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“Within you there is a stillness and sanctuary to which
you can retreat at any time and be yourself.”
– Hermann Hesse.
I wonder should I write about my dog, Cubby, and his sniffing more often? 🙂
Why? Because last week’s email got the biggest reaction of any I’ve written this year. Joking aside, I think it’s because we all innately know, at some level, that taking time to enjoy the moment, to be more present is so important to really living.
I thought the pandemic helped people to see this more clearly but to me, it seems that the frantic, frenzied nature of modern life has become worse.
Case in point, I was out doing a bit of Christmas shopping yesterday morning and I decided to get myself a nice coffee. Unfortunately, it seemed that everyone else had decided on the same thing and the queue was massive!
As I stood in line, I noticed that that 90% of the 20 people in front of me were on smart phones. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel an immediate temptation to do the same thing. But I resisted.
I took my coffee and found somewhere to sit. A man was walking around the same location cleaning tables. He was having a very engaged conversation with someone on his phone, while cleaning. He wasn’t the owner, or a manager and he was the loudest person in the area.
A minute later, an escalator in the shopping centre caught my eye. Six people were descending. Five were on their phones.
I’m not immune to being on my phone at various times but I am noticing more and more that there seems to be less people just ‘here’, present in the moment.
I recall being told over 20 years ago by a wise mentor that inner stillness was the gateway to high performance in any context. The challenge they told me was that the mind finds inner stillness boring, so it will do a anything to keep itself busy. This was told to me BEFORE the arrival of smart phones.
It seems that advice is more relevant than ever.
People often make comments about ‘life passing by’ and I think we have to consider our role in that experience.
Maybe if you find yourself in a queue this Christmas, and feel the urge to dive into the world of your phone, you’ll remember this email and choose to do something different?
Shane
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