Be Mindful and Enjoy the Moment

We are always encouraged to multi-task in today's world. Computers are made for it. Our bosses expect it. Our lives demand. But we're human!

Use your mind

One important key to having a better life is to use your own mind. But you have to use your mind correctly. As humans, we're not built for multi-tasking.

So if we don't multi-task, what should we do instead?

Do one thing at a time

This is the important key to mindfulness. Stop multi-tasking and do only one thing:

The idea of one-mindfully is to do one thing at a time.

• If you are going to eat, eat. Don't read or watch TV at the same time.
• When you are working, work. Don't try to work and worry about something at home at the same time.
• When you are talking with a friend, talk with your friend. Don't try to be on the computer at the same time.

Enjoy that thing

When you do only one thing, you can more fully participate in that activity. By really participating in that thing, you can enjoy it.

Here's a simple example: grocery shopping. I went to buy groceries the other day, and I really just focused on buying food. I tried to pick out good produce, I looked for sales on items I needed, and I actually had fun. The key was that I focused on only one thing.

Your thoughts?

Have you experienced any good examples of mindfulness? Post a comment or track it back to your own blog!

Distractions Can Help Focus

One of the hardest things to do sometimes is to focus. It's difficult to block out things and do what we need to do.

Ironically, distractions can sometimes help us focus.

For instance, doing something a bit different from the work at hand might help stimulate the brain. Try a short little walk or some other type of exercise. Maybe even just a walk down the hall to the restroom.

A classic distraction is to watch a little television. While this can be helpful sometimes, it can also be more of a distraction at times, like right now. It's incredibly hard to write and watch television.

I guess I should choose a better distraction to help me focus. Maybe I should go for a walk.

A Quiet Super Bowl Sunday

Over the past couple of years, I've almost become oblivious to the Super Bowl. In fact, I usually don't even know when it is.

This year has been interestingly different. Because I'm blogging, I'm a bit more connected to the world. OK, I'm really connected to the world. Thus, I knew the Super Bowl was today, and I even knew what teams were playing (to my wife's surprise).

However, blogging leads me to make a new and different observation today. The blogosphere has been really quiet. Yeah, it's a Sunday. Bloggers usually slow down on the weekends in general. But this is much more pronounced than a normal weekend blogging hiatus.

Weirdly, my quiet feed reader today reminds me of this last Christmas. In fact, I think there was more activity on Christmas day than this Super Bowl Sunday. I don't know of an empirical way to measure that, but it would be fascinating.

I don't quite know what this says. Maybe more bloggers are football fans than Christians. Who knows.

Do you have any thoughts on this?