Stuff stuff stuff. Fill Fill Fill. 10 steps to being more productive. The 5 things you should be doing before breakfast! HOW TO LEARN FASTER AND BE MORE PRODUCTIVE.
GAH! Read all the things!
For some reason, we think the fastest way to grow in insight and knowledge is to fill up all the minute cracks of the day with information. Ever heard of the Strengths Finder test? After being required to take it in college, I learned that one of my top five strengths was something called Input. This means you do not want me to visit a museum with you unless you plan on spending the entire day there.
PACK A SNACK.
Living in the information age with an information portal (what laymen refer to as a phone) is a daily battle in balance and self regulation for me. This is strangely easier now that I have twin toddlers.
TIME. MY P-R-E-C-I-O-U-S TIME. (Gollum, anyone?)
So it was timely when I was recently struck - wa-BAM! - by a Bible verse (Psalm 119:15):
I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.
The Bible has a lot to say about meditation. And like everything else we do, we are meant to do this with purpose. We are advised to "take our thoughts captive" and think about "whatever is true, admirable, and lovely." There is no sitting around trying to empty our minds, for true meditation is very intentional. And highly beneficial in turning that ship around.
For me, emptying my mind means following a rabbit trail of links, or YouTube videos, or watching Netflix at the end of the day. Nothing wrong with relaxing, but I happened to read this Bible verse during the first nap time in quite a while that I'd used to just sit and ponder some Scripture. There's always a million little things I feel I need to be doing with my time (or just want to do), and surfing the net for answers (or just entertainment) only serves to amp up the clutter and stress some days. I forget to just enjoy these fleeting hours. To play with, instead of just manage, my little ones. To observe and soak in instead of rushing to learn the next bit of information.
To fill my proverbial jar with the rocks then the sand...not the other way around. I guess what I'm trying to say is that meditation seems to me to be beneficial - no, completely necessary in this Information Age - on keeping our eyes fixed on the finish line.
On what really matters.
On what five things we really should be doing before breakfast.