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When you feel raw, inflamed, or agitated and you are not sure why. When your mind is grazing on everything and digesting nothing.
Trickster says every input is necessary — the news, the scroll, the old argument, the comparison. It calls being informed "being prepared." It does not notice that some of what you take in is making you sick.
Not everything you consume is food. Some of it is poison grass — it fills you up and still leaves you hungry. You can choose what you graze on.
- Ask: "What have I been taking in today?"
- Name it: news, scrolling, comparison, old grievances, other people's fear.
- Ask of each one: "Is this feeding me, or making me sick?"
- Pick one thing that is poison. For the next hour, do not graze there.
- Notice what changes.
Before you open an app or a feed, pause. Ask: "What am I about to graze on? Is this grass I need?"
If you cannot stop, that is information. Some inputs are designed to be hard to leave. Be gentle. Try one small boundary — one app, one hour. Start there.
Want to go deeper?
This free practice is one small place to stand.
If you want to learn the Friends' stories, practise with them across real-life hard weather, and build a return path you can keep close, visit The Four Friends Practice Companion.
Frog. Tree. Eagle. Buffalo.
Tales from the Trail, guided practices, reflection tools, and a 30-Day Return Path.
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If this practice gave you a little more ground beneath your feet, you may want to keep a few more nearby.
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Use the Whole Buffalo is still taking shape as a book, but the practices are already here for ordinary hard weather. If this language is useful to you, you can join a small early community and receive occasional field notes: new practices, sample material, and first word when the book's ready. No pressure. No performance. Just something steady to return to when the mind starts making the weather worse.
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