Oh yes the familiar occurrence of going into a room and forgetting why I am there! I do believe it happens to everyone and especially today with so many distractions.
Too many times I have gone to google something and ended up down the rabbit hole of news items or videos that I had no intention of viewing. Realizing I was wasting time I put the phone down and walked away. Minutes or seconds late I realized that I never actually googled what made me open my phone in the first place.
And I forgot what it was.
Sigh.
This is the modern age version of me being sent to clean my room, finding a favorite book and start reading. Thirty minutes later I would feel my fathers eyes staring at me from the doorway. Uh oh.
My Dad was a great guy but he had a couple of looks that honestly scared me. I knew he meant business when he put on one of his Dad’s looks. Actually I think every parent needs that look. The one you do NOT want to get. That look actually kept me from doing a lot of stupid things. It served its’ purpose. Just the look was enough.
In any case my point here is not only are there multiple distractions in the world but it often leads to multi tasking which is pretty much a bad idea. The only way it works for me is if I have the washer, dryer and dishwasher going at the same time while I am folding clothes and watching TV. Any other time it is counter productive. For instance I cannot measure out ingredients, read a recipe and talk on the phone at the same time. Took a few too many cooking disasters to figure that one out.
I have a quote here from Buddha I believe ( I would google it but um no, need to stay on task) I heard it in a yoga class. It said:
” We are either here in the present moment or we are no where”
Leave it to Buddha to have the most impact with the least amount of words.
This, of course, means putting the phone down and interacting with the people around you. By people I am most often referring to family. 🙂 Not going there, just saying 🙂
Actually I try very hard not to be on my phone in places like the airport, waiting rooms or any place where people gather and are basically just waiting. I have met the most delightful people that way including a blind pianist, a WW2 vet and children who smile and giggle .
Am I perfect at it…big fat NO.
I will continue to walk into rooms and forget why I went there or fall into the black hole of google searches because I am imperfect like everyone else. Still I don’t want to miss out on interactions because I was looking down at my phone.
Chances are I would choose to look at my phone and wind up on a viral video of me falling into a fountain because I wasn’t paying attention. Or look up and discover everyone was gone and I missed my plane or forgot to get off the plane and found out I was headed in the wrong direction.
And of course there is the snarky friend ( love her) who sent me this 🙂
Ok those things could happen to me without the phone. If nothing else I entertain myself with some of my unintentional antics.
Here is to today in all its glory. Look around, listen, see what you might have missed otherwise. It might be a pile of doggy do that you step over instead of in or the first signs of spring!
As usual I will keep triing…and smiling 🙂 Jennifer
