The Natural World Calls
"Land is not merely soil, it is a fountain of energy flowing through a circuit of soils, plants and animals." -Aldo Leopold
Get back to the land. Find an open field and breathe. Watch the river flow. Let nature’s rhythms rinse digital imprints from your tired eyes.
Dream, Weaver
After fifteen months of mask-wearing, working from home, take-out food, no live music, few or no visits from friends and family, and all the rest, people are exhausted, frayed, and not their best selves. Battling a global pandemic, constant streams of poisonous disinformation, and a brutal economy leaves people longing.
We must restore ourselves, our communal agreements, and the land. The cable news shows talk about “fighting for our democracy” and “the collapse of our cities under Democratic rule”. Away from the screens, the cicadas continue to hum, snakes slither, and hawks hunt.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the average American spends 93% of their life indoors. No wonder our bodies and brains have softened. We forgo hunting and gathering, and we don’t get down and dirty. We are a people disconnected. And this primal disconnection disrupts our ability to think clearly, act honorably, and bond with other humans.
A Telling Sentence from Hard Scrabble
“We inhabit a time of electronically amplified human crisis and change, of possible permissive delights of many descriptions, of geometrically burgeoning mortal millions creating geometrically burgeoning mortal problems that demand obsessive concern, of disappearing quiet hard rural ways and the triumph, or so they say, of easeful technology.” - John Graves in 1973
Bonding with Other Humans
When you have a product or service to sell, you make a public offering. For the offering to be picked up by a group of humans who are ready to buy, it must be interesting and valuable. The same is true for the marketing of this interesting and valuable product or service.
To draw a crowd, you must know what moves people. To know what moves people, you need to care about the people you hope to move. To properly care about people you hope to move, first take care of yourself and this means going outside more. Yes, the answer to many of life’s riddles—including marketing communications riddles—are solved under an old oak tree.
Lagniappe
“Naming your inner critic leverages cognitive defusion — a process by which you separate yourself from your thoughts. Defusion is shown to reduce discomfort, believability, and the stress of negative thoughts.”
“The King Dethroned” (hear me read a new poem).
“It’s a tiny community, an eclectic community, and it’s very nature-oriented because the river runs through it. The San Marcos River is the lifeblood of Martindale.”
For the first time in nearly two years, the historic spring-fed pool at Balmorhea State Park will reopen to the public at the end of the month.
I recently wrote an article for BuiltIn.com about the need for high-tech startups to invest in brand communications.
Let’s Work
To connect with people in today’s marketplace, you don’t just state your offer. You cast a spell.
Thanks for being here now.