The Old Ways

Over the holidays I completed Kent Nerburn’s trilogy about Dan, a Lakota tribal elder, doing his best to preserve the “old ways.” In our world intent on streaking toward technocracy, what is more out of fashion than seriously considering something as archaic as the practices of Native American Indians? But as the divide between–let’s call it–the analog and the digital becomes increasingly irreconcilable, it seems that analog is the way to go, choosing wisdom over knowledge, choosing peace over conflict, choosing the spiritual over the physical.

The new year is a time of new goals, new strategies, new (temporary) gym memberships. Nothing wrong with any of that, if that’s your thing.

But a lot of reflection goes a long way in making the new year livable. Honest reflection, though, is not for the faint of heart. It is deeper than merely acknowledging where you fell short over the last twelve months, how you didn’t make the money you meant to, how you didn’t place more attention on family, on creativity. A simple question–is my life working?–can get the snowball rolling. Notice the focus is on “life,” not career, relationship, etc. Those are components of one’s life. Important, yes, but not an end by which to measure oneself. The common analogy is the wheel of life. The components, such as career, family, health, etc, are spokes on the wheel. When these spokes are not working properly or are being neglected, the wheel does not roll. And life feels hard. Empty self-talk about life balance often follows.

The thing is, the more spokes you have, the more likely your wheel will be out of round. Determining how much time and attention to give to each one is difficult, and, what’s more, each is a moving target. Conflict is inevitable. Conflict increases stress. Stress diminishes performance and impacts other spokes. Life gets bumpier. You blame the road.

Dan believed the old ways were the ways to wisdom and to peace. To be more attuned to wisdom and to be more at peace, it seems to me, would make for a good year.