One Pointed Focus- in this day and age

I have a list. I make one to remember what I need to do (my distracted brain can often forget that critical item that woke me up at 3am. I have to write it down.) I also write a list to consciously evaluate my priorities through the day. Pop ups and "things that take longer than assumed" may make a right mess of what I hoped to get done.

But I also do this: I do two things at once (not something like walking and listening to music, a presentation, or talking with a friend) but jumping between screens, between actual research and mindless wandering after links and likes.

In this process I do two things: I fritter away time that I would pay money for at 4:30 when there are still tasks and jobs to do and yet the evening routine calls to me. I have mindlessly "wasted" my time. I can also stir up feelings: anxiety, loss, despair, impotent rage, or a sense of lack as I compare myself, a sense of being left out, a sense of uselessness as I view the works of others. Loss of time and de-centered comparison are only a couple of the dangers.

Unpacking Clark Strand's quote below there are other issues with this gadget- amor and obsession which I will address in another post but for today ONE THING AT A TIME. Rather than bounce moment to moment between screens (screams) of news, gadgets, videos, people; and curated lists of news, gadgets, videos and people- take a long look and leave it. Go on to ONE POINTED FOCUS and practice the discipline of doing one thing at a time; the yoga discipline of dharana.

There's a tension between the part of us that wants to move along at speed, infatuated with our ever-proliferating array of screens and gadgets, and the part of us that deeply hates them, too. There's the part that doesn't want to be bothered with other people's lives and is therefore comfortable with the false proximity that social media affords. But there's also the part that is heartbroken at the loneliness and isolation of the life we are living—the part that requires medication and constant distraction just to endure it. - Clark Strand, "A Gleeful Foreboding" Kyczy Hawk RYT E-500 Author of “Yoga and the Twelve Step Path” , “Life in Bite-Sized Morsels” and “From Burnout to Balance” she continues to submit articles to recovery and yoga oriented publications. She is currently completing her next book for Central Recovery Press:”A Yogic Guide Through The Steps”. Kyczy has been teaching recovery focused yoga classes since 2008.  Taking the foundation of a traditional yoga training she received from the Lotus Yoga Teacher Association (of the Himalayan Yoga Institute), she has combined the wisdom and inspiration from other teachers along the way creating S.O.A.R.™ a program to help prepare yoga teachers to bring the practice to people in recovery.   You can join Kyczy and a host of other people in recovery every Sunday morning at 8am PT (11 am ET) on In The Rooms for the Yoga Recovery meeting. Kyczy is very proud of her family; husband, kids, and grandkids, all who amaze her in unique and wonderful ways. More about her work can be found at www.yogarecovery.com.