The Power of Disconnecting

I still do errands for my adult kids when it makes sense.  My son needed a new gripper for his curling shoes and I popped into the shop while I was working in Peterborough one day.  I took the old gripper so that I would be sure to get the right style and size.  The salesperson offered to help and I explained my simple task.  When she looked at the old gripper and where it had broken down she asked if it was stored on the shoe or off.  I said that it was kept on the shoe in the curling bag.  She then advised that it is not meant to be stretched on the shoe all the time, when not in use it should be stored separately so that the rubber does not break down.  This, I think, is good advice for curlers, but perhaps even better advice for all of us.  We are not build to stay on duty, connected, up to date on the breaking news, linked to social media and working away all the time.  Being stretched that way will of course cause the kind of fatigue that broke the rubber gripper.  I recently read that our brains are basically wired to find berries and keep warm and now we are inundating ourselves with news and emotions from around the world all the time.  Our brains are stretched.  Its a tall order to just say, well lets rest, lets unwind, lets unplug.  We are all dependent on our phones, on the connection and we are a little addicted to the sound bytes of tik tok or other clips that fill the gaps in our down time.  

Perhaps all we can do is take the sound advice of the curling shopkeeper, when not in use, rest.  Take a few moments to be completely unconnected, take a few moments to mindfully look all around and see what is there, intentionally find a small dark curling bag like get away to rest in as much as possible.  Lots of people feel that in this fast paced world the kind of slow pace of the past is impossible, and I know that in my circles we are certainly packing our days.  I guess mostly I am thinking about a knowing and understanding that we are going to break down if not allowed off the curling shoe, so I think the goal is to find a few gaps and spaces to just rest, off duty, unconnected, off the shoe.