What is the hype about multi-tasking? The very premise of multi-tasking is there is not enough time in the day to do all we need to do. And to do MORE is somehow....good? In the West, buying more, having more, doing more are all valued.
So what's the problem with that?
The pain point is - we become so anxious we feel if we don't do more than one thing at a time…the world will cave in on us. Not realizing it is US perpetuating our own state of neuroticism to the point that we shrink how much time we will give ourselves before starting to freak out, completely spiraling the pattern of GET IT DONE deeper and tighter into our experience. And coping through indulgent experiences that ultimately make our bodies feel worse.
But it is not with shame we force it away. I'm not going to tell you to meditate and add YET ANOTHER THING to your checklist for the day.
Instead, find ONE MOMENT (or three) during your day that you can do ONE THING at a time. This doesn't mean you have to sit in silence on your commute home instead of getting your podcast in. Or laser focus on that 100+ person zoom meeting while resisting the urge to respond to emails coming in at rapid fire (however meetings are much more productive when people are engaged - that's another topic). Let's focus on something more simple. Basic. Air, water, and earth.
Here are 3 categories to start with: breathing, eating, and drinking.
Breathing: we foremost must have breath to live. For one breath a day, let that breath be the only you do for that breath. Feel the air deliciously fill your lungs, facilitating incredible physiological responses in your body that keep you alive and awake. Enjoy the abundance of that breath. The energy you gain by breathing in and the tension you release by breathing out. That's it!
Drinking: allow water to cue you to do one thing at a time. It could be taking a drink, washing your hands, washing the dishes, taking a shower, walking in the rain. Notice the soothing effect of water on your psyche. After all, we are all majority water with naturally flowing rivers, streams, oceans of life within us at all times. Connect in with this life force.
Eating: at least one bit you take, let eating be the only thing you do. Let the movement of hand to mouth fill your awareness, the dynamic taste of food that subtly changes on the different areas of your tongue. The way it feels to swallow. The desire/intelligent instinct for another bite. The intimacy of the food traveling down your esophagus, into your belly, literally being transformed to become part of YOU. Fueling you, giving you strength and endurance, giving you the ability to move for another day.
Air, water, earth.
Breath, hydration, nourishment.
When we do one thing at a time, we remember that we have what we desire RIGHT NOW.
And what is that we all desire?
TO LIVE.
We all want to live. We get so caught up in planning for living tomorrow - or worrying about the living we missed years ago, that we forget we have what we are looking for IN THIS MOMENT. The most simple of reminders we are alive can bring mysterious joy.
It is too simple for the intellect to want to believe, so this is a practice that MUST BE EXPERIENCED even more so than understood.
Try it. 3 actions a day to ONLY do that thing. One breath, one drink, one bite. Become so fully aware of that one thing that time expands.
As you begin to do one thing at a time, you become wise about what it means to live. Your compassion grows. Your vibrance increases. You become a spring flower for everyone you come into contact with. You understand intellectually how interconnected we are. You feel deeply the truth of that interconnection and with compassion see how you were confused about loneliness. You want to comfort that past self that was living in paradise with a cardboard box on her head. But the box is off and you are here. Remembering you just wanted to know what it was like to breathe, to feel, to see oneself. To behold.
You start…by doing one thing at a time.
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