There used to be a lot more time in between the point “A’s” and
the point “B’s” in the world. I can remember (and I know you
can too) when you’d go the mail box in anticipation of receiving a
mail-order catalog that was fun to peruse through. Then...if you
ordered something...it would usually take 14 days to receive.
No immediate
gratification.
Instead..patience
was required and then anticipation was the result.
There’s a part of
me that thinks...this space of time...in between...promoted a certain "good humaning" skill set. The Pause.
The ability to sit
with time...and let it be. And well...the item ordered...arrived when
it arrived. I think this also created a greater appreciation in us
for when this fulfillment did come around.
I can’t help but
wonder if the current level of immediate gratification we experience
on the daily... is eroding in essence...a calming human skill set.
(What we used to experience in “the pause”.) It’s as if being
able to order something online and receive it the next day, or
googling a question and receiving an immediate answer, or sending a
text to a friend or family member and receiving an immediate
reply…has created a restlessness amongst us.
An insatiable need
for everything to happen “right now”.
What happened to our
ability to sit on a bench and wait for a ride and do so with
absolutely no stimulus other than maybe a book or simply observing
our present surroundings? We could travel in a car or on a plane and
at best we’d look out the window or read a magazine or listen to
the radio. And be perfectly content with this.
Could it be that our "good humaning" skills are being eroded by reacting to our own mind’s
demand for entertainment, input, distraction and constant need to
“feed a false nervous tick,” simply because countless ways to entertain ourselves are now available?
I’ve caught myself doing
this...feeling this sense of urgency but not knowing exactly where it
was coming from. That I’ve got to check my facebook feed for the
latest updates, or see what the latest posts on IG contain. Until I
stopped myself and said...”Why?”
“Why this false
need to surrender my time to what amounts to mindless banter?”
Because when I sit
with this feeling...at the end of spending 30-45 minutes mindlessly
scrolling social media...I recognize that nothing I found there was
truly fulfilling. It was empty. And I was duped.
My sense of
groundedness and self-discipline and control over how I use time has
been called into question. These things have been eroding...until I
recognized that it’s my responsibility to maintain my own autonomy.
A renewed set of human skill sets are being called forth.
The modern world of
2025 continues to pitch fast balls at our faces...almost like we’re
being water-boarded by mindless banter from every direction.
Every human has 24
hours in a day. And it’s up to us just how we utilize these hours.
Shall we let
ourselves be controlled by a system that’s barraging us?
How do we turn off
the screaming fits that our addicted human minds are battering us
with to be entertained and “feed the beast?”
First...we must
recognize that this is happening. Second...limit. Five minutes, ten
minutes, twenty minutes.
Self-Discipline is a
key step towards becoming grounded and unshakable.
Over-stimulus is
feeding over-thinking. It never stops. It never sleeps.
And is a daily
practice to turn it off.
Silence the “current
hot topic of the day.” Because tomorrow it won’t even matter.
And if it doesn’t matter tomorrow...why should it matter today?
Instead...let’s
return to listening to our hearts..the deeper parts of ourselves that
have been silently sitting there waiting to be heard. The
what-truly-matters-the-most-to-us parts of ourselves.
Let’s return to
feeling our souls and strengthening our skills to discern what truly
matters again.
And then mute
everything else.
And stand in the
strength of this daily action!
I don’t want to
allow myself to be eroded away by mindlessness and fools gold.
Yet I am challenged
by this nearly every day.
It helps that I live
in the mountains where cell-signal and internet connection isn’t
always available. So I get the blessing of being reminded that it’s
even possible to turn it off...because sometimes it just goes out.
Little to no warning.
But then I hear the
silence again. Because the screaming stopped.
And there’s peace
again.
Photo Credit:
myself...pic of a leaf skeleton
