Dialing down the distractions

It’s not every day we can disconnect to reconnect, but there are ways we may tune out the interruptions we have control over. For instance, if Facebook is a constant distraction while working on the computer, close it out until you’re ready to take a break. If email and instant messaging are time-stealers, carve out space to chat when you’ve accomplished what you committed to do. And the distractions we don’t have control over can serve to teach us self-control. In yoga, practitioners stare at their reflection for 90 minutes in a hot room. We’re instructed to acknowledge and then to let go of any discomfort or emotion, and to focus on our breathing. This keeps us in the moment. There will always be distractions—whether an emergency, or an unexpected visit or phone call or an itch that begs to be scratched—but if we are mindful with our time, remain flexible and breathe, everything will get accomplished.

How do you keep the distractions at a minimum?

[Image credit Salvatore Vuono and freedigitalphotos.net]

No better time than the present

[Image credit: luigi diamanti]

Last week a friend of mine was looking for something to do.  She and I attended college together and shared several of the same writing classes, so my natural inclination was to suggest she write a story.  As soon as I posted my idea on her Facebook page, I asked myself why I wasn’t doing that very thing.  Yes, my fingers are already dipped in a few literary pots, but one of my goals for 2012 is to write a short story from start to finish.  What better time than the present?  So I sat down at my laptop, and, in what felt like mere minutes, I had a beginning, middle and end on the screen in front of me.  Granted, the piece still needs work: the characters require fleshing out, the setting lacks colorful description and there may be too much or too little white space.  What matters more than what needs to be done, however, is what I’ve already accomplished.  For some, the rewrites and edits are the hardest part, yet I feel like I already battled my demons, and now comes the fun part: bringing the story to life for the reader.

Is there something calling your name in the present that you’re ignoring?