| photo via Tom Kondrat |
Happy Friday, friends! Phew, that was a busy week on my end – how about you? Did everyone get their cardio on? Before we all do our best to duck out of work early and hit up the nearest happy hour (mmm, cocktails…), I thought I’d tell you about a little 10-minute social experiment I’ve been trying.
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about how much time I spend staring down at a screen. Computers, televisions, iPads, Kindles, and of course, that tiny little iPhone screen we can’t stop making eyes at. Every day, that need for something mindless to occupy my busy brain seems to get a little stronger, and creep up a little faster. Frankly, it’s worrying. (And not just because of this.)
When I was younger, I remember going to visit my grandparents on summer evenings and finding my grandfather – one of the hardest-working men I ever knew – sitting outside next to his vegetable garden, sipping from a colossal glass of iced tea. Not talking on the phone, not fixing anything…just sitting. Enjoying being outside and having nothing to do for a few minutes. These days, I’m starting to wonder whether I’m even capable of such a thing, which is a sad thought.
I’m not talking about a three-week meditation retreat or zoning out in a dark room for hours on end. I’m talking about sitting in a chair with a cup of coffee and being still for a few minutes. Looking up at the sky. Breathing the air. Watching people pass by. Wondering what that crow in the tree across the way is squawking about. In an effort to rejoin the human race,
I have a thought: What if we all took 10 minutes this weekend to look up? If we put down the phone/book/magazine/laptop and drank our coffee without a single distraction? If we saw something beautiful or funny or adorable and just enjoyed it, without Instagramming it? I’ll warn you, it’s harder than it sounds – I’ve been trying all week, and you start to get pretty antsy at the 5-minute mark. Still, I’m going to keep trying. How about you?
