Despite the fact that we have a large sign and an attention-grabbing red and white awning in the core of downtown on Heber City Main Street, the majority of people I introduce myself to are unfamiliar with the offices of Ignition Creative Group by name. I have learned to ask, “Have you seen the building with the LED grow lights and the cactus garden in the front window?” Most, at that point, agree they know where the building is. My cactus garden, however, has symbolism beyond a placement marketing gimmick.
Reflecting on my life from a newfound perspective on the other side of the hill, I can see that I have been literally encompassed by hard-charging, A-type, ambitious personalities since childhood. My formative education was at a New England style, all boys, college preparatory school, where very high expectations in academics, sports, and extracurricular activities were set. I tried to roll that intensity back a touch in my college years, but the daily grind of creatives and fine arts education knows no professional time boundaries. I tried to roll that fervor back again by working as a ski instructor and fly-fishing guide, only to meet some of the highest-functioning people on the planet and, by necessity, adapt to their pace to keep the day positive and remain employed. Albeit unwillingly, this background set me up well for an entrepreneurial mindset and has helped me professionally, but man, some folks, particularly in Utah and the Wasatch Back, just need to practice what they preach and chill out!
Cacti get it. These guys are nature’s tribute to toughness and longevity. Once established, most can endure heat, cold, wet, or dry conditions. They are covered with passive self-defense mechanisms. Most cacti grow very slowly: they pace, they rest, they replenish. They will store water and spend it responsibly during periods of scarcity. Ironically, if a cactus takes in more water than it can absorb, the plant body often ruptures from the swelling, causing permanent injury or death. Once established, the balanced practice of growth, rest, and replenishment strategically allows cacti to endure most any hardship. I can think of no other plant or animal that is better suited to the various harshness of Earth’s reality.
The ‘hard charger’ persona might look at a cactus, compile a surface observation in the less than three seconds allotted to such minutiae as a ‘highly effective person,’ and think about being a prick. If one pauses for a genuine moment of thoughtful reflection, cacti employ a slow, adaptable, and intentional method that leads to better long-term outcomes and ultimately to survival in a harsh, ever evolving ecosystem. This is one of my many fascinations with cactI, and the primary attribute I like to remind myself to emulate while tending to my garden.
Soil conditions are critically important to the success of any plant. Different soils suit different needs, but a common thread is that all soil eventually needs replenishing. Natural replenishment happens with nutrients and rest. Composting and ‘resting’ soils in the winter season creates a beneficial soil biome and leads to far more productive growth and yields. While it is true that an artificial injection of chemical fertilizer will boost outcomes for a season, those crops do not thrive perennially. Chemical fertilizer sparks a spike in growth, but it is a short lived and poorly visioned strategy. The natural soil biome eventually disintegrates amidst the salinity, and all life becomes dependent on the next injection.
Organic winter gardens teach us that rest is not necessarily laziness—it’s preparation. Henry Miller, a somewhat controversial American writer of philosophical fiction and social criticism in the Second World War era, stated:
To be silent the whole day, see no newspaper, hear no radio, listen to no gossip, be thoroughly and completely lazy, thoroughly and completely indifferent to the fate of the world, is the finest medicine a man can give himself.
In the ancient B.C.E. period of my life (Before Children Enveloped), I was pretty good at the concept of rest and replenishment. I loved afternoons spent in leaf diffused light scattered across my Peruvian blanket style hammock, reading paperback editions of dystopian science fiction I acquired at the local thrift store. I became a very proficient fly fisherman, which in my reality was a lot more based in ‘Norman Maclean’ or ‘John Gierach’ romanticism than the Zoomer, catch-at-all-costs, ‘bro’ edition, fly-guy released in the mid 2000’s. I would travel to remote places and immerse myself in full-day explorations, sometimes longer, without any interaction beyond entomological curiosities, piscatorial presentations, and canine companionship. I trained myself as a fine artist to have a studio ‘sanctuary.’ An artist’s studio is like the mainstream concept of a “man-cave” or “she-shed,” except it is designed as an intellectual oasis for reflection and pondering. I would read, eat, nap, and bring ideas to life in my studio. Outside of the dog, I almost never let others into that personal, introspective space.
But alas, middle-aged life goals wiggled free and emerged like a spring Blue Winged Olive nymph from under a cold water stream’s tumbled rock bed, and the self-containment and self-mastery life model and all of its color-chromatically organized precision was traded in for the wonderful and fulfilling chaos of family life. Further goals included self-employment, then staff, and long term investment strategy. One day, not long ago, I woke up, looked at myself, and realized I had become “the man” to at least two generations below me and a handful of my peers. What a surreal epiphany for a guy who once lived in a backpacking tent for three months!
Amidst the chaos of whatever tier of life you find yourself, and enduring our ‘oh-so-connected’ modern society, we must periodically detach from the very thing that provides our daily bread if we want a healthy, naturally grounded, metamorphic headspace that has generationally connected our species to our planet. Most of our homes require dual incomes to sustain in our region. As a consequence, our children are being raised by the state, and the ‘connection’ being taught is to Wi-Fi networks, not to the naturally stabilizing tactics of rest and replenishment. We throw in hurry-up-and-relax yoga classes on a timer, talking points about self-care from entities that care only about profit margins, and government-stamped rack cards promoting mental health. Such efforts are considerate and well-intentioned, but the one thing that truly heals does not fall within the allowable constraints of a corporate benefits package or of the internet backed precision timepiece that monitors your personal production on the company hamster wheel.
It is a backwards reality, and I do not have a magic equation to change society’s priorities, the methodology of our governmental institutions, or the Western banking system. My best poke at building a healthier community is to promote awareness and lead by example, hoping that some will change their outlook enough to unplug from the Matrix. Yet behold! Some insist “ignorance is bliss” and just want steak, whatever the cost.
Life can be easier if you simply let the channel current guide your thoughts and actions. Many choose to submit to the current and get sucked downstream in that particular river crossing, but not me. I will choose a calculated course, with the current at my back and my posterity in the eddy I create, to overcome the channel and reach the other bank intact and with dry waders.
Most of us chose the Heber Valley to ‘reconnect’ with nature, but our hometown is becoming a downtown, and access to traditional charging outlets has changed with that growth. Utah’s popularity will not change in the foreseeable future, and our community will continue to evolve with that demand. What we have in greater abundance than most is proximity. Hot pots, solitary river walks on the Middle Provo, horseback rides on the benches, shooting cans in the canyons, or a Heber Valley deer hunt may be outside of reality at this point—but all is not lost, and many similar opportunities exist minutes away.
Be creative this spring. Embrace rebirth. Be adventurous. Get outside, rest, and replenish. Ponder. Be still. Learn to be comfortable within your own headspace. Life.. is a road, no simple highway, between the dawn and the dark of night. And when you go, no one may follow. That path is for your steps alone.1 Strive to make your path memorable and noteworthy. Digital accomplishments are false victories subject to purge on the next software update. Real accomplishments happen in the real world. Choose to spend your time wisely and create higher level, sustainable personal yields.
1Ripple, Jerry Garcia, Robert Hunter, 1970.
