If you have been reading my blog for awhile you know that I am all about connections. I love connecting people to their Life Energies and Life Purpose. I love connecting people with ideas, other people, places, resources, etc. My favorite thing to do is to connect with friends and family and people I have just met, for that matter, to talk about Life – talk about the big ideas (the small ones, too).
Yesterday I had a big aha! I am leaving for Tuscany in a few days and my smart phone won’t work there so I got a global phone, which is a simple phone. It allows me to make calls and send and receive texts. I realized how connected I had become to all of the “stuff” of my smart phone. I experienced a kind of withdrawal as I realized that I had lost that connection. I recognized how many times a day I connected on my phone with my emails, texts, calls, word games, to-do list (yes, I do have a to-do list app and I use it, sometimes), social media, etc.
There is something to say for taking time and not having that instant connection. I know I am showing my age here, but I remember writing and receiving letters. You had time to think about what you were saying and then time to wait and see what kind of response you would get. Now, I am impatient if my email doesn’t go through immediately. I may have lost the connection to savoring a thought or the richness of waiting. I have to jump in here and also say that sometimes waiting is excruciating. However, sometimes waiting is rich – the anticipation of what will happen, where you will go – just like my trip to Tuscany.
What kinds of connections do you savor? What kinds of connections are more of a habit or even a type of addiction? What kinds of connections would you like to nurture? How can you disconnect from the things that make your life more frantic or hectic? What if you set down your phone for awhile and walked away?
Again, showing my age here – I remember when the phone rang and when you answered it you always knew the person who was calling. I also remember that if you weren’t home, there was no leaving a message because there were no answering machines – and no one cared. They just called back later. I think it was a time when people connected more personally, without as may layers of distraction.
For me, both things are true – I love being connected so easily via email and cell phone and I also miss those days when things were just a little bit slower. How about you?
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