We are odd creatures. We often engage in what torments us. Witness the hours we spend toggling on social media. And we chase the future (fretting, planning) and pause in the past (lamenting and being angry), when we know that being present is what brings us joy. And, then, to get even further away from what brings us joy, we distract ourselves even more. Yep, odd.
I read about an article in a science journal recently co-written by Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman. The scientists surveyed a bunch of women to look at how many of their daily activities brought them satisfaction. Oddly, the stuff they chose to do for hours at a time every, single day, as leisure – namely, watching TV – didn’t bring them satisfaction. Instead, connecting with the present did – via prayer and meditation.
This is madness. What stops us doing what we know brings us satiation and peace? Especially when it doesn’t involve large wads of cash or adjustments to our lives? Why do we toggle and distract ourselves away from it? Worth asking, right?
The antidote, of course, is to consciously commit to prioritising the stuff that does satisfy. If it’s merely mediating, or being more still, and doing less toggling – which it is for me – then let’s do it. Commit. It’s a New Year.
Have you committed to this kind of thing? Connecting more? Distracting less?