Turning My Phone Detox Into Joy
My friend Rebecca asked if I was enjoying my freedom from my phone?
If you’ve been following this story, I am between phone companies. For the full story, see my blog post on, “Finding Peace During One of Those Weeks,” you can find the link by clicking here.
Honestly, I thought it would be really hard for me to live without my phone, I do have loaner phone for just in case of emergencies, but no text, no social media, no apps.
A few days later, I was telling my friend Marjorie at yoga, I think my mindfulness training has surprisingly really helped me not to be attached to my phone. Instead of agonizing being without a phone, which is our normal ego default system, what we learn through a mindfulness practice, is how we create our own suffering. Rather than suffering from this experiences, I am trying to find the joy in it. We think venting releases our stress, but really it just keeps us in the same vicious cycle of “why is this happening to me?” and “This shouldn’t be happening to me” and “I am the victim here,” so the next time something happens, we go back into the same cycle of thinking, “why is this happening to me?” and “This shouldn’t be happening to me” and “I am the victim here,” and we do this to ourselves. Mindfulness help us to become aware of when we are creating our own suffering, and it also teaches how not to be attached to material things and the ups and down of life but riding with the current of the ebbs and flow of life.
Friends were telling me where to get a temp phone, but I guess that depends on my addiction or on necessity. Right now, I’m fine with my loaner phone for emergencies. My clients and business partners mostly email me, plus I work from home, where I have a hard line phone there. I also kind of want to see how I well I do on this phone detox challenge The Universe has put me on!
After yoga the other night, I stopped at one of my favorite Chinese restaurants along the bay and ordered steamed veggies with brown rice. Instead of agonizing over not having my phone during the 15 minute wait, mindfulness taught me to take time to enjoy the present moment. Instead of scanning social media, I watched how fish interacted with each other in the restaurant's aquarium, something I’ve never really paid attention to before, and I looked out the window and watched the bridge all lit up at night and the glistening water below.. I love New York City bridges. I thought how blessed I was to live in a neighborhood and city I love so much, something I would not have gotten in that moment if I were scanning my phone.
Mind you, I’m only on day five, so we’ll see how long this detox lasts and how well I do.
I blog about being a human finding peace, love and joy in this world.
Stay tuned...
~ Namaste Loves, Peace