find some grazing time
it works for cows, why not us?
You’re reading the flourishing factory — a newsletter of stories, lessons, and frameworks to help you cultivate a flourishing life.
Our old house was across the street from a cattle farm.
It wasn’t abnormal to find me sitting on the stairs, looking out the window and watching the cows do their thing. What was their thing? Nothing much from what I could tell…..walking, eating, and mooing.
To put a single word on it, grazing.
The textbook definition of grazing is “an agricultural and ecological practice where herbivores, primarily cattle, sheep, and goats, feed on growing grass or vegetation.”
The JD definition is “cows doing their thing, roaming freely without anywhere to be, chewing on whatever they find.”
After watching the cows graze, I decided I could use some space to do the same. So I started scheduling Grazing Time on my calendar.
Last week I wrote about feeding your Second Soul and Grazing Time is one way I do this.
In Grazing Time, I head to a coffee shop to set aside 1.5 - 3 hours. Caffeinated and comfortable, I sit with a legal pad, open pen, and a book on hand.
Then, I graze.
There’s no agenda and nowhere to be. Wherever my mind takes me I go. I could sit stoically the whole time, pour my heart out on paper, or map the solution to a problem I’m facing.
Almost always, a number of ideas come my way.
From solving a work issue to thinking through newsletter articles to considering why my best ideas only show up after I’ve paid $6 for coffee. In Grazing Time, I have permission to chew on whatever comes to mind.
Grazing Time gives me space to breath in a world that wants to take my breathe away.
Grazing Time is my small rebellion against that.
It’s a way of saying that not every moment needs a measurable outcome. Not every hour needs to justify its existence. Sometimes the best thing you can do is sit with a pen, a book, and a cup of coffee, then let your mind wander until it bumps into something worth noticing.
The more I practice this the more I realize these cows were onto something.
They weren’t rushing or optimizing. They weren’t building a personal brand around grass-based thought leadership.
They were just grazing.
And sometimes, that’s exactly what a flourishing life needs. A little less sprinting. A little more wandering. A little more room to chew on what’s right in front of you.