Issue 011: Energy
What if the energy of abundant life can fill our work for all of our days? And what if its rhythm becomes the natural flow of any human endeavor?
Creating beauty calls us to live true to the rhythms of human energy. How do we capture it, use it, restore it—and create, again and again? Out of the ashes of political dysfunction beauty can rise—but what sustains it? How can understanding energy better—in the workplace, in endurance sport, and in the constant human desire to explore and create—radically reshape political culture for us today? We’re examining each of these topics over seven weeks in Issue 011: Energy.
For our photo theme, we look to the ocean, to water. A wave crashes over us, pulling us under, pulling us in. There’s a story to write that’s bigger than us. Nature declares it to be true.
Wallace J. Nichols, the author of Blue Mind: The Surprising Science That Shows How Being Near, In, On, or Under Water Can Make You Happier, Healthier, More Connected, and Better at What You Do recounts a trip he took with a group of young Native Americans to the Gulf of California to go snorkeling. Many of them had never been to the ocean before.
After a while I asked one young man how it was going. “I can’t see anything,” he said. Turns out he’d been keeping his eyes closed underwater. I told him that he could safely open his eyes even though his head was beneath the surface. He put his face under and started to look around. Suddenly, he popped up, pulled off his mask, and started shouting about all the fish. He was laughing and crying at the same time as he shouted, “My planet is beautiful!” Then he slid his mask back over his eyes, put his head back into the water, and didn’t speak again for an hour. (pp. 19-20).
As our knowledge of the giver of abundant life’s energy grows, we find our identity secured, our perspective reborn, and our longings fulfilled.
Our desires find rest, and at rest we live and breathe free. Out of a place of rest, our creative pursuits continue—we find energy.
You can read part one of the series on energy below.
The truth is that life on Capitol Hill is draining. You put in your three to four years in your early twenties until you physically can no longer stand it, and then you leave to lobby. It’s a vicious cycle that is not only hurting the employees but is honestly hurting our nation. How do we reshape Capitol Hill work culture in a way that creates sustainable energy instead of continuous burnout?