-Karthik Gurumurthy
Last night, I was reminded by my wife Shobana that I spend too much time on the phone or computer. Another thing she mentioned was that I look at watch constantly when I am around the family and I am preoccupied most of the time mentally. Initially when I heard that, I was defensive and denied that. But when I slowed down and looked at the amount of time I spend texting/ emailing my friends/students/business associates, she was right. It adds to considerable amount of time. She wanted to spend to spend one-on-one time with me.
With colleagues at work and even friends and family during get-togethers I would secretly glance at my watch, fearful that I would be late..for whatever!
Today, with technology allowing us to be instantly connected to our work lives 24/7, many of us literally never stop working. After the experiences I faced in 2012, it was a powerful reminder that our time on Earth is severely limited. We humans live much longer lives than bumblebees but much shorter ones than most redwood trees.
To me that means that instead of scheduling every moment, we should occasionally make time to contemplate life and the experience the joy that can only be found when you interrupt constant doing and start simply being. What is sad, though, is that most of us have the choice of having some free time; we simply don't make it for ourselves. So many of us today are living unbalanced lives and struggling to make every second count in a way that actually deprives every moment of its chance to develop.
There is a story that Buddha said his happiest moment was when he was four years old and his attendant nanny left him alone for a few minutes. Left unattended he had a rare chance to watch a butterfly dance toward a flower and simply enjoy the light of the sun slanting through the green trees. Buddha was said to have believed that it was the first time he was first alone with unscheduled activities and had a moment of pure being- at one with the universe- that brought him a kind of spontaneous ecstasy.
With his attendant nanny away he was able to truly experience the moment. Buddha was said to believe that such spontaneous moments were the greatest gift in his earthly life. How many peaceful, unplanned moment do we grant ourselves in our modern rush to get somewhere and do something? All the statues I have noticed of Buddha show him sitting. Is that because you can't run toward such peaceful epiphanies?
Perhaps these moments can only be truly experiences when you take off your watch, turn off your phone and email, lose your sense of time, and let yourself be still. Don't we all feel sometimes like we are racing the clock- as though life were a sprint in which we wanted to cross the finish line first? And we are all so proud of what we are doing.
Do you notice in America when we meet someone news we almost always ask them: "What do you do" As though doing were more important than being.
We define people by what they do rather than who they really are.
All our focus is on doing rather than experiencing each moment in a more profound and contemplative way. But it sure is hard to contemplate anything when we are so surroundded by the relentless counting of clocks-on our wrists, cell phones, computers, wall clocks and so on.
Thousands of years ago our ancestors paced themselves by the light of dawn creeping over the hill and the shadows of dusk falling out from the trees. Then came church bells that rang the hours to keep towns on time. A farmer out in a distant field might be in touch with the hours of the day.
Next grandfather pendulum clocks were invented, becoming dominant family possessions that took the place of honor in the home-proudly ticking with great solemnity and ringing the chimes loudly on every quarter hour. About one hundred years ago the gold pocket watch became a kind of symbol of success. It was given to loyal employees at their retirement to remind them of all the hard years they had worked in an office. They could take it out and glance with respect at the face as the minutes of what was left of their lives ticked down.
Then the wrist watch was invented, and it became inexpensive and so accessible that soon everyone was wearing one. No one left home without affixing such a timepiece to their skin. Eventually dates and time zones and latitude and longitude were displayed and watched as well, and you could go swimming or take a shower without having to take your wristwatch off.
Today, with cell phones, computers, and other entrancing electronic devices, we are never away from the dictatorial focus on constant measures of time. In many ways we have become mental and emotional slaves to the constant, finite calculations, and it is hard to resist such an anxious focus on every ticking ground.
My wife Shobana was right. I see that one-on-one time with your children or your family or others you love or even yourself is by far the most important time. Yet in our rush through life we often forget to grant ourselves that precious time and attention.
What is the point of all of this: Give yourself time to fully enjoy the gift of today.
Even for just a hour a day. Slaves to your IPhones and computers: Throw off your electronic chains. Free yourself. Time out:)
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