Compression to Decompression

I have a way "multitasking," on a regular basis in my life. The general idea has been to prioritize and compress as many activities and responsibilities as possible into each day. In this way I feel like I've been very efficient, good employee and friend. In a certain sense, I lived and died by my "Things," task scheduler/organizer. I've been very faithful to the GTD (Getting Things Done) way of life. In truth is really has helped me out a lot, but I've noticed something interesting along the way.

As my life is filed with so many tasks and responsibilities, I've noticed what one might call "over-compression." We sometimes have too much activity to genuinely feel our moments. On top of this, just because I've been come hyper-efficient does not necessarily equal being "hyper-effective." And to be brutality honest, it doesn't always equate in to "High-quality," moments or outcomes. All the activity and task compression really means is we're just very, very busy.

The above being said, I'm making efforts to decompress certain area's of my life. When Deb and I are talking, I turn off the TV, drop the book or close the computer. When I'm with the kids, I'm with the kids and no iPhones are allowed. When I'm doing Zazen and someone calls, I don't answer. My responsibility to myself is to feel my practice, talking removes my concentration.

Moving from compress, compress, compress to decompress has given me some interesting results. I feel like I have far less psychological indigestion. I realize I was doing a lot of sampling and checking things off a list, but not a lot of allowing myself to fully embrace and experience the moments.

I'm not sure if you've experienced the same thing. I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences. Make a comment. Decompression is vital to our psychological, physical and emotional well-being. We can definitely learn from each other.

Namaste'

Jaye Seiho Morris, Curator
digitalZENDO