“Absolutely nothing that humanity can create will improve human health and longevity more than reconnecting with our mother planet and father sun.” ~Jason Bawden-Smith
Read that again… “Absolutely nothing that humanity can create will improve human health and longevity more than reconnecting with our mother planet and father sun.” ~Jason Bawden-Smith
Absolutely nothing….that we can come up with will improve our health and quality of life more than reconnecting with the nature….
Another translation, “stop and smell the flowers”.
But to REconnect, I first need to have a daily practice of disconnecting….So, what does that mean?
In our busy lives, which seem to get busier by the day, I knew I needed to build in a regular routine, especially because technology beacons me to keep up with the unending emails and assignment deadlines. But alas, what is suppose to save me time, can rob me of true quality of life.
Yet, I am not blaming technology….
Am I the one steering my life? or am I allowing life to steer me??
Much of the time in the past I was not conscious enough to even ask that question.
But guess what? Once we are aware, then we can set an intention to change that. I just needed to take practical action steps to make it real in my experience.
It needed to become just as routine as my old habit had been and it just takes practice to create a new habit.
I had to decide not to let old habits sabotage my plan.
So, what to do first….
Write it down…..you’ve probably heard that before…well, that truly is a powerful first step to making it happen.
Then I put it on my calendar. I schedule everything else in my life, why don’t I schedule time for me? If I truly matter, why am I not on the calendar? All my other “important” things are scheduled.
The routine maintenance of my car is very important to me to prevent a costly breakdown. But when it comes to my time, it is too easy to take another 10 mins on the computer or my phone, trying to “catch up”, which can end up robbing me of my personal “maintenance reboot” time. This habit can lead to a “costly breakdown” that can take it’s toll on our health and wellness.
When we truly “get this”, it will transform our lives for the better.
I learned from my daughter how important it is to also schedule, “unstructured time”, where you don’t have to do anything. You can just “Be”. So that doesn’t mean choosing to be with my phone on facebook or other phone time.
This can gradually help us to live more in the moment as we move through the rest of our day.
This is not just about managing our time. More and more articles are appearing, concerned about the risks of over exposure to EMF pollution from cell phone towers, electronic devices, smart meters, and especially cell phones. Have you ever heard of a “cancer cluster”?. Do some research and learn how to protect yourself and your children who are even more venerable.
Can you hear nature calling? Every morning I wake up to birds singing right outside my window….but some mornings I don’t even hear them because I am already so busy in my head. Sound familiar?
We all could benefit from practicing connecting with nature on a routine basis.
So here are some steps and ideas:
1. Number 1 on my list is Grow a garden (are you surprised? LOL!) Grow something right outside your door, so that in your coming and going you can get a regular nature fix. Stop and smell the flowers, spend a brief time watering and observing the magic going on in the garden. Pick a flower or fruit and bring nature into your house! Take a break from your phone and leave it inside!
2. Schedule a window of time, 1 or 2 hrs daily that you will not check your phone to answer text and voicemail. Or plan a certain time of the day to return calls and answer emails etc. This will help change your mindless habit of checking your phone every few minutes or every time it sounds an alert. (No wonder adrenal exhaustion is so prevalent!) Turn it off so you are not tempted or set it to airplane mode to also reduce EMF exposure.
3. Plan for a half or full day of no technology every week. True story: Whenever we go camping in the Sierra Mountains of California in the summer, our phones are not be able to get a signal because we are so in the “wild”. We just turned off our phones and put them away all weekend. What is funny is, on the way back down the mountain, all our phones start going off ding, ding ding, ding, over and over with download of messages we were not able to get on the mountain! I love those times of “forced tech detox and decided to schedule voluntary times into my life.
4. Plan a “Re-Boot” Garden Party and invite your friends! Have your friends “check” their phone at the door, by putting it in airplane mode or turn it off. Everyone will enjoy some real, uninterrupted “face time” with the group. Plan some stimulating topics of conversation to pull out of the hat and/or mixer, team games and of course some great food from the garden. Maybe even have a cooking party!