Have you tried to take a hiatus from your digital device? It is not easy. But well worth trying, if only to give you an experiential understanding of the costs of digital dependency. When we disengage from our phones and tablets and screens of all kinds, we experience the world in a different and enlivened way. We can be more present. And along with this shift in perception comes discovery—actually re-discovery—of our myriad capabilities for awareness, not only in and of our immediate environment, but in our connections to the expanded world, inner and outer, as well. It is quite … [Read more...]
The Illusion of Control
Here in Boston we have suffered a difficult and seemingly endless winter. Frigidly cold temperatures and mountains of snow—over 100 inches in just the last 8 weeks alone! There’s been plenty of collateral damage for many people, in the form of lost work, lost school, lost income, the breakdown of the public transportation system and other infrastructure elements, increased costs for everything, especially snow removal, heat, and repairs, and more—all adding to the cumulative stress that comes with enduring such a long and bitter winter. In the midst of all this I had a quite unexpected … [Read more...]
Alert and Available
How often do you worry about the future? Or feel stuck or drawn back by something or someone in the past that you can’t seem to get past? Human mind and emotion have a persistent way of distracting us from the present. We struggle with the business of being human--that is, surviving physically and emotionally--and we think far too much about it, often engendering fear. This is our nature and our habit, and it is reinforced relentlessly by our cultures (including family, work, and community cultures) and by the realities of survival. We are shaped by our pasts, by our attachments and … [Read more...]