Reminder of the PresentLast year, on Yom Kippur (a day of fasting and atonement), I published this blog post.
Last year, on Yom Kippur (a day of fasting and atonement), I published this blog post.
It discussed my thoughts on fasting, as a method for relaxation and peace. Fasting helps you unplug from the world around you and focus on the present (if you do it right). I also touch on a few things complementary to “food and water” fasting, which is “technology fasting.”
I find it easier for me to go without food or water for a 26 hours then I would to go without electricity. What does that say about humanity in 2017? What does that say about me in 2017?
Now I have taken technology breaks before. This year, I went camping for a few days without my phone or, really, any communication to the outside world (I scheduled blog posts ahead of time).
But that was it this year.
A few days.
Without technology, you have no connection to those you are not around. For the first few hours, FOMO may set in, but after a bit, you forget the outside world exists.
You begin to live in the present.
Yesterday, as I fasted again, I was reminded of this feeling — I was reminded that the present is where all of the action is.
You cannot live in the future, nor the past, so the best thing to do is make the most of the present.
Though we are taught in school and growing up to be expert future planners, there is something magically naive about living in the now. Something that too many of us lose as we grow older, take on responsibilities that seemingly strip us of our freedoms.
I always want to live in a world where I have a choice whether or not I want to live presently. Even now, I am likely worrying about things in the future.
I have a notecard where I keep everything I have to do for the day. I imagine that all my worries live on that notecard. I take one off the notecard and into my head, one at a time.
There are millions of things to worry about. But you can only do one thing at a time.
I think the best time managers are not so much extreme future planners as they are “compartmentalizers,” they are able to pick things up, put things down, and completely be immersed in what they are doing.
They do not have a hundred tabs open. They do not need 10 screens to do their work.
They just go, in the present.
Originally published at gonen.blog.
By jordangonen on October 1, 2017.
Exported from Medium on February 17, 2018.