I’ve been thinking a lot about distraction lately and have implemented a few rules of operation for myself lately. I can’t say that I follow them with the religious fervor that I’ve set out with, but I aim to do a little better each day. The primary moves I’ve made are to (1) limit my social media time to an hour per day, which includes my personal email, to (2) silence all manor of app notifications from my cellular phone, and to (3) stop mainlining 24-hour news cycle.
Amazing things have transpired in my absence from the feeder-tube of information.
I’ve spent more time writing and developing ideas that I aim to follow through on as time permits, I also took care of a couple long-overdue home improvement tasks, and been a more engaged conversationalist in all areas of my life. These are all things I could have guessed would happen, but the part that’s really blown my mind over the past couple of weeks – I really haven’t missed anything.
I quickly learned that cutting myself off from local, provincial, and some very heartbreaking international news is that I was still presented with all of the important information from the people around me discussing it; and although I speculate it to be so, the opinion-peppered relaying of these stories from my peers & coworkers wasn’t any more or less opinionated than my previously selected news sources.
I’ve gained only time for reflection and development and at this point I only wish I’d done so sooner.
If you’re feeling maxed out by current events and need to spend some time in your own head sweeping up cobwebs, I recommend a little – not even a break – just some structure around the truckload of information being fired directly at your brain at lightspeed.
Training this week was a little funny, we shuffled a couple of days around in order to get some extra-curricular tasks done, but we definitely got done what we’d set out to do. There was a bit of a head game involved in some regards but we know very well that it’s important to have a plan AND that sometimes plans change, and we can be fluid.
Hopefully you’ve had a successful week with what you had set out for you!
I hear from lots of you through various messenger apps, and definitely appreciate the engagement. Hopefully from here on out my replies aren’t too slow, but if they are… well, now you know why!
If you’re in Edmonton this afternoon, I’ll be performing solo at The Cask & Barrel on 104 Street just south of Jasper Avenue from 4pm till 6pm. I’d love to see you out!
The Conscious Pilgrim 