“Life requires so many choices... so choose to be happy” 😊 - a random piece of paper that somebody hung on the library wall.
Today I am writing not about how happiness is a choice, but rather about the importance of being aware.
I know it’s not really all that related to choosing to be happy and so this is a stretch from the opening quote... but I think this is more important for me to write about right now and it’s something new I’ve been trying to do.
Being aware.
Like being awake… if not the same thing.
This has become harder to do. With electronics all over the place... smartphones, high tech watches... it’s hard to disconnect from all of that and just sit and think. Or just to simply sit and notice our surroundings.
Apparently, some people have an app on their phones that tells them how much time they have spent on their phones that day and how many times they looked at their social media accounts. The statistics I’ve heard are astonishing. Well, at least when I first heard the stats I thought that they were astonishing.
When I thought about it again I realized that it’s really not surprising at all. These statistics make total sense. Of course, we are spending hours on our phones. The majority of us turn to them when there is even a small moment to sit and reflect, think, ponder, or just be.
Try this: sit and think for 5 minutes. Just sit and focus on a single thing.
Can you do it?
Most people have a hard time doing this. Even just focusing on a single thought for a relatively short period of time.
If you can’t do that when you are alone, then at least do it when you are with people. Don’t look at your phone while eating with a group of people, spending time with friends and family, on a trip somewhere, or walking down the street (for safety reasons too😝). One of the saddest things I’ve seen and done is allowing quality time with people and myself to slip away from me. I let it slip away from me so easily. I didn’t even put up a fight for what I could easily have.
Anyway, the point is that we allow ourselves to be unaware of what is going on around us so much of the time because of our focus on things that have nothing to do with the present moment or even with us.
There is so much beauty in watching the world. There is so much beauty and excitement in getting to see the world through our own personal lenses- our eyes. We have so much opportunity and cannot let it go to waste.
Try the exercise I mentioned above. Try it over and over and over and over again.
Until you don't need to try anymore.