Rushing things. Trying to check my email while rescheduling my acupuncture appointment. Not the worst thing in the world as long as I don’t press send.
I have tried to save my children from too much of this multi-tasking sound bite world too soon by trying to limit electronic games, television. My older son still insists he finds it easier to concentrate on polynomials with Pandora playing in his earphones and perhaps Facebook open and lurking behind a sheaf of other open windows to be clicked on once I leave the room.
And I, who made up the rules to protect the present – the live-in-the-moment zen path to enlightenment – find myself dropping the telephone on a friend from Canada to hand another friend who was away from home for a week his mail. Unable to connect with either of them in that traverse across the house and back, no good to anyone, including myself.
Breathe. Do one thing. Do nothing. Remember what it feels like when you can.
*a tribute to Bhanu Kapil. Just the title, not the text.
4 comments:
That seems to be this week's topic. Good luck getting everything done.
Que te rinda!
Now that I am retired, I don't need to multitask. In fact, my life tends to be boring! LOL.
I do everything leisurely. Presently, I am working on a cookbook, which I plan to publish in 2012. Lots of time!
I feel like I'm going in a million directions. I need to take your advice and regroup and just breathe again. Thank you!
My father, who lives in paradise (okay, Hawaii), has this response:
Why "save" your children from multi-tasking? It might be the most important skill they learn. Right now, I am taking care of your mother while packing up orders for the latest book while transferring a tape to a disk while answering questions from a Florida reader while finishing up a report for an Australian magazine while planning an overnight fishing trip to Honomalino for a daughter and two grandchildren while arranging for a new motor to be swapped out for my four-wheel drive boat-towing "vee-cul" (as they say in Hawaii), while organizing my next book while contemplating
what to write to a rediscovered (through Facebook) niece I haven't seen in ten years while selling fishing lures on line through my website while constructing the longest sentence you may ever read unless you read a lot of Melville, and once again taking care of your mother.
The best part? It gives you a perfect excuse not to do housework."
Of all the people I know, he needs to breathe. :-) I am heading out there tomorrow - guess I'll be the one taking over the housework!
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