Most of my friends are at getting ready to leave the ISTE 2010 Conference in DENver, CO. Since I could not attend, I followed them on my social networks to get a pulse of what they were absorbing and the fun they were having. Wish I were there. One of the tweets I noticed about growing the movement initially I misread as growing the moment. During my AM routine on The Farm, I gave much thought to the misread. How do you grow a moment? I have written about living fully-freighted inside moments, and I understand the metaphor. Engage fully, really live, sensory participation, enjoyment, fulfillment. But growing a moment or moments may be another thing entirely.
I suspect it has a lot to do with removing stressors from our lives, and that is a cultural shift difficult to make. Everyone I know is frightfully busy, multitasking themselves (eventually) into some illness, short or long-lived. We value engagement as an indicator of self-esteem, as part of an ethos that makes us and our country great. If we are busy, we must be productive. Fallacious thinking. Busy is just busy; getting something done is different. I am not advocating Zen Buddhism or an effort to achieve nirvana. But I am questioning my approach to life and comparing now to then, and of course, the difference is exponential. Although I am not abrogating my responsibilities, I am re-thinking them. That's very easy to do when you are not driven by anyone else's bells and whistles. I can grow moments of doing what I love, selecting the sequence, time allocations, priorities. And because I can control these factors, I can live in and grow moments. Indefinitely.
But if true balance is the goal, then I need a huge cultural shift from doing too much to doing what is possible, and that includes the workforce. Alpha overachievers need constant reminders to live inside the possible, and to say no. Saying no goes against my grain, but I am learning, and as I do, I begin to live within and extend the moments that truly matter in my life.The Farm
Philosophy
ISTE10
Stress
Wellness
Changing Lifestyles
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