“The Path to the Cottage” – oil on canvas by Barbie Dallmann
My brain is full. There are no more expansion slots available. I have a gigabyte brain in a terabyte world.
When I was little, my grandma’s phone number was four digits, which I still clearly remember: 2980. And my beloved twin cousin’s phone number was 8-2548. It was common knowledge then that human memories just couldn’t easily handle more than five numbers. Wow, has that ever changed!
This morning it was raining, and so I turned to my XBox 360 Kinect to fill my exercise requirements. Oh, but it needed to download a software update, and I was asked to enter my XBox Live Account information. I couldn’t remember it. Just how many user ID’s and passwords do I have? Two hundred and twenty-nine (yup, I counted!) Everything from on-line bill pay, credit cards, and bank accounts to Netflix, iTunes, and Amazon. I have so many accounts that I keep track of them in an old-fashioned address book, the kind I formerly used to keep track of my friends. Now I need one just to keep track of myself! What about everyone else? I leave that to my Smartphone and computer. 8-2548 has been replaced by a home phone, cell phone, email address, Facebook, Flickr, blog site, and Pintrest. I think there’s probably more.
Is it any wonder, I can’t seem to concentrate? At any given moment, I feel as though a dozen or more things need my attention. How does anyone NOT have ADD in this age of overload? My things-to-do list just hit #16, and that’s just for today. Actually, that’s just for the next 8 hours.
As the rain pours down outside, I have the urge to go back to bed, pull the covers over my head, and pretend someone else will finish the chores on my list.
That’s how it starts, isn’t it? You forget a user ID and password, and the next thing you know, you’re headed down the road to ruin. I think I’ll take a detour around this time-wasting side trip and find the path to some simple compassion.
Yes, it’s a complicated, fast-paced, information filled world. And, yes, it can feel overwhelming at times. But with a few deep breaths, a touch of self-awareness, and a desire for alignment with inner peace, I can easily come back to myself, back to what really matters. In this moment I have the power to choose my next thought, and as it says in A Course in Miracles, “I can choose peace instead of this.”
Oh, the XBox download is complete. Time to exercise!
Coach Barbie Dallmann 