I will be fit and prepared.

• Held a deep squat before my run this morning for 5 minutes.
• This afternoon I worked with my mentor and carried 25 4-inch cinder blocks and 15 8-inch cinder blocks, as well as 20 buckets of sand and I moved 10 5-gallon buckets of gravel and carried four of them to the truck. I also filled two holes with two buckets of gravel each and shoveled some dirt over them. Then I helped him unload his truck by tossing a few buckets of rocks over the hillside and unloading some empty buckets and a barrel.
• No burpees today.
• I mowed my lawn today as well as my neighbors and pointed out that she has some spearmint growing in her yard near her house; she had no idea since they just moved into the house less than a month ago.

 

 

Reading and Writing:

• This morning a read a bit of Stephen King's It. This evening I read Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass for 20 minutes.
• No writing today (except this post, of course).

[Dagger]

Following along!

[WolfDreamer]

A sort of manifesto from W.W., the patron saint of The Wander Society:

 

[Stronkey Kong]

Following as you wander.

[WolfDreamer]

1 minute ago, Vincent Van Bro said:

Following as you wander.

 

Thanks, buddy. Glad you're here. TWS is for artists, as well. 

[Sciread77]

This is pretty awesome.  I find myself envious of the ability to wander so much.  I'm a bit technology addicted, and something like this would probably benefit me quite a bit too.  I have some pondering to do!

 

 

[WolfDreamer]

2 minutes ago, Sciread77 said:

I have some pondering to do!

 

Go forth!

 

Yes, I realize this is a Levi's ad, but I kinda dig it.

[SunSeeker]

The Wander Society has piqued my interest.  I'm looking forward to following your journey.

 

[WolfDreamer]

19 hours ago, SunSeeker said:

The Wander Society has piqued my interest.  I'm looking forward to following your journey.

 

 

Welcome! I'm glad you're here.

 

A few years ago Levi's released a series of ads for their Go Forth campaign. They're really pretty good, and while watching one of them I remember thinking, Why does that sound familiar? You can view the video titled O Pioneers on Youtube here. The recited poem in the video is a brief part of a poem, "Pioneers! O Pioneers" by Walt Whitman. But rather than post the ad, I thought it better to share the entire poem below. If you want to see the words while you watch, just activate the closed-captioning for the video:

 

 

 

[WolfDreamer]

Week 0, Day 2: Tuesday

 

Soulcon & Spartan:

• Woke up at 4:30 am and prayed the Lord's Prayer as well as a personal prayer for my wife and daughters.
• Read the Soulcon daily devotional.
• Worked out in the drizzle, barefoot and shirtless: Warmup -- 75 jumping jacks, 5 minute run. Workout -- Intervals of 2 minute runs with 90 second planks and 30 second hollow holds between each run.
• Took a quick swim across the river in the early morning dark; I don't recommend it unless you know the river well and are not freaked out by what you cannot see. It was incredible, unnerving but refreshing, as the drizzle turned to light rain that hissed on the water's surface.
• Cold shower when I got back home

Wanderings:

• I'm embarrassed to say that I spent most of the day in my office or in my classroom.
• Finally, though, around 1:45, I wandered out of the building and across campus. Along the way, I stopped to get a closer look at some of the more impressive trees on campus: huge elms and oaks, as well as some others I don't yet know how to identify. I stood beneath one of the big oaks and looked up. It's highest branches reached as tall as the 9-floored dormitories in the middle of campus. I marveled at how masterful it is that this living being has stood in this spot long enough to survive and reach its current size, in spite of a university campus being built all around it and a fully-functioning chemical plant next door. It gave me hope that in the midst of chaos and adversity, I could still grow. On another tree there was a hollow a few inches deep with solid wood at the back of it. I did something I haven't done since childhood: I knocked on it and stood there as if waiting for an answer. This made me chuckle, and I took one more awed glance to the top of the tree and continued my walk.
• I spotted a fox squirrel hopping beneath the trunk of one of the larger trees and I paused to watch him. Fox squirrels aren't as common here as gray squirrels, and their golden color is a stark contrast to the usual ashy color of their close cousins. This fox squirrel was carrying an acorn in his mouth, and he hopped to a spot and paused. I watched as he moved his tiny paws as rapidly as he could, digging into the soft earth, and then he stuck his muzzle into the newly buried hole almost up to his eyes and back out again. Then, as rapidly as he had dug, he scooped the loose earth back over the hole and patted it multiple times to pack it down. I laughed and he sat up and looked at me. I expected him to dart up the tree, but instead he skittered to the other side and reappeared with another acorn in his mouth, crawled to another spot, and repeated the process. I laughed again and left him to his work.
• I finished my stroll across campus, still admiring some of the more impressive trees, including a willow whose trunk seemed to grow at a split and is covered with soft and stark green moss. The urge to climb many of these trees is near agony, but I'm assuming administration would frown upon that. Many of the trees were planted in honor of each university president; when a new president is appointed, they plant a tree for him.

