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Cultivating Every Day Intimacy In The Age of Distraction
Being present is the first step of the dance
It’s harder than ever to connect to human beings. Our attention is scattered out in all directions like dandelion seeds pulled away by constant gusts of interruption.
Connecting to someone is difficult, also, because in the era of instant communication, we don’t communicate. We really don’t. It is far more common to just leave messages for one another. Often, the intent is for a later connection, but these too, routinely slip away.
There is a distant tune playing in the back of our minds, a melodic lure to deeper connection and meaning, but it is so easy to ignore when there are texts — or almost anything else — waiting to grab your attention.
A friend of ours builds tiny homes. We have been on and off interested in buying one. I realized with a start the other day that I had told Boyd that we would stop by and see his latest creation on Sunday. I completely forgot, because Sunday was flooded out with other events, commitments, distractions, pig destruction on the farm, and just exhaustion.
This morning, I left a message conveying that I would like to try again. Perhaps leaving a message was the chickenshit way to approach it, I know that. But it’s a first step toward what…