Grounded

October 18, 2025

Although I have given up on meditation as it’s officially practiced, the life I lead is meditative in another sense. My jobs and pastimes have always caused me to be confined to a specific ecological region, historic site, or area of personal significance. This relative monasticism has allowed me to deepen my connections within a single community rather than leapfrogging from place to place.

At the risk of distilling the book I hope to write someday into one sentence, I can report that this commitment to place has its benefits but also comes with unique costs. It demands sacrifices that many of my fellow human beings, for good reason, would never attempt to make. I like to think that some of my “grace” comes from finding myself bound by these limits and deciding to make the most of it.

There is always something new to see in my place – as long as I’m paying attention on the proper scale. Lately, as the days get shorter a few minutes at a time, I have started to enjoy the glow that orange and red leaves take up from the last rays of sunlight. Even the still-green oaks along the east side of my street turn to gold for a few minutes every evening. It’s not sensational, but it helps me feel confirmed in my choice to stick around.

When I (inevitably) do get bored, I can turn to someone who will help me see my place with fresh eyes. My job lets me interact both with people who have never set foot in the Driftless and with those who have lived here as long as I have, but whose experiences lie in other corners I haven’t explored. Even in a small town, there can be infinite variety. 

Of course, I chose this life for myself and have the luxury to keep choosing it. I can’t speak for anyone who truly feels confined here and can’t leave. But I have also had to be content with limits that were not self-imposed. Whether these limits were geographical, financial, or emotional, I could still find some tiny thing to observe and celebrate. This doesn’t mean that we should blindly obey the admonition to “think positive”; such gratitude, such groundedness, has to come from within ourselves.

I think the Zen among us would agree.