BONUS:

• Worked with my mentor moving 5-gallon buckets of sand; these weigh about 70 pounds each, so he asked me to dump half into empty buckets to make them easier (not for me, but in case he has to move them again). Then I carried the new 45 pound buckets about 40 yards to the house.
• Also moved some lumber and took care of the chickens; one of them had gotten out somehow, so I had to use the net and chase her until I was able to trap her and drop the net over her. My mentor laughed the entire time as he watched me chase this chicken.

[WolfDreamer]

Found this video in my searches about wandering, and it's kind of excellent:

 

 

[WolfDreamer]

Takeaways from the video posted above (I'm going to paraphrase some of what she said to make it less specific to Utica).

 

"What’s the easiest way to experience? Walk out your front door."

 

If you want to practice wandering...make sure you’re doing the following:

• That you don’t have music playing 
• That you walk at your natural pace
• That you take unexpected turns or surprise yourself in where you end up
• That you allow your mind to wander, not focus
• Actively notice things (the good and the bad)

 

[WolfDreamer]

Found another Levi's video I remember from a few years ago. This one is also a Walt Whitman poem, and this time it is actually Walt reading the poem (which is why it sounds so scratchy since W.W. died in 1892). According to a NY Times article, it is supposedly a "wax cylinder" recording, and if the recording is authentic it would be the only existing recording of the poet's voice. Here it is:

 

 

[CallunaTook]

Beautiful challenge. <3 Looking forward to watching how things go. 

[Rebel Pilot Gar]

Fantastic challenge!

[WolfDreamer]

1 hour ago, CallunaTook said:

Beautiful challenge. <3 Looking forward to watching how things go. 

 

4 minutes ago, Rebel Pilot Gar said:

Fantastic challenge!

 

Thank you both. I'm glad you're here.

 

I'll post another update tomorrow. I attended the memorial service for a friend and former coworker today; she was younger than me and had three small boys. So I'm not really feeling up to much of anything right now. But thank you for stopping in.

[WolfDreamer]

Week 0, Day 4: Thursday

 

 

Soulcon and Spartan:

• Woke up at 4:30am.
• Said the Lord's Prayer, as well as a more personal prayer for my family and for strength.
• 75 jumping jacks and a 5-minute run for warmup
• Wasn't feeling it, but I managed one set of intervals: lunges, pushups, box jumps, burpees, and wall sits 30 seconds each with 30 second breaks between each.
• 5-minute deep squat and breathing (this is always more rewarding and restorative than I expect).

Wanderings:

