Cleanse your senses with a stint of forest bathing. (It does have an alluring Japanese name, but that may best be left unsaid for fear of something so delightful becoming a buzzword—look what happened to wabi-sabi.) It sounds new age, and it is, but it is also essential for the present moment—and it costs nothing. To take advantage of this relaxing practice, one simply needs to locate a park, woodland or patch of grass, remove footwear, and take it in. Brush up against the shrubs, wiggle toes in the undergrowth, listen to the birds and insects, and breathe in the verdant aromatics. It is a simple pleasure, and one worth revisiting.
Journey to a cinematic refuge. As evidenced by a certain recent, passionately discussed road movie, cinema is going places fast, and with considerable furiosity—there remain, however, those who are keeping the age of the auteur alive. One such organisation is Another Screen, an irregular streaming platform sharing week-long compilations of films by women across multiple modes of production and geographies—all at no charge to the browsing cinephile. Each program is helpfully contextualised, and inspires the thought that film is not dead: it may just be in need of a service.
Embrace pre-colonial nourishment. Black Duck Foods’ website reads: ‘Australia’s post-colonial food system has seriously degraded the environment—a result of both the wilful and accidental neglect of the complex interconnections between food systems and the wider ecosystem.’ Founded by Bruce Pascoe, author of Dark Emu: Black Seeds: Agriculture or Accident?, teacher, academic, and farmer from the Bunurong and Yuin peoples, Black Duck Foods is an Indigenous social enterprise focused on pre-colonial food and farming education—and the often overlooked ‘culture’ part of ‘agriculture’.
Feast on fables. Among the assortment of pleasant and distressing evolutions of the modern age, is the word ‘story’ now signifying a fleeting flash on social media. Luckily the term retains its original gravitas in some quarters. Guided by founder K Bailey Obazee, PRIM is a space for queer stories and storytellers of Black ancestry, and a wellspring of writing in all forms, from prose and poetry, scripts and soliloquies, to podcasts and comics—and that is only half the tale. If the habit of purchasing books but neglecting to read them sounds all too familiar, PRIM also has a book club, OKHA, featuring vetted volumes that will not gather dust on the bedside table—and are sure to keep readers satiated for at least a thousand and one nights. Take your time. ‘Busy’ is an increasingly over-used adjective, and a favoured proclamation of those who wish to seem important. Illustrator, broadcaster and DJ Anu Ambasna is one of those highly industrious individuals who could accurately describe themselves as such—but choose not to. Recently Anu curated a playlist for Aesop that invites listeners to slow down and recalibrate. It is titled Music for Positive Deceleration and is recommended for busy bees and casual contemplators alike.
