April 27, 2014
Having to fill a whole day of appointments and sticking to a
schedule has become the American way. I
am just as guilty of this as the next guy.
I grew up in a generation without all of the techy gadgets that exist
today. When I went to Disney World in
the 70s, Epcot had a ride that you would sit in and it would bring you through
a visual world of the future. I remember
looking at ovens that would cook food in 2 minutes and thinking, that's a great
concept but how can that ever be possible?
Well, I don't think there is a home today that doesn't have a microwave
oven. Along with this future invention,
I remember seeing TV monitors that would allow you to see the person you were
having a phone conversation with. For
me, the only frame of reference I had at that time that resembled this future
existence was the TV cartoon, "The Jetsons". This cartoon family lived in a world full of
modern day conveniences, appliances and gadgets that helped them live a very
fast paced life with not having to wait for anything. It gave multi-tasking a whole new meaning. When I think of this cartoon, memories of
George Jetson, the family dad, standing on a conveyer belt on his way to work
is what comes to my mind. There was no
need for him to walk, as the belt zipped him from his kitchen where there was
an assembly line of gadgets that would cook his food, to help him get dressed
to housekeepers that were robots, to his flying car that would get him to his
office. Who knew that the visionaries
who created this show would be so on target?
All these years later, we have all of these conveniences, and the flying
car? Trust me, they are working on it.
But how much is too much? I
admit, I have a laptop, a desktop, an ipad, a mini-ipad, a kindle, and an
I-phone. Am I missing anything? Probably.
The point is, we all use all of these on a daily basis and our lives
have become dependent upon them.
The other day, on my way to a dentist appointment, I left my
home in a hurry and I forgot my smart phone.
When I pulled out of my driveway and was half way to my appointment, I
realized that my trusty companion was not by my side. I suddenly realized that I felt disconnected
from the entire world at that moment.
Not only did I not like the feeling, but also I almost considered
turning my car around. My next thought
was - the location I was going to had a landline phone and my family knew my
location and could find me god forbid of an emergency. When I got to my destination and I had to sit
in the waiting room, there were a few outdated magazines on the waiting room
shelf. Nothing that I was even remotely
interested in reading. Call me crazy but
I was going through withdrawals as I watched the people waiting and the entire
waiting room had their heads bowed down, flipping through god knows what on
their phones and tablets. Waiting for my
name to be called seemed like an eternity as I was forced to sit down, alone
with my thoughts. Can you imagine? My
thoughts? Uninterrupted by emails, phone calls, calendars and Facebook?
As I was ushered into my appointment, and after some x-rays
were taken, the dentist was called into the next room with an emergency he
needed to tend to. This event left me
alone in the dental chair in the reclined position. Not having any communication to the outside
world, I was forced to just lie there.
Many thoughts were flooding through my mind from planning my upcoming
week to concern's about my family and friends and their problems and worries.
In this moment I realized that without the distraction of the constant
stimulation from my NOT so smart phone, I needed to decide how I was going to
spend the next hour or so. I decided that
I had a choice so I decided wisely. Mentally
I sent my family and friends love and light and said a prayer that they find
peace and the answers to their dilemmas.
Oh, and the best part was I didn't need to download an app to do this. I
also decided that I could use this time to enhance my energy. So I pushed any thoughts that were not
pleasant out of my mind and continued to visualize a peaceful white light above
my head. I allowed this light to enter
the top of my head and then to come in my whole body. I pictured this light re-energizing all of my
cells and asked it to enter anywhere I felt it could touch my vibration and
heal any physical issues as well as emotional ones. Time flew by as I drifted into a time
lapse. I literally had to force myself
to come out of the blissfulness when I heard the nurse call my name back into
the room. I immediately realized that
leaving home without my phone was a blessing. I felt refreshed and renewed.
Human nature can be funny sometimes. In order for us to escape our own thoughts,
we are not only becoming programmed to take a peek into the outside world
through our gadgets, but we have become addicted to them. It has literally
become an epidemic in our society. As like anything else which was invented to
help humanity multi-task or become advanced (Note: I am a huge advocate for
social media outlets and technology and love my gadgets just as much as you do),
however, finding a balance is the key.
Allow yourself to be alone with your thoughts without
interruptions. Even if its for two hours
a day. When I leave home, now I
purposely leave my phone in my car or my bag.
I realized that it is so easy to get caught up in the technological
world that has taken over our population. Of course we all need to conduct our
business in an efficient way and so it is necessary to check on things. However, try not to let the cyber world take
the place of the human condition. Pick
your head up from your phone or tablet and smile at a stranger while in public. Making eye contact with people, rather than
walking the streets surfing cyber space can start to bring us back to our
selves. Although the Internet does a
good job in keeping the world connected; the only true connections are created
by LOVE....
Namaste xoxo
Kim
