Miners used to take caged canaries with them underground. Not as pets, but as early warning systems. When the birds went limp, it was a signal for the miners to get out. Canaries, being more sensitive to carbon monoxide (a clear and odorless killer) and other poisonous gases than humans, gave miners a heads-up.
Think of a “canary” as shorthand for setting up a way to detect something happening before you’d otherwise be able to. A system to amplify subtle, leading indicators. A way to create awareness before awareness becomes a necessity.
We’re good at this in the physical world. Some canaries alarm us to trouble (check engine lights, weather radars), and some even intervene (pressure valves, fuses, thermostats). These mechanical canaries can free us from subconscious worrying and needless mental processing. Think about how much mental bandwidth simple alarm clocks and smoke detectors have cleared for humanity.
But what about canaries for your internal mineshafts? Can you tell when there’s a non-obvious threat filling a tunnel in your life? What mistakes do you keep making? What comes before your descents into black emotional depths? What canaries can you station to catch these things?
- Writing and journaling can help reveal patterns and subconscious issues.
- A poor diet or overeating may signal emotional hunger, a craving for something you can’t find on a plate.
- Messiness and clutter can reflect (and cause) a cluttered mind.
- Spending on frivolous things can indicate a need for distraction, or a desire for something you can’t buy.
- Aversion to boredom and relaxation, which is often anxiety manifesting as a constant need for distraction.
- Addictions, which are just things that temporarily cure the ill they cause.
People can also be your canaries. Those closest to you are often better at sensing subtle changes in your behavior than you are. A partner, friend, or family member might notice you’re struggling before you’re ready to admit it, or even before you notice it yourself. Sometimes they’re effective social or emotional barometers, better attuned to the weather than you are. You might find fainted canaries when you ask:
- Why aren’t they going to that party?
- Why does this friend avoid hanging out with that one?
- Why are they leaving this seemingly perfect job?
- Why do they change the subject when [X] comes up?
Unlike a coal mine, you can’t evacuate your life. The challenge isn’t to escape, but to find the creeping poison before it becomes an issue.
“You might consider how escape from a cage must surely require, foremost, awareness of the fact of the cage.”
~David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest (Book)
