This $12 Casio watch I bought last July at the Walmart in St. Joseph has been on my wrist every day since.
I was leaving my first (of now three and counting) silent retreat at Conception Abbey, and I went into the weekend without a watch.
I hadn't planned very well, because I knew I'd be without my dopamine device for 44ish hours, and yet there was a rigorous routine with specific times to be specific places on the retreat agenda.
After reaching for my phantom phone in my pocket to check the time the first few hours, I found a clock on the wall by the gift shop. And the time listed on the security panel right inside the main door of the guest center where we were all sleeping.
Those became the only way I knew the time Friday night, all day Saturday, and Sunday until mass began at 10:30.
I can say I was only late to one session, which for me, is a win. And something I'm working on shifting more and more.
What's the point with the watch?
Well.
It's a couple main things.
One profound. And one very practical.
First, the profound. It's a reminder to me that the clock keeps ticking so I may as well live, before, well, you know, I die. And when you walk through a graveyard next to a monastery that has monks and community members who died in the 1800’s laying there, it’s a stark, somber, strong reminder that we’re all on the clock.
Second, the practical one. Every time I see the time on my cheap (but let’s be honest - the simple design is stunning) watch is one less time I grab my expensive phone. But the trade off is not financial, it's far costlier than that.
The tradeoff is presence. The real power source that runs our lives. Or, said another way, if we’re not present to our lives, it runs and ruins us.
I’m learning to leave my expensive time keeping device detached from my person more often these days. And it’s cheap replacement on my wrist is proving to be much more rewarding.
📸: entering the Abbey before 44ish more hours of silence last weekend - what showed up is stunning and a series of stories I'll share at some point - including one assignment that divinely dropped in without any warning but a lot of clarity 🙏
PS - if you’ve scrolled this far, you may notice I haven’t written here in a few weeks. Even though the title of this newsletter used to say “The Give a Damn Daily.” I was doing the daily thing for a couple months, and something shifted and reordered in what I want to focus my energy and effort on. So I’ve dropped “The” and “Daily” from the title. I hope to write here once a week. Some weeks may be more, others may be less. Either way, I hope you stick around to hear the stories. It means a lot to know real humans read these words I write. 🙏
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