Wake Up Call

Good Morning,

In my life I have witnessed many friends and family who have bought
into the advances of technology so much that over time they lose
themselves in it. Pulling someone out of the technology habit is like
waking a person from a coma, and many never realize they have lost
something along the way.

Whether we realize it or not, we are being swept along in a current
of time acceleration that shows no signs of abating. The new
technologies, touted as producing gains in efficiency and leisure,
threaten to rob us of both, if they haven't already done so. Do you
know anyone who says he has more free time than he did 10 years ago?
Where is there a sense of balance? How do we regulate the pace of
ubiquitous connectivity, and the expectation of instantaneous responses?

With our mobile phones and wireless Palm devices, it's now possible
to be so connected that we can be in touch with anyone and everyone
at any time, and do business anywhere. But have you noticed that in
the process, we are running the risk of being out of touch with
ourselves? We easily forget that our primary connection to life is
through our own interior realms—the experiencing of our own bodies
and all our senses, including the mind, which allow us to touch and
be touched by the world, and to act appropriately in response to it.
To take advantage of that gift, we need moments that are not filled
with anything, in which we do not jump to get in one more phone call
or send one more email, or plan one more event, or add to our "To-Do"
lists. Moments of reflection, of mulling, of thinking things over, of
thoughtfulness.

What about calling ourselves up for a change, checking in and seeing
what we are up to? What about just being in touch with how we are
feeling, even in those moments when we may be feeling numb, or
overwhelmed, or bored, or disjointed, or anxious or depressed, or
needing to get one more thing done? What about being more connected
to our bodies, and to the universe of sensations through which we
experience the outer landscape? What about lingering for more than an
automatic moment and becoming aware of whatever is arising in our
minds: our emotions and moods, our feelings, our thoughts, our beliefs?

I am not by any stretch of the imagination advocating a Luddite-like
condemnation of technological development, or romantically wishing to
turn the clock back to a simpler age. But I do think it is important
for us to be mindful of all the new and increasingly powerful ways
available to us today to lose ourselves in the outer and forget about
the inner so that we become even more out of touch with ourselves.

The more we are yanked into the outer world with all these new
technology-driven habits that our nervous system has never before
encountered, the more important it may be for us to develop a robust
counterbalance in the inner world: one that calms and tunes the
nervous system and puts it into the service of living wisely, both
for ourselves and for others. This counterbalance can be cultivated
by bringing greater mindfulness to our bodies, to our minds, and to
our experiences—including the very moments in which we are using the
technology to stay connected. Otherwise, we may wind up at a very
high risk of living robotic lives, no longer even having time to
contemplate who is doing all this doing, if we are really getting
anywhere, and is it really a better place to be?

Peace and Love, Jim