"Be aware of wonder. Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some." ~ Robert Fulghum A friend of mine called a few weeks ago, and I missed the call because I was downstairs and my cell phone was upstairs. When we finally connected, I reminded him to try my landline because I often keep my cell phone away from me while I'm home. "Why?" he asked in honest confusion. Why? For the sake of my own sanity that's why. I love technology, I do, but I don't believe that we are meant to be reachable all hours of the day. We need to breath deep and re-connect with ourselves and our families away from all the noise. As we all know, just being in the same room with someone is not necessarily connecting with them. Too often they (or we) are distracted by what's going on in the cyber world. E-mail and social media are our reality, and we certainly can’t ignore it, but we need to strike the right balance.
Ease into your Morning: I've found the best way to start my day with balance, is by staying away from the Internet for the first hour. I get to work and I do check my work e-mail—for assignments. (I think there's a world of difference between work e-mail and personal e-mail). I then choose a task that doesn't require me to go online. I make my morning cup of tea, and I work. I have my notebook next to me to write down any inspirational thoughts or things that I'll want to do when I do go online. At 10 o'clock—after an hour of quiet—I then check my personal e-mail and skim the NY Times headlines. I find I have much more control over my day when I don't rush right onto the Internet. On the weekends, I wake up and go for a walk, write a letter, or I read for at least the first hour of my day. Last Saturday I headed right out the door to see a Picasso exhibit at the Philly Art Museum, and then I headed to the park for soaking in the sun and conversing with my cousin Kate. I didn't do anything Internet related until the very end of the day. It was marvelous.
Samara O'Shea is an author and professional letter writer. Visit her at LetterLover.net and follow her on Twitter.
Ease into your Morning: I've found the best way to start my day with balance, is by staying away from the Internet for the first hour. I get to work and I do check my work e-mail—for assignments. (I think there's a world of difference between work e-mail and personal e-mail). I then choose a task that doesn't require me to go online. I make my morning cup of tea, and I work. I have my notebook next to me to write down any inspirational thoughts or things that I'll want to do when I do go online. At 10 o'clock—after an hour of quiet—I then check my personal e-mail and skim the NY Times headlines. I find I have much more control over my day when I don't rush right onto the Internet. On the weekends, I wake up and go for a walk, write a letter, or I read for at least the first hour of my day. Last Saturday I headed right out the door to see a Picasso exhibit at the Philly Art Museum, and then I headed to the park for soaking in the sun and conversing with my cousin Kate. I didn't do anything Internet related until the very end of the day. It was marvelous.
Samara O'Shea is an author and professional letter writer. Visit her at LetterLover.net and follow her on Twitter.
1 comment:
What a great post! It is so hard these days being constantly connected - it is definitely addicting. Good idea to have times where all technology is OFF.
lauren
lrstewart0711.blogspot.com
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