Haiku 2023–306

technology fills

modern American life

too many inputs

— —

Again, this haiku is not so much inspirational as aspirational… or perhaps accusatorial. I could pull so many threads to explain this one, but I shall ‘drive all blames into one’ (a “lojong slogan” from Tibetan Buddhism) and start with me.

I am overstimulated — not a little bit, a lot. My life teems with noises or flashes of light or words on a screen that tear me away from the moment I’m in. My thinking brain would like to stop this, but sometimes my thinking brain isn’t in charge. Here are a few examples of how this has affected me.

I missed an important point in a meeting yesterday because I just could not ignore an incoming phone call that had nothing to do with the matter at hand.

I missed another point in the same meeting because I was busy reading an email.

I read a single email dozens of times yesterday before I acted on it because I kept reading new emails that came in instead.

I spent less time reading a book on meditation than I intended to because I could not tear myself away from doomscrolling on X.

I could go on, but you get the idea.

As they say in 12-step, the first step to solving a problem is to admit you have a problem. I admit it, I do have a problem. The second step is to believe a power greater than yourself can restore you to sanity. If you were looking on a map of my life, this is where you will find my ‘you are here’ arrow.

Ironically, the power greater than myself can be found within myself through meditation.

Institutions both religious and secular point towards the power of meditation to quiet the mind and focus on what’s important. Most of them center on the breath — something that’s ever present and we can’t live without. Whenever I find my mind wandering, I concentrate on my breath and refocus on the inputs that matter, not the ones who don’t.

Does it work? Not always… at least not yet. That’s why meditation is a practice — something I will work for a lifetime towards getting right.