• In the morning, I did my usual walk across campus to East Hall in spite of the rain. I stopped a few times to admire reflections of the gray sky and tall trees in the small puddles along the sidewalk. I brushed my hand against some shrubbery and felt the cool, smooth dampness of the raindrops on the petals. I noticed something interesting along one of the sidewalks. Someone had smashed something made of an ocean-blue colored glass. I picked up a piece of it and brushed the rest into the grass. I peered at the gray sky through the glass and the sky became blue again. I chuckled and continued to observe the campus through my new lense, marveling at how the soft blue tint transformed the world around me. Near the end of my walk, I picked up an oak leaf that was still green but with a beautiful blend of early fall ocher colors, red, brown, and a color that matched one of my favorite crayon colors: burnt umber. I took the leaf with me as I walked back to my office.
• Later in the day, after an unwise perusal of Facebook I was reminded that it was the 8 year anniversary of the day my grandmother passed away from Alzheimer's. That was one of the most difficult weeks of my life as she passed from suffering to peace and was gone from my life but far from forgotten. In addition, there were a few posts about the upcoming memorial service for a friend and former coworker who was younger than me and who had three small boys. I remember teaching with her, sharing stories of similar struggles from parenting to classroom management. She was so patient and kind and full of grace for both her colleagues and her students, even the ones who didn't deserve it. And now she's just not here anymore. The story going around is that it was a blood clot. She had injured her back the day before, and her husband had massaged it to ease her pain before bed. But she didn't wake up the next morning.
• In a burst of desire to do something creative and therapeutic, I grabbed a Sharpie and the leaf I collected. Along the back of the leaf I wrote a quote from W.W.: "Every moment of light and dark is a miracle." I read once that when you find a gift in nature it is a blessing, but it is not to be kept; it is to be shared. So I took the leaf and the small shard of ocean-blue glass to the stairwell and placed both of them on top of one of the railings for someone else to find. It was still there when I left at the end of the day (UPDATE: When I entered the stairwell today, I saw the leaf and the glass shard in the sill of one of the windows; someone had found it and moved it to the windowsill).
• During my friend's viewing, I could not sit down. I paced the room, talked with a few people and spoke with her husband. I commented on his recent Facebook post that said, "Suggestions on a cool diaper bag for a dude. Must match a mostly denim wardrobe and a trucker's disposition. Asking for a friend....." I knew it was his way of trying to find humor in the midst of this otherwise dark time for him and his sons. But he nearly broke me when he said, "I've been keeping it together, but today is gonna be awful, today I'm gonna fall apart."
• After our conversation, I wandered out of the room and into the hall. The memorial service was being held in a high school where I used to teach and where she taught before her death. It was also where her mother taught, but I learned later that because of Mary's unexpected death her mother had resigned. It felt both heartbreaking and nostalgic to be in that building again, to be saying goodbye to a friend in the same theater in which I directed and performed with students in a production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. My wandering led me to the band room where the children of the family (minus the littlest two boys, but some friends and some cousins) were just...being children: drawing pictures, making paper airplanes, playing trashcan basketball (a classic, of course). My friend's oldest son had drawn a picture of the entire family; I looked at the picture of his mother with the word "Mommy" above it and bit my lip to keep from weeping. I shifted my attention to the picture of his dad, with "Daddy" above it; he was wearing a fedora with a feather in it (perfect, if you knew my friend's husband), but something was missing. "Hey, why doesn't your daddy have a beard?" I asked. "'Cause I didn't draw it yet," he said. Then he grabbed a black marker and colored in his daddy's beard. I chuckled and walked out.
• When I walked out to my car, it was pouring, but I didn't care. I let the cool drops fall on my face and soak my hair and my clothes. When I got home, my 13-year-old daughter, who is our biggest behavior struggle (nothing serious, but some occasional moody outbursts and defiance) must have noticed something. "Are you okay, Daddy?" I nodded and assured her that I was just still upset from the service. She stopped what she was doing and gave me a big hug.

BONUS:

• Finished a classroom diagram for one of my graduate classes; I was struggling to draw the diagram with Word when it hit me that I could just use Numbers and then convert it to Excel. So much simpler and user-friendly; I now understand why so many people prefer Mac.
• Ate dinner with my wife and littlest daughters at Rice Bowl; I ordered miso soup and Mandarin roasted duck, which was excellent.
• Did not get to help my mentor with the house, but I did stop by after dark to feed the chickens, give them fresh water and collect the eggs. I carried a bucket of feed and a bail of hay to the chicken house. My mentor was not home when I arrived, but when I came out of the chicken house he was standing at his driveway. "I almost called the law," he said. "I didn't know who was down there." Luckily, he did not and I did not get arrested.