How To Break Your Phone Addiction

I have to share this experience that I had while I was eating my lunch on Sunday. The reason that I feel I have to share it with you is that insight taught me so many things that I am sure you will relate to in your life.

It’s ok though, you and I aren’t alone. I am seeing the same thing everywhere and it’s a chronic disease! I call it the Distraction Disease and I tell you, this thing is contagious and spreading like another global viral bug.

So there I was, eating my lunch on a nice lazy Sunday afternoon. I was pushing the food into my mouth and scrolling through the news feeds on Facebook on my iPhone while I was eating. It’s not often I have time to go through the feeds but thought since I am just sitting there, I may as well see what everyone was up to.

I read about how someone was going to the markets to buy groceries in their new boots, how someone had just moved house and loved their new premises, and how someone’s daughter had just played a piano piece. On and on it went….through the news feed I devoured this information while I was shoveling food into my mouth.

And then it happened…I paused, took a breath, then looked up from the Facebook page. I was amazed at what I saw. There before me was a stunning site. You see I live on a hill and have this stunning view over the city of Sydney. The city was covered in clouds and my rooftop garden that I looked across was lush and wet. The water on Sydney harbour was steely grey and very still.

It was one of these dreamy days where the air is warm and thick, but it was rainy and grey. There wasn’t a breath of wind outside and I could hear the drops falling on my tin roof.

How could I have been ignoring this?? Then it also dawned on me as my senses started to awaken, that I had also been ignoring the incredible food that I had cooked and was eating. I didn’t even know what it tasted like I was so distracted. So I stopped, I regathered and went through my five senses. What was I tasting, seeing, touching, smelling and hearing?

Mmm…yes! There was so much beauty around me but I had temporarily caught the Distraction Disease and wasn’t taking it all in. Now after pausing and re-grouping I became present again. The food tasted so much better, I felt calmer and more engaged in the now. I could feel the food nourishing me, I delighted in the sounds of nature dropping on my roof and the sight of the clouds floating by. Bliss filled me. I was aligned again.

Here are 5 tips on how to shake off the Distraction Contagion:

1. Above all, meditate! Meditation helps you be more present throughout the day. It also trains you to observe your mind rather than BE your mind. I recommend 2 meditations per day for 20 minutes each. Click here if you want to learn to meditate deeply.

2. Yoga. 1 – 2 yoga classes a week is a really good way to align your breath, mind and body into one unified present experience. Forget if you can touch your toes or not, who cares! It’s all about if your mind, body and breath are connected. If you're in lockdown, there are great classes online now or on You Tube.

3. When eating put away all technology. If it’s there at the table, the sweet lure of information will suck you in easily.

4. One screen policy. In our house, we have a one-screen policy. Ie. No iPods, iPhones or laptops while watching TV or any other double or triple combinations of screening!

5. Conscious Nature Walks. It doesn’t matter where you live you should be able to find somewhere that you can take a slow conscious walk amongst nature. Even if it is a local park. Stop, look at a leaf, smell a flower, watch an ant, feel the breeze or look at the clouds.

The Distraction Contagion is an epidemic now. But avoid catching it if you follow these 5 steps above. As we mentioned, meditation will help a lot with this.?I’ve been teaching meditation for many years now and still to this day I love watching someone transform through the power of stillness. You may not have discovered the very real benefits of meditation yet??Or maybe you’ve been meditating for a while now, and would like to take it to a new level, or have someone guide you?

If that’s you, then you’d?really love our 21 Days to Faster Deeper Bliss program.?This has over 25 years of my experience studying meditation, all condensed into an easy, simple and effective daily program that guarantees to have you experiencing the deep and proven benefits of meditation within just 21 days … in fact you’ll notice the benefits much sooner.

We’ve helped thousands of people and I’m sure that we can help you also. Here is the link for it.