just do one thing

One of my biggest problems...

Just do one thing at a time. As a member of this culture of overstimulation, I am the ultimate multi-tasker. Texting while driving, talking while cooking, writing emails while watching a movie, talking on the phone and texting on the phone at the same time, knitting while driving (go mom)...the list goes on and on.

And multi tasking is a skill that I truly have mastered. I used to be the kind of person that marveled at my ability to be three places at once. I would use it to my advantage, and allow that skill to feed on itself until I had a cold and hard realization...I wasn't being present.

In one of my classes, the theme of the three hour lecture was: learn to just do one thing. And become as good as you can at doing just one thing. But see we aren't creatures who are used to that. We have been conditioned to excel and become productive on doing and being many things at once. We have turned efficiency into a primary goal in this life...trying to pack in and accomplish the most possible in one day. We equate it with success, and to us success is happiness.

But I turn another corner now, I don't want to be doing three things at once. I don't want to be the person in the line at the grocery store who is on the cell phone, who has to have two simultaneous conversations at once. I don't want to be the person who is listening to a friend speak, but have my mind on a myriad of other things. It isn't fair to myself or the people that I love.

Therefore, I use that desire to be efficient and productive and place it toward being fully present in doing just one thing. For example, I didn't look at my cell phone once during the time it took me to write this blog. God I love progress.