daydreaming

I listened to a program on the radio recently that discussed daydreaming... and whether we do enough of it in this day and age. We have cellphones that demand our immediate attention whether from a text, social media site or app we can't seem to live without. News is broadcast 24 hours a day.  We live in a false sense of security thinking all is okay as long as we didn't get a message or text or email telling us otherwise.

Years ago people would leave their homes and their telephones when out doing other things. If there was news it could wait a while. I have found we often make better decisions if we don't respond immediately to "news" but take some times to think things over before responding in a knee-jerk way.

How many of us can't sleep at night because we lay wide awake thinking. It's the time we are the most still and quiet... and our minds can wander. Often my best thoughts are at this time, but it's not when I want them to come. I want to sleep!

When I take a walk I also have my best creative ideas because I am not distracted by other things coming at me...like other peoples' thoughts or ideas ... from TV, social media, texts, emails, phone calls, etc.

These things aren't bad but there is a time and a place for them.

I remember once asking Edd in the morning how he slept. He said he hadn't slept well but then told me it was okay because he solved a few work problems as he lay there awake. It seems my mind wanders the most at night and keeps me awake because I'm thinking on things I didn't give myself a chance to during the day. There were too many things I was allowing myself to be distracted by. We have some of our most creative, original thoughts and problem-solving abilities when we are still, quiet, and undisturbed.

As I look around I see people never far from their cell phones as though they are going to miss something. We are afraid of being cut off and unaware of what is going on....when in reality we are often missing what is actually happening all around us.  We become worried and anxious without our little electronic crack. It really is an addiction of sorts. We are okay again once we check our phones and see no one called or texted us with bad news, etc.

I'm guilty... or should I say I am prone to be a little too attached to my phone. Maybe those wires weren't such a bad thing years ago that kept a phone in its proper place. At least we didn't lose them or drop them in the washing machine or the thousand other ways people waste money having to replace them!

But I plan to change that. I am becoming more mindful of its over-importance in my life and I am going to detach. Walk away from the phone more. Have it with me for emergencies but make a conscious effort to leave it in the bottom of my purse, OFF, more often. Leave it in a certain place at home. Have some original thoughts. Remove Facebook as an Ap. Done. Do I really need to read all that stuff from my phone anyway? No. I don't.

And so it begins. I may be on to something. I will daydream more.