Instant Gratification and Mindfulness
Jack Crabtree
Helping others be their best - Consultant - Writer - Project Manager - Human
Thought of the Day: 06-03-2024 (Frameworks and Perspective)
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"The journey of a thousand miles,
begins with ten thousand steps on day one"
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Wait a second, that doesn’t seem right
And there is good reason for that….
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Yesterday I posted about the idea of the quick fix
How so much of life seems to be built around instant gratification
(Here is a reference to The Quick Fix)
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How often we find ourselves demanding something,
the instant we realize we want it
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We are all guilty of it
And very often we don’t even realize it’s happening
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Our expectations for an immediate boost of dopamine,
have become conditioned into our lives
without us even realizing it
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Thankfully, we have ability to catch ourselves
To become more aware of that conditioning
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Mindfulness is defined by Merriam-Webster as:
“the practice of maintaining a nonjudgmental state of heightened or complete awareness of one's thoughts, emotions, or experiences on a moment-to-moment basis”
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Mindfulness, in a sense, slows down everything that seems to be happening all at once
And believe it or not, when I first tried practicing it
I was very annoyed that it did not immediately solve all of my problems
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To be honest, I like I didn't know what I was doing
I had no idea what “being mindful” was really supposed to feel like
And in an ironic twist, I was craving the instant gratification and a quick fix!
Mindfulness allows us to catch ourselves in our own thinking
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When someone cuts in front of you in heavy traffic
Your first instinct might be to honk, yell, and even send the other driver a not-so-friendly hand gesture
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That is a quick, instinctive reaction
But in the seconds following, perhaps you catch yourself:
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“Wow, that guy really pissed me off”
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“I feel angry because others don’t drive with any consideration”
“Wow, my heart feels like it is racing”
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These self dialogue sound silly, but it makes an enormous difference in how we move forward from that situation?
When we are aware of what we are feeling, we are so much more open to changing it
To accepting it, to giving ourselves compassion for it
And this allows us to embrace the present moment, rather than fighting it
It also gives up the opportunity to move on from the feelings and states that don’t serve us
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It is a habit that takes time, but instant gratification isn’t what we are after
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Catching ourselves when want something right away,
gives us the opportunity to ask
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“Is it really best for me to get what I want right away?”
“I know I'm craving this in this present moment”
“But perhaps it may be best to consider how I’d feel with more time”
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The awareness of how we are feeling,
gives us the opportunity to respond differently
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Maybe a home cooked meal would feel better than Uber Eats
Maybe watching Netflix isn’t what I need, what about that book I wanted to start
I really wish he/she would stop complaining, but maybe what my partner really needs me to listen and try to better understand is
Maybe that's actually what I really need
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Instant gratification on its own isn’t the enemy
In so many ways, it allows society to evolve
And gives us the opportunity to better allocate our time
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But with so much instant gratification in today’s society
We need to balance it with mindfulness
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And in doing so, we take back the agency to our own responses
We live our lives with a large dose of intention
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"The journey of a thousand miles,
begins with conscious awareness that we need to take the first step”
If you've found this perspective helpful, please share it with a friend