Mindfully Connecting in the Internet Era….

Let’s Put Down Our Cell Phones!

Take a second and look around you. Look out the window, there may be a good chance that you see many people on their cell phones. In fact you may be reading this on your phone. Cell phones are an amazing thing. It seems like they can do everything. Their abilities include calls, texting, pictures, emails, music, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, social media, voice recordings or talk to text, news, playing games, and much much more.

I notice people on their cell phones all the time now. I see people on them while at work, in conference meetings, driving, walking, while eating dinner, at a celebration or party of some sort, school, at a sporting event or watching a sporting event on TV (what are we doing???). Checking your phone could be the first thing you do when you get up in the morning and the last thing you do at night, maybe even checking your phone in the middle of the night. I am guilty of all of these things as well. I have started to think about what about just good old face to face communication without any electronics?

There’s a Real World Out There. And, It’s Beautiful!

Although connecting with individuals using electronics is fun, easy, and the way of the times now, I want to get back to having a mindful connection with people without electronics. I have personally noticed that this is hard to do. It is so easy to use your phone and maybe even becoming a habit, such as, checking to see who liked what post, checking-into a location, taking a selfie, snap chatting, checking that email that just came though, texting back and forth with someone, etc.

One definition of  mindfulness means, “a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations.”  (I got this from Google.) Wow…what the heck does that mean?

I see it as being in the present moment with the person or people in front of you, truly listening to them, noticing your surroundings and the person or people around you, not being distracted by the phone and really connecting. Please check out this video that I watched that struck me, (yes, I found it on Facebook and YouTube). Disclaimer, this is sad and can be disturbing to some people.

With the holidays coming up, I encourage you (and in fact I put a challenge out there!) to put down the phone if you can, for as long as you can, while spending time with loved ones this holiday season and see if it makes a difference. Remember that connecting with people in this world is important, why not make it a deeper, and more mindful connection? Yes!

Warmly,

Katie