On Monday mornings and synchronicity
having a reading practice expands my capacity to understand and value others
August 17, 2025
Though I’m reading and writing constantly, Monday morning has become a time when I dive into all the newsletters I subscribe to, follow particular threads or ideas that interest me, and take the time to thoughtfully ingest what people, all over the world, are up to.
Just as one may walk for an hour, work on a passion project, or practice bass guitar, I make sure to carve out intentional time to read. From this practice and in no particular order, I thought I’d highlight three folks and a little taste of their story.
Having just finished reading Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer, I came across a video of him in 1997 giving a talk at a Boulder, CO bookstore. Accompanied by his carousel of slides, it brought to life this infamous and tragic ascent up Mt. Everest in the spring of 1996. Having never read the book before nor any personal experience mountaineering, it was difficult for me to truly relate. Even to the allure. Yet what I do know, having recently hiked up to 11,400 ft with a 2,000+ elevation gain, is that hiking can be painful and beautiful, and thoroughly kick your ass. Now these individuals ascended another 18,000+ feet. Bordering on another dimension. It’s mind-boggling.
One of the many expedition teams on the mountain that spring was Mountain Madness, a Seattle based company led by Scott Fischer. Sadly, he was one of the many who died. Coincidentally yesterday at a flea market here in Albuquerque I was drawn a long rack of vintage T-shirts. Literally the third one I picked out was thick, maroon, and with that unmistakable mountain as its logo. Both on the front and back, Mount Everest was enclosed within a circle with the name Mountain Madness, Seattle, WA hovering boldly above it. It’s funny how that works.
How good are you at understanding that which is different from you
Stephanie Fuchs is a German woman who, having traveled and worked in Tanzania well over a decade ago, fell in love and married a Maasai man. She's been living in his boma for over thirteen years. Fluent in language and custom, integrated, and embraced, she shared the following:
“There is nothing us western people have that indigenous people like the Maasai need. They don't need our medicine. They did not have diseases until European settlers brought them to their lands. They know how to heal themselves with nature, they know how to fix broken bones. They can build their own houses, know where to find water and green grass for their cattle. They are not 'uneducated', they just don't need our western kind of education. They don't need to know how to read and write in order to defend their cattle from lions. They just need to know how to use a spear.
Would you know how to use that spear to defend your livelihood?
Would you know how to find bees and honey?
Would you cherish nature and the words of your elders as guidance for your life?
Would you agree to sacrifice some of your freedom for the sake of your community, your culture?
You may judge that which you don't understand. But the truth of the matter is that that judgment will never take you anywhere. Trying to understand will. Surrendering will. And understanding that your way of living is not the only right way to live.”
I am deeply moved and inspired by this woman’s heart and soul. She reminds me of the importance to simply be with others who hold different values and perspectives. To live alongside them, love them, and most importantly, not push for change. It’s a good wake up call. And one that I’m grateful to receive, again and again.
Though I’m called to live a certain way, it doesn't mean others have to. Nor should I assume folks would be better off if they did. We all live within a complex interdependent system, yet need not be blindsided by assumptions or ignorant of context.
Lera Boroditsky and how language shapes the way we think
Cognitive Linguist Lera Boroditsky shared in her TED talk, How language shapes the way we think, how the Kuuk Thaayorre, an Aboriginal community in Australia know and experience time. Interestingly, the relationship is based around the sun's movement over the landscape. Time’s not locked on the body. It’s locked on the land.
They communicate by cardinal directions of orientation. How are you? is more like, where are you heading? The response, south by southeast and in the far distance. Because of this, everyone, even the smallest child knows where they are in relationship to the Earth, the Sun, the Moon, etc. If I asked you right now, which way are you facing? Do you know?
She goes on to describe the movement of time. What we may consider chronological time or linear time, in the sense that it goes from point a to b, is not how the Kuuk Thaayorre experience time. Instead think of it like energy, a force moving east to west that is locked, united, or linked to the land. Therefore depending upon where one is oriented in space, time will express differently. In the case of facing East, time moves towards you. If facing North, time moves from right to left. Time and space is a moving matrix or network, rather than anything inherently linear. It makes sense to me that dreaming or dream time, in some way, may extend from this embodied sense of awareness.
Language is also a tool in which to orient oneself in space and time. A living, moving frequency in which we can share our experiences. What we think and ultimately what we say to ourselves, and others, gives context and shapes reality. It informs everything. There are languages where the words for ‘right’ and ‘left’ don’t exist. They instead look to the elements, the landscape, the Sun.
Language hangs onto time like clothes drape the body. It relates to it in some way by taking on a certain form. We can infer time’s movements through speech. Yet sometimes the presence, force, or even nature of time are well beyond the boundary of what words can express.
Yours, Erin
If you find this a valuable part of your day/month/life consider joining my mailing list and supporting via a subscription.
Disclosure: you won’t receive anything exclusive, just my unwavering gratitude. It supports me, a working writer, to stay working. It also helps ensure that this publication remains a part of your Sunday mornings. THANK YOU!