Why standing still for a minute became unbearable | Eckhart Tolle
Eckhart Tolle argues that constant phone-checking has made us unable to sit still, even for a minute. He suggests keeping phones out of bedrooms, setting email cut-offs at 6 or 7 pm, and using waiting moments at elevators and traffic lights to feel your breathing instead of reaching for your device.
Chapters
You let go of that so that you only look at it when you need to, but not as an automatic thing to fill every moment. That's insane, as an automatic thing to fill every moment, to look at that, and so you're never just comfortable with where you are and completely there. Keep your bedroom free of digital devices if you can. Of course, that means you'd have to buy an alarm clock if you begin then, because otherwise you need to use your smartphone to wake you up. There are some companies in Europe, I hear. And that is a good thing. They have a policy whereby they— I don't know if it's an agreement or even a technical thing they did— there's no more— you can't do any more emails after a certain time in the evening, 6 o'clock or 7 o'clock or something. No more emailing. And that's a good thing. You can do for yourself, set yourself a time limit, and in the morning too, don't wake up with looking at your emails before you get out of bed or before you have a shower. That's a— these are purely practical things, but they are important. You may have noticed that almost nobody these days sits quietly or stands somewhere without doing anything. When people are waiting for something, they have to get their phone out and look at it. You're waiting at the elevator. You're waiting at the traffic lights. You're waiting wherever you may be, at the supermarket counter. You're waiting at the airport. You're waiting. There's so much waiting that people do. And I've mentioned in The Power of Now, that was written before the arrival of smartphones that whenever you wait, use it as an opportunity for inviting presence into your life. And some waiting periods are quite short, maybe just waiting at the elevator takes half a minute or a minute, but it's amazing how many times you wait for something and this is an opportunity for just becoming present, of Your surroundings, come into the present moment, feel the inner energy field, feel yourself breathing, and feel that your own— feel your conscious presence arising in that moment of waiting. Just a moment of spacious presence. Beautiful. But nowadays almost everybody The moment they're waiting, they have to reach into their pocket and get out their phones. And so everybody who is waiting these days will be looking at their phones. There wasn't a message coming in at this moment, not even that, no, but just check to see what's going on. I don't know what they do, Facebook, Twitter, Tweets, who knows, Instagram, Snapchat— I'm not familiar with these things, I just pick them up— Instagram, Snapchat, tweets, Facebook, Tinder, and so on. So there's always something to look at, there's always something to take you out of the Completely back into the— you're back in the mind. It's the hive mind, your personal mind, so-called, linked into the hive mind. And this is something that I would suggest as a spiritual practice you let go of that so that you only look at it when You need to, but not as an automatic thing to fill every moment. That's insane, as an automatic thing to fill every moment, to look at that. And so you're never just comfortable with where you are and completely there. Never. And this No spaciousness can arise with that. So this is practical advice: you need to just engage with it when there is a real purpose. Everybody these days will be engaging with it, that's fine, but not as an automatic thing, especially when you're waiting for something. Use the precious opportunities of waiting for spaciousness, spacious presence. Thank you.