I settled onto the green cushion crossing one leg over the other twisting right then left then resting my hands palms upright on my knees. My mind begins its chatter ‘I really want more coffee’ ‘Wonder if the blueberry plants will take’ ‘What should I write about today’ I take a couple of deep breaths breathing through the chatter.
My shoulders begin to slide down away from my ears. My chest begins to open. I can feel the familiar warmth in my palms. I hear the rumble of paws as the hit the ground and Boones head plops into my hands – after all hands were made for petting puppies, right?
I settle into my cushion again. Mind stilling and energy flowing I’m startled by a loud exclamation “Oh No” followed by a dialogue from my daughter. I ask if it’s important, no it isn’t, and I go back to my meditation.
Some days those 15 minutes I set aside to meditate are blissfully quiet but others there are so many distractions and interruptions it hardly feels worth it. What can you do with all of the competing demands for your attention?
This week was a very distractible one for me not just in meditation but in general. I’ve been working on a new workshop Life By Design – Creating your new normal and was actively finding distractions to help me procrastinate. (Can you relate – or am I alone in this?) I came across a podcast from The Good Life Project (excellent podcast) on distractibility with Nir Eyal discussing his book How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life.
He has some interesting ideas on managing attention in this busy constantly “on” world. I really resonated with the concept of defining a distraction. Nir says that in order for something to be considered a distraction you need to identify what it is preventing you from gaining traction with.
This requires you to be aware of what you want to spend your time and attention on in order to create traction to move toward something. I did find asking myself ‘What is this distraction keeping me from?’ helped me to be more intentional with my time.
Simple things like taking the time to close my bedroom door and hang my meditating door hanger on the doorknob kept the small distractions at bay. For the bigger ones it seems that I have a penchant for working without taking a break. I found that I began to distract myself when I got stuck or needed a break. Taking a break seemed counterintuitive but I actually got more done when I did stop and come back fresh.
How might you use this when you get distracted? I would love to hear if you have any patterns or tools you use to help with distraction
Namaste’,
Be Well,
Cathy
