December 29, 2015 – Lutsen, Minnesota

What a beautiful woman.

Even if she did just break my six hundred dollar smart phone. Which she will deny. Either way, I’m thankful that the stars aligned in such a way that I was able to have a friend, whom I met earlier this year in Crosslake, become my roommate over the winter. Not that I would be opposed to meeting someone new, but having the opportunity to further our friendship is a blessing.

And so is the loss of such an expensive piece of technology.

Do I really need a smart phone, given my current lifestyle?

How much time do I waste checking my Facebook account multiple times a day?

Watching Snapchat videos?

I have a laptop, GPS, iPod, camera… I think I can live without a smartphone. Actually, I only lived in the world of smart phones for two years before it failed me. Sure, it was extremely convenient to have all of those devices rolled into one, but at what cost? I serve people who sit across from each other at the table, looking down at their devices. Saying nothing. Engaging with no one. I have had to wait for people to remove their phones from the table (directly in front of them) so I could set their food down. That’s how attached we are to technology, and how detached we are from the present moment.

This is the world we’re living in.

Is that the kind of person that I want to be? No attention span, constantly seeking entertainment or information or status updates or funny videos or celebrity memes? Or should I strive to be a person who can muster up enough self-discipline to be whole-heartedly present in the moment when I am spending time with someone that I care about?

Time that so quickly passes us by when our minds are distracted from the present.

“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.” – Buddha