Well, I do occasionally have swipe free and unplugged days. That “possible” is not now while I’m in this graduate program, but I do pocket an hour or so unplugged here or there to be alone with my own thoughts. Recently 60 minutes did an episode about mindfulness with Jon Kabat Zinn, the MIT trained scientist turned meditator and founder of the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction clinic. Mr. Anderson Cooper attended a retreat with other big and busy names, and humbly whined and pined for his phone. The rules? Not allowed. The agenda, according to Kabat Zinn?
“When you’re walking, just walk. When you’re eating, just eat.”
So, Mr. Cooper - is now on a mountaintop shouting out for us all to be quiet, to be still. He humbly shares how hard it was for him, but after he got to see his brainwaves on meditation vs off meditation, he’s on it. He claims that doing this story “changed his life.” I’ve always been “on it,” but these days more “off it.” The stunning beauty of it all is that it takes so little to start up again because in fact it requires doing nothing at all. The hardest thing for me to do. If all else fails, I use the gadget well - as there are hundreds of meditation…apps.
