Two days a week I commute to work. I take the BART for about 40 minutes. While walking around the city and sitting on the train, I take in my environment. I people watch, I look at billboards, I take in the mixed architectural styles all around San Francisco, and listen to the sounds of petrol cars and Waymos.
While I do this, I notice how different I am from the people around me. Everyone is buried in their phone or laptop. They do not look around in wonder or absorb the endless inputs around them; they simply shut it out.
A few weeks ago I started a new role. This is my first in-office role in over 5 years. While this process should feel overwhelming, it feels familiar. I don't have the urge to grab my phone and hide from the surrounding world. I want to take it in. The world is stimulating and a lot sometimes, but it is not something to shy away from; it is something to constantly study and absorb.
Personally, I've never had an issue with this. From an early age, I have always taken in the world with interest and wonder. Regardless of whether the situation was fun and welcoming or scary and uninviting, I never shied away. This is one of the reasons I always have a backlog of these newsletters—I am always noting down things and how I feel when they happen. I didn't know it at the time, but I was practicing a version of self-anthropology.
I was initially introduced to this concept from Anne-Laure Le Cunff. She uses this concept to take notes of the things around her and the content she consumes, pairing these observations with her Tiny Experiments framework to live a non-linear life. For me, I have used this less for experimentation and more for reflection and idea generation.
While most people are not avid writers or artists, the concept stands true for everyone. I think this is even more purposeful in the world we live in today. Like I mentioned earlier, while commuting, the people around me barely look up to notice the world around them. Today, this is for many reasons. People are addicted to their devices, they think they need to respond to every notification, and they are socially inept (due to the first two reasons).
I propose that we use this concept to be aware of the world and ourselves; I call it liminal anthropology. Where Anne's practice of self-anthropology turns the lens inward, liminal anthropology insists on standing at the threshold—holding the self and the world in simultaneous view. It's not only a way of knowing yourself, but a way of reclaiming presence in a world that constantly tempts us to look away.
But how do you practice it? Easy—take notes + journal.
Note-taking
I have been an avid note-taker for years now. I have talked about it plenty, so I won't go into the details. I recommend starting simple and as analog as possible.
Most of us are attached to our phones. If it is anywhere near us, we feel a compulsion to grab it and be on it. So, I recommend using a notebook or an e-ink tablet. Simply keep this on or near you, rather than your phone. When you see something, anything, jot it down.
At first, I recommend doing this a lot. You won't know what to write at first, so write everything. The weather, the sounds outside your window, how the person looks while they sleep across from you on the bus. Then simply jot down a bullet about how you feel at that moment.
Sunny weather might make you feel antsy—wanting to go outside. The sounds of the wind outside your window might make you feel calm. The sleeping person might make you feel drowsy. These are all simple things to note, but they are making you aware of your surroundings and feelings. This will also keep you off your phone. Bonus!
Journaling
I use the term journaling loosely. I am not telling you to get popular journaling prompts, write morning pages, or bleed your heart into lines of prose. Simply review your notes and see how they make you feel. Write about that.
This might lead to a thought that you scribble or type a few pages. You could generate a handful of ideas. It can possibly be the thing that clears your mind enough to come up with the solution for the project that you've been stuck on.
Journaling comes in all shapes. It's personal and different for everyone. But the thing that is rarely different is that it's hard. Especially when we find it hard to not have an influx of stimulus for more than a few minutes.
Like note-taking, I recommend making it as analog as possible. It does not have to be systematized or hyper-rigid. I do recommend a schedule, until it becomes a habit. Something like 5 minutes a day is more than enough to start. I would also recommend practicing liminal anthropology while journaling, a somewhat meta act. This will inform you if the time of day is correct, the mood is right, or if you need solitude.
If you are like me and you commute a few days a week, you are flooded with stimuli when you leave your home. There are people, noises, sights, and smells. These stimuli are generally overlooked. Replaced by an algorithmic feed of a shallow, flat virtual reality.
Rather than hiding behind your phone, on your next journey, take in the minutiae of your surroundings. Note them down, regardless of how small. Then jot down how it makes you feel. This is the practice of liminal anthropology: standing in the threshold between self and world, allowing each to inform the other. You'll be surprised by how much the world can shape you—and how much clarity you gain—when you choose to truly pay attention.