Saturday, September 20, 2008

Slowing Down to Make Time

iPhones. Blackberries. Wireless e-mail. iPods. Blogs. We are inundated with devices and technical demands that make us accessible to our superiors, colleagues, clients, and customers virtually 25 hours a day. We spend hours setting up our gadgets, after which we become addicted to their beckoning lure. A recent study conducted by Sheraton Hotels found that 35% of businessmen polled found greater joy in their Blackberry than in their wives. We have obviously lost our way, and have frankly fallen into perpetual preoccupation with occupation.

Leisure time is critical for one's mental health, and working a hobby or building a collection is just the thing to place the fast lane into perspective and realize you can get where your going more safely in one of those slower lanes. We need to lose our fear of a few less dollars (or a few more hollers) and leave our devices in the car. And with that freedom, walk a little slower, make a little more eye contact with the family, and scratch out some time to grow into a quiet hobby.

We could work to keep our imaginations vivid by reading by candlelight; studying a collectible and fantasizing where it came from and what was happening around it in its own era; or spending time creating something from our own hands to later display and admire. It is from these exercises that brilliance blossoms — the new author, or authority, or artist. Or simply just a refreshed mind that becomes its own master.

Don't you think it's about time to slow down and dream a little? Life will be here when you get back.

And, regrettably, so will your vibrating Blackberry.

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