Back during in-person classes, I made a box to teach students about putting away their phones and holding on to their focus. I slapped a sign on it that said āBe Here Now.ā
The sign came home with me when I cleaned out my university office. I put it up in my home office.
Sprout came in after waking up and thought it was funny. She didnāt get why you would need to remember to be where you are.
The night before she had a hard time falling asleep, so I used that example:
āRemember how you were worried about what would happen if you couldnāt fall asleep? If you didnāt sleep at all? That was imagining the future. That wasnāt being where you were. When you lied down in bed, and closed your eyes, and snuggled Fletcher, that was remembering where you were.ā
Time is like a palimpsest. Itās easy to feel like youāre focused on the here and now, making your own mark, but the worn off impressions of the past are all around ā Your memories of another time, or someone elseās thoughts.
Sometimes I think about this bleed when Iām consuming content. If Iām actively engaged, it still feels like being in the present moment. Iām interpreting what Iām seeing/hearing/reading in the present moment.
If Iām just scrolling and falling down rabbit holes, someone elseās thoughts are in the driverās seat. Iām in their moment.
It feels like waking from a fugue state, realizing how far Iāve gotten from what I set out to do.
Part of me beats myself up for not using the tools I have to help block that kind of unthinking action. Part of me knows itās hard to fight the wiring in my brain, and I should be gentle with myself.
And I take into account how many platforms are designed to be addictive. They have more time and people figuring out how to claim my attention than I have to counter their work.
Single-screening helps ā The revolutionary idea that if Iām watching something on one screen, I should put away other devices.
Thereās a long list of tools and hacks and tactics that can help when trying to use an internet connected device that can show you just about anything at any moment.
There are plenty of lists and articles about them, often designed to send you down a fiddley rabbit hole of lifehacking and perfectionism. People claiming to have a solution using the same tools as the problem they say they want to solve.
So I wonāt try to do that.
Iāve got a sign in my office.
Itās low-tech assistance for what feels like a high-tech problem, but itās just a reboot of the same story. Another layer on the parchment, rewritten over the old.
How do I do the work in front of me at this moment? How do I trust this moment is a good moment? How do I stay here, and appreciate it?