Dear True Self,
I try to stay disciplined on my spiritual path but I get distracted so easily. After working all day and all my responsibilities with my family, I feel compelled to drown in my distractions. Sitting in front of the TV or computer or my phone feels like necessary downtime. Without it, I have almost no time to myself. Are these distractions if they are serving me to unwind?
Sincerely,
Distraction Jackson
Dear DJ,
Let me be very clear: Everything you do is a distraction.
Life requires nothing from you. There is no written law that says you must work, play, eat, sleep, get married, have kids, make friends…none of it is decided for you. If you wanted, you could simply sit. You could do absolutely nothing, and life would still be yours.
In many ways, what you call as “your” life is just a series of distractions. The only thing you are required to do is one day die. Before you get in a huff, this is not to be morbid or that I am somehow anti-life. It is just to remind you of your mortality.
Life has fixed no other thing for you. It will one day reclaim you, that is the only guarantee. So how will you choose to spend your time?
Life has given you freedom. Freedom to live however you choose. I do not mean that you can guarantee anything externally. If you want your external life to happen a particular way, you must perform the correct actions at the correct time. Even then, it’s not a sure thing. But within yourself, you have total freedom to live however you wish. Perhaps not the skill to do so, but the freedom nonetheless.
So it is all a distraction. Meditation is a distraction. TV is a distraction. Or that is to say, if you are unconscious, it is all a distraction. Living compulsively, turning your existence off and melting into a glazed over state – these are all the qualities of distraction.
What I am saying is the activity itself is not what makes something a distraction. It is how you are when you do it that determines this. Tell me, if when you watch TV you are totally focused, totally attentive, totally involved, is it a distraction? If when you meditate you just shut off and count the minutes until it’s over, is that spiritual growth?
Everything you do must become conscious. Meditation is not sitting with your eyes closed, it is consciously doing whatever you are doing. Even playing on your phone can be a meditative action if you are absolute in your consciousness.
However, some things will be easier for you to be meditative with, others will not.
When humans were evolving on this planet, we spent much time surrounded by nature – trees, wind, water, mountains, and especially fire. All these things made us feel safe, and allowed us to lower our guard and not be so survival mechanism driven.
It is in this state that we started to explore our very being, creating expressions of ourselves that served no survival purpose. Art and creativity became possible.
Even today, simply sitting by nature will have this effect on you. It will be far more difficult to be distracted and far easier to be meditative.
You are so drawn to your devices as a means of “unwinding” because it is the modern day fire – heat and light. Unfortunately, it does not have the same effect on you. Instead of stabilizing you, it winds you up by bombarding you. It doesn’t matter what way you slice it, electronics and the way we use them are overstimulating.
So do no get too bogged down with whether something is a distraction or not. Just understand that being distracted is a choice you make.
If you really are so gung-ho about clinging to your devices, then understand the compulsive aspects of them and work on dropping those. Make yourself absolutely as meditative as possible when enjoying them. But understand this is an uphill battle and a bit like going to McDonald’s and expecting a healthy meal.
The reality is most people are not capable of being so meditative with their distractions. It makes more sense to start with something easy than something difficult, doesn’t it?
There is nothing inherently wrong with enjoying your devices. But please see they are not helping you unwind. They are having the opposite effect. If you do not believe me, try spending one week on your device as your only means of unwinding, then spend the next week in nature to unwind and observe the difference.
Be honest with yourself about your inability to use overstimulating electronics as a means to self-improvement and spiritual growth. Then carve out some time for yourself to do something more meditative. If you could even set aside two minutes a day to just sit in silence, no other objective, the effect it has on your life would be tremendous.
This quality of being meditative is the difference between something being distraction or not. All being meditative means is having a sense of absolute involvement. Whatever you are doing, you are totally participating in. But if you want to be distracted, you will find distractions.
With more space for being meditative in your life, you will start to value your time on this planet more. How you spend it will become more important. Distractions will become less and less an issue, and creating a beautiful life will become an absolute priority within you.
With gratitude,
Your True Self
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