Thich Nhat Hanh opens his book How to Sit with this simple line. It requires an entire page yet is written in normal font size. I imagine he wants me to spend some time here before turning the page, and so I will.
Do I understand what Thich is saying to me? I believe so, yes. I am not certain I am at all practiced in actually following the guidance, but I do understand it. I know am I not alone in my struggle to overcome distraction-based living. It seems I am never doing just one thing at a time – at least for longer than a few seconds. My eyes and my mind bounce from one thing to another all throughout my conscious days.
Do I fundamentally agree with the guidance Thich gives here? Yes, wholeheartedly… Early on in my career in software support, I bought into the supposed value of multi-tasking – and my job for the last 20+ years has been to be available to jump into whatever the current trouble is and find a way out of it. I regularly have 3-5+ chat conversations going on at the same time for different problem scenarios… it is becoming more difficult the keep up the longer I try to keep this going.
“Multi-tasking is merely practicing distraction. Distraction is bad for your brain… practice focus instead.” ~Someone Once Said
So as I begin this new study project – I appreciate that Thich has called me to first stop doing all the other things. To shut down the distractions and all the notifications and all the noises and all the enchantments to somewhere besides where I am.
When I begin my taiji practice this morning, I shall take a moments pause to ensure I have truly stopped the other things I was doing. Far too often, my form practice is not done well. Sure it may look the same as any other day, but my mind was elsewhere – doing other things, getting ready for work, getting ready for the weekend, or some other task. Tai chi is not something one can do mindlessly – it must be the one thing I am doing else the mind-body benefits of my practice are lost.
Thank you for your attention today. I hope to earn your appreciation.