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Sitting Idle For 10 Minutes

Seems like a tough thing to do amidst all the buzzing of apps. There is a race going on to win your attention. What if you decided to sit idle for 10 minutes and not focus on the buzzing sound.

On Notification

Your life is constantly interrupted by tons of notification. Most of the apps assume your consent as positive and yo forget to turn them off.

After some time, you have been addicted to the constant bells. A fine retro example is an email. When it was first introduced, many people were happy that they received an email. It doesn’t matter who sends them. They just wanted some unread email to be there when they open their email.

Fast forward to now, you feel overwhelmed with all the emails you receive. Many people have thousands of unread emails.

It doesn’t matter what the notification is – you just want something to see at every 5 minutes. Matters how gone far worse when you chat on the phone while ignoring a live friend in front of you.

All this because that constant message pop up is exciting to click on. For a few of the people, they are facing a new phenomenon.

Even when their phones don’t ring, they feel the sensation as if the phone had vibrated. This happens because you are anticipating the interruption. And when it doesn’t happen, you feel like there is a notification.

When in reality nothing is there. Even then, you will pick up the phone and then keep it aside. At this point, checking your phone every now and then has become a weird habit.

Boring

If your phone is snatched away from you then you will become restless. Not because you were doing something important but because you want to feel connected to the world.

Else, you would be bored. I wonder how people lived without phones and 24*7 internet connection.

One part is that they had no other way of knowing. You have access to the world, can play games and whenever you are bored – entertainment is just a click away.

So it seems difficult to just sit idle and do nothing for even 10 minutes. No one wants to get bored. You are in constant need of stimulus. One such example is how Facebook fools you to click and stay engaged.

Let’s say no has commented, liked or interacted in any way on your Facebook profile. So ideally there should be no notifications for you.

But as soon as you login the facebook, there will be 3 red notifications. And your first instinct is to click on those. After clicking it would be some news you might click or about a friend who liked someone else photo.

Nothing to do with you. But they are training you to click and feel a constant need to get interrupted.

And now you are here. Where you can’t imagine getting bored – you need something always – a movie, message or a false click.

Theory Of Relativity

In the special relativity by Einstein, he explains the concept of time dilation. You will feel the time is passing slowly when you are moving as compared to staying in one place.

Time will feel to slow down so you can feel every moment of it. And it feels scary. Next time you are on a motorcycle, watch the second hand of your wristwatch. And you can feel the time it takes to move.

Another extension of this is the observing effect when you are bored. If you are doing something which engages you then time will seem to go fast.

On the other hand, if you do something boring, then time will seem to not pass. And that triggers you to reach out and get interrupted.

The wrong thing you are doing is observing time. If you observe time then it will do its job. And you will feel the slow passage of time when bored. Instead, focus on your thought process, meditate or observe nature. You might still feel the slow passage of time. But at least, you are not merely observing time – you are doing something else to consume that time.

An Extension Of Creativity

Take this concept and flip that upside down. When you get bored the first expectation is to pick up your phone, watch a cat video or just talk to another human being.

But what if you take this opportunity to do something totally different. It will help you become a better creative person.

Sit idle in a room with no distraction. Just keep random things like balls, sticks or cloth. And let the time pass by.

If you feel bored then force yourself to do something from the things available. And you will find that you can do so much by things. Which you couldn’t when the distraction was just a click away.

By practicing this, you can unlock your creative mind. And when you come in your daily routine, you will end up functioning better.

You Don’t Miss Much, Life Goes On

Although emergencies can happen anytime. Try to shut yourself down and go and experience nature. Just for 10 minutes. Come back and you will find that life moves on.

Constantly checking facebook, twitter or youtube didn’t help you in any way. It almost feels like a foreign concept. But 20 years back, people didn’t have mobile phones, internet and entertainment 24*7.

Maybe something you do is important and add value. But the rest of the things are just a distraction.

I deleted my facebook account, deleted all the WhatsApp group I was part of. And my phone stopped buzzing. Turns out all those notifications were just a way to pass time. And nothing of significance. Out of 100 hundred people whom I talked every day, only 5 messaged me and stayed in touch.

95 other people were just doing time pass. So they moved on to something else. And my life just got better.

Try This Experiment

Sit idle for 10 minutes each day. Observe your breath, nature or just try to focus on the blood flow by massaging yourself.

Be free from the shackles for set aside time every day and you can see the things clearly. Better, you will find how much is a necessity from the distraction. So you can focus your energy more on productive things.

Chances are when sitting idle for 10 minutes you might miss the breaking news. But the possibility also exists that you will find your inner peace, your thoughts will be clarified and you will end up making better decisions. That’s a better bargain, I guess.