I have to confess that I have some of the habits which modern technology has gifted to our species. Even though I find myself criticizing others for doing so, I spend too much time staring at screens whether it’s the television, the computer or my phone. I realize that much of this screen time is a mindless addiction satisfying some need to avoid boredom or, worse still, to procrastinate. But, like those I criticize, I can’t seem to stop myself from too often pressing one “power on” button or the other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fortunately (I think), there are some positive benefits to these habits. One of my habits is regularly going down one or the other of the rabbit holes presented to me by the YouTube algorithm which thinks it knows me so well. As a result, I have discovered quite a number of lectures, debates and interviews which provide new information, thoughts and insights that I find stimulating and enjoyable. There are also a number of podcasters who I like to follow including Rich Roll, Peter Attia and Andrew Huberman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On one of his podcasts Peter Attia interviewed author Bill Perkins who was promoting his book, “Die with Zero”. Intrigued by this interview, I used another screen, my Kindle, to download a sample of the book for my perusal. In his book Perkins outlines his thoughts on how to use your resources, including your time, to create the experiences which make for a full life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While I haven’t yet bought the book, I have reflected from time to time on one of the premises in the book, namely, that some of life’s experience are only available to us at a particular point in our life. Perkins writes about the benefits and experiences that a friend received by electing to backpack around Europe and staying in youth hostels while in his early twenties. He points out that those same benefits and experiences are not available to a physically older person with commitments and responsibilities even though they may be visiting the same countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perkin’s point is not entirely new. The bible in Ecclesiastes 3 (1) says something similar – “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven; a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance . . .”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On my trip to Portugal and Spain, I had the opportunity to watch my son, Jesse, taking the time, and obviously enjoying, reading bedtime stories to his two and a half year old daughter. It made me happy to see him seize some of those moments that will go by far too quickly. I know that it will just seem like a blink and Sage will be too old for such stories as the world welcomes her into her life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This holiday has given me more time to ruminate on these types of thoughts. So, it did not take long for me to realize two things. First, that by travelling with Jesse and his young family and by spending some extended close time with them, I too was enjoying a moment that would also pass too quickly, a moment I would have missed if I had stayed in my more normal routine and not accepted the invitation to join Jesse’s family on this trip <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If I can keep it in my mind, the second realization was probably more important. Habits are great tools for humans because they allow us to do things without consciously thinking about them. But, when a habit lets us burn through our time in a mindless way, we risk failing to identify and enjoy those moments, those experiences that make life sweet. Some of those moments may only come once and then are gone forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My second realization is that, particularly at this point in my life, there are more of those precious moments passing by for possibly the last time. So, it is important, firstly, that I identify and try to control or limit both the habits that use up my time without my mind being fully engaged. I need to change up some of those routines that keep me comfortable but, while safe, are not conducive to finding more of those moments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Secondly, I need to strive to be generally more mindful so that I can identify those moments. A long-time friend, Gary, recently forwarded a New York times article to me in which the author suggested that we should not only identify such moments but show gratitude and appreciation for them. That author uses the word “Delightful” to acknowledge such moments. I have tried it (but not often enough and not when I am staring at the news feed on my phone) and it works! It seems to work better if you say it out loud but, be warned – you will, as I have discovered when experimenting with it, get some different looks if you say it too loud.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I have to confess that I have some of the habits which modern technology has gifted to our species. Even though I find myself criticizing others for doing so, I spend too much time staring at screens whether it’s the television, the computer or my phone. I realize that much of this screen time is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/77tozero.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1215"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/77tozero.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/77tozero.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/77tozero.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/77tozero.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1215"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/77tozero.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1459,"href":"https:\/\/77tozero.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1215\/revisions\/1459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/77tozero.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/77tozero.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/77tozero.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}