try something radical

November 03, 2015

TRY SOMETHING RADICAL ☺

Yes, I know that you have always been told to stay in your comfort zone by your inner voice but it is now time to try something radical: walk outside, go for a walk and LEAVE YOUR PHONE AT HOME.

This may shock you because you are thinking….what if I get that important email? What if I get a phone call or text? What if I want to take a photo and post it on facebook or instagram to prove that I actually went outside for a walk? 

Be shocked but don’t be afraid. This is one of the most nourishing things that you can do in the days of devices always inches or feet away from our sensitive and sensual faces. And the bonus is that it will refine your ability to observe using your attention and peripheral awareness. We have lost the connection to our abilities to feel, see, hear, smell and taste what is around us. 

The fact is, we have lost our acute sensuality due to the constant bombardment of mediation. Our phones give us a false sense of safety; whereas, our true safety relies on our ability to discern using a combination of our peripheral awareness along with our attention. As Culadasa, a meditation master, points out in his amazing new book “The Mind Illuminated” :

Attention analyzes experience, and peripheral awareness provides the context. When one or the other doesn’t do its job, we misinterpret, overreact, and make poor decisions.

Culadasa is referring here to our understanding observation skills in order to understand a pathway to cultivating a meditation practice. What I am suggesting is that we are missing out on so much fulfilling and informative sensory input in our day-to-day lives outside of a meditation practice, too. Yes, we will all benefit from a meditation practice but we will also benefit from just plain old digital-free time. Our skills of observation will have the space and time needed in order to sharpen and fulfill us if we mediate the mediator by leaving our phone at home every so often.

An antidote to this sensual atrophy is to ditch the devices, even if it is for 15 minutes. Think about it….we are rarely away from our phones for that amount of time. Most folks sleep with their phones right next to their bed. Give it a try and be free to experience what is around you in a truly full way.☺

See the lack of expression on these people's faces as they are looking into the digital abyss: 

http://www.collective-evolution.com/…/photographer-removes…/

Have a healthier, more strategic, relationship to your devices so that you can be more open to what is around you!