This stellar explosion is what my own universe has been like over the past many years. No real shape and lots of time and task fragmentation (but can you see the profile of a face looking to the left? I’m in there!).
The Distractions!
I’m quite distractible, thanks to generalized anxiety and my extroverted personality.
Social media, email, and my New York Times subscription turned into monsters for me. I found myself scattered all over the virtual universe in many social media groups and communities. I woke up and turned on the computer first, feeling compelled to go to news and then email, which then got me caught up in answering things, finding myself working before breakfast (ugh!).
Any kindred spirits out there?
In this new year, I’m finally building a structure that takes care of me and my responsibilities for others as well. Here’s what I do.
Sacred Connections First
As a freelance business owner, I don’t have to get up and get on the road to go to an office an hour after I wake up. I am very thankful for that. I do hope that some of what I do can be valuable for you regardless of your work/home life.
When I do wake up (usually between 5:30 and 6:30 am—because I’m old), I get some water and head up to my attic office and sacred space center.
Computers are off. I check in with the Earth Mother by looking out my window. Then I light the candles at my meditation shrine (good morning Buddha!) and on my sacred space altar where I draw cards each day. I center myself inside, tap into each chakra, making connections among them all. I pull my cards for the day to see what the energies are like, then drop out of my chair to the floor for yoga stretches as I feel the rhythm of conscious breath.
I then curl into a loose sitting position in front of my Buddha friend, and either run through some breaths and awareness meditation, or listen to a guided meditation sequence (only takes 10 to 15 minutes!).
After a trip downstairs for a small cup of coffee and loving greeting to the hubby, I turn on the computer and . . . I don’t check email! I go to my Notes app and channel a poetic message from my guides for the day. Yay, me! Then a quick check of news headlines and then email (finally). But I remember that email is a delivery system for other people’s priorities, so I use this time just to see what’s important to me and get rid of anything I can delete/archive. Then back downstairs to breakfast. A couple of hours total have passed since I awoke.
Service Mode Second
After breakfast, it’s time to return to the attic office to start creating and being of service. I respond to emails to get that out of the way (10 to 15 minutes). No more news checks, no social media checks.
I open on my calendar and start into the “real” work of the day. To further reduce distractions, I’m thinking about taking some applications off my main computer to avoid browser distractions. That’s an interesting idea! I’ll let you know in another post if that works for me. Might work for you.
The rest of my day is a mix of me time and others’ needs time. Since I sit at a computer for most of my day, I make sure to take hourly breaks, including one to take a walk with friends in the neighborhood. Highly recommended whenever and wherever possible!
Evening Input Time
My within-day breaks mean that I usually don’t leave my office until about 7:30 in the evening to have dinner (I am blessed with a retired mate who loves to cook!) and socialize with the hubby. If you do have some of my flexibility, you may still be able to give priority to self-care either first or last thing of the day or both.
Evenings are for the social media feed unless I have something business-oriented that I’ve posted earlier. I take some time to check in on friends, professional colleagues, and family. After that, it’s conversation with the hubby, or reading, and/or listening to him improvise on the piano.
That’s my daily rhythm, which does require discipline to maintain for someone as distractible as I am; I hope you gleaned some possibilities for your own practice, and I’d love to learn more about your methods for taming distraction.
Remember to breathe.