Blissfully Unaware

 

Here I am. At the top of this rock. Staring into thin air. The sights in front of me is all a need. A breath of fresh air. Down on the hill below people are talking. I'm not sure about what. Politics? Family? News? TV? All of the Above? There's a freedom in not knowing or at least not wanting to know. Everyday it seems we are bombarded with content and imagery. A collage of distraction that steers us into different emotional directions. Really gets a rile out of us sometimes. But isn't that the point?

You can only fit so much into that head of yours. And at what cost?

How hard is it for us to just sit down? With no phone, no book, nothing to distract us. In a mostly empty room. Of course we may get hit with discomfort if we are so used to distracting our minds on a daily basis. It's a foreign experience to just sit with nothing to let our minds wander too. It stings at first. We feel it in our bodies. We start to notice our breath and our dirty fingernails. Thoughts start to arise. Did you take out the trash? When was the last time you got a haircut? What sounds good for dinner tonight? All popping up in your mind as if it was being fed to you from the ether. Then you start to talk to yourself in your head. You engage with those thoughts. You entertain them with curious delight. It's not so bad once you get over the first moments of discomfort of not having anything to distract you. 

What if we were to not keep up with everything around us? We are pushed and pulled to pay attention to all the "current events" that transpire around us. We almost feel like we have a sense of obligation to watch the news and follow the events. Would it kill us if we weren't current? Would it really be so bad if we weren't so aware of what was going on in the world around us? We may be looking at our phones and miss the two squirrels fighting outside just out of the window. We may miss the couple making out in the backseat of a car. All because we were simply trying to stay informed. To stay up to date. Do we really have to?

How much are we trying to stay informed just as a means of status or relevancy in conversation? Test yourself. There are plenty of things to think and talk about. Not all of it has to be from an endless feed or media trough.

Important information tends to come to us when we need it. A big world event happens? Well, we tend to hear it from others around us. It doesn't hurt to not stay on the ball. The places trying to rile you up tend to take you outside of your own attention. They steal your serene blissfully unaware nature and steer it into a direction so you can go about and consume more information around you. Then before you know it you are down a rabbit hole and have riled yourself up in an emotional frenzy. How exhausting. Really goes to show you...who is really in control? Do we really think we are ( at every moment )?

It seems that we are addicted to consuming in different forms. Punctuated by small moments of clarity and discomfort. Only to just go back to reading, scrolling, consuming and making a mess of how we see the world around us.

What are really missing out on and what is petty distraction? Are we merely involving our attention in current events to escape some of our own self imposed issues? It's easy to project and speak out on things that you don't have much control over. Well, you may think you are part of something bigger than yourself, but how much of that is true? How much of you is just shouting into a void? How much of you is a signal in the noise? Some of us are so eager to pick a side. We find a tribe and we get attached. Then we really feel like we are part of a bigger machine. A cog in the wheel for conduit of meaning. Then we start to lose grip of what's important. We focus so much on the outward world information that we tend to overlook the workings of our own fascinating innards. 

Emotional manipulation is what gets us humans. It tugs at our heart strings and pushes us to places that we might not normally go in a more rational state. All these external media based distractions are designed to get you to read and follow. Like flies to honey. Give them baiting headlines and appeal to emotions. Throw in some good design and merited credibility and you have yourself a manipulative marketing strategy. It starts to make sense when you take a step back. Do we really have the time or energy to invest into all these psychological and emotionally manipulative operations? Think how we could invest time and energy to things that we are passionate about. Think of the time we would save. Think of the things we could build. 

So when we really take a look in the mirror and the emotional manipulation that has unconsciously guided us in bad directions, then we can start to focus our attention on the so called smaller things around us. The things that we may overlook. How we organize our room. How we organize our free time. How we cook a meal. How we spend quality time with other people. It starts from the center and radiates outward. Sure there are terrible things going on in the world around us, but how close is it to you in how you live from day to day. Does the devious actions of a world leader on the other side of the planet really need to influence how you act in your own life? There is only so much you can control and its best to really just swim in that pool you have filled up. Change the water if you have to. Keep the leaves out. Make it look good. Even if its mostly you swimming or sitting in it. 

DG