presence
November 1, 2016 § 3 Comments
As the structure of my days has aligned to accommodate work outside our home, I have become differently mindful of messages that shout quietly in the busier minutes of my day; the often serendipitous hints from an expansive universe that when connected by presence speak to purpose.
Personal invitations in unassuming choices that invite greater consciousness in how I invest my time and conquer distractions. Messages of gratitude and joy that reinforce personal values with lessons in wholehearted presence at work and home, offline.
There is so much grace to the tidy time commitment of my work schedule, an unarguable need that allows me to prioritize my days around my mornings; delegating time for necessities, self and others with a hierarchy of responsibility to essentials over emptiness.
The greatest change was an unintentional vacation from social media that underscored on-line distraction cloaked in real-time attentiveness. My new routine left little time for senseless scrolling. The passive voyeurism that kept me entertained by other’s choices was a hamster wheel of reactivity over ingenuity.
Each day begins with family routines and self-care that allow me to indulge in single-minded attentiveness, offline. As we eat breakfast together and walk to the bus stop I am mindful of these ordinary moments with the same appreciation I then exercise and ready myself for work. The uncomplicated demands are a permission slip for an elegance of simplicity.
At work, the hours away from e-mails and texts have established new boundaries around my time, replacing a false urgency with greater peace. Everything can, and does, wait; there is nothing nearly as urgent as I had allowed myself to believe.
Outside of work, errands have become less an excuse to sustain a distracted restlessness and more an efficient accounting of time. I am using my afternoons in rest or purpose that I might structure my evenings for family and weekends for play. Folding clothes and sifting recipes are no less valuable than time given to a new book or old friend.
There is nothing novel in these personal revelations, it is merely a new attentiveness. Others more eloquent than I have written in greater length on the same subject. Neatly itemized suggestions for greater mindfulness offline are ever-present on-line in cleverly articulated Pins.
I won’t pretend a pledge to forgo online indulgences or pass judgment on others who spend their time differently. My mother would say: everything in moderation.
I can speak only for myself, in this season of my life as I sway with and against distraction for balance. As my days have become fuller, I am finding my choices are becoming more intentional and my practices, simpler… online and off-line.
scribblechic 
Aaah…the re-discovery of life Marie…real life 😀
You have come full circle within 🙂
I’m a stubborn learner, usually spiraling around old mistakes with fresh attentiveness.
A lesson we must all experience, as many times as it takes 🙂
At least you ‘see’ it, many are still treading water 🙂