Everyone wants a piece of me

I wake up and I look at my iPad. Drifting from Facebook to email, looking at the daily newspaper, Twitter and LinkedIn. It’s as though everyone wants a piece of me.

Except they don’t: no-one is waiting for me to give them this attention, and when I have looked and replied to something there is no interaction, no connection. Even if I “like”, share or post something it is not a real connection. And there is a fine line between communicating to serve others and wanting to impress other people.

It’s all part of a huge time sink, a place where available time slips away. We can pass through day after day in this automaton existence.

But there is another approach to the start of the day – a morning practise:

• I awake and shower,
• then I spend seven minutes meditating (yes, just seven minutes!)
• Before I begin my meditation I do my short Buddhist practice which includes prostrations and mantras.
• Once I have meditated I take a little time to reflect on the day ahead,
• I set a good intention for the day
• and look for the Key Three things I want to achieve that day.

You’ll find loads of blogs talking about morning rituals to start the day well. What matters most is that you set the clear intention for the day and that you have reflective quiet time so that the day starts well. Noise, particularly from social media and email, is not a good place to start.

I can tell the difference between a day that starts with intention and one that begins in the mindless interaction of online. The difference is clear as the day progresses, and is particularly easy to read at the end of the day. It’s the difference between a day of fulfilment and flow, where there is a clear sense of achievement – or a day of running to catch up, feeling out of control and as though no matter how much is achieved it is never enough.

Which do you prefer?

Also published on Medium.