Are Distractions Distracting You?
Reading Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations is a good reminder that the basic human experience has not and will not change. Here is one of the most powerful men of the second century reminding and challenging himself of things that sound familiar to life here in the twenty-first century. Take the following passage for instance.
“Throw away your books; stop letting yourself be distracted…Stop allowing your mind to be a slave, to be jerked about by selfish impulses, to kick against fate and the present, and to mistrust the future.” Meditations 2:2
Marcus was a lifelong student. Books were a great source of learning and growth for Marcus, and he recognized that a good thing like reading can be an obstacle when you choose to be distracted by it rather than doing what needs to be done. Live in the present, accept what is, work to understand what is next, and then do it.
Marcus outlines three areas of life that need closer examination when you allow distractions like streaming and scrolling to take hold in your life.
- Selfish Impulses. Those impulses and rationalizations that keep you from doing what needs to be done, addressing what needs to be addressed, and growing into the person and purpose you are designed to become.
- Resistance to What Is. Rather than accepting what is, you embrace distractions to avoid living in the present. Ignorance is not bliss. The only way to experience moving forward is to accept what is and work toward what is next.
- Fear of the Future. It’s hard to move forward when you’re afraid of what is next. Distractions may keep certain thoughts at bay, but they won’t keep what is next from happening. Living wisely in the present protects you in the future.
Where are the distractions in your life that are more than just “for entertainment purposes only”?