You may read this blog and see the picture of real wasabi being washed in clear water and think—ooh this is so Zen.  Or you may actually read my posts and think–err, maybe not. :).  It’s spring break and I have a little more time for personal projects with a heap of potential work (planning, grading, thinking) for school to do as well.  I am proud to say I have wasted a lot of that time on iDistraction.  Here’s how:

• I actually did do school work, reading essays and letters students wrote and shared with me on google docs.   I noticed my pulse rate increasing after the third time I noticed an un-capitalized “I” pronoun.
• I started listening to podcasts about how to improve WordPress blogs and integrate all kinds of plugins, etc.   I started to think about all  I didn’t know.  Great podcasts.  Too much information.
• Somewhere along the line I got the idea that I could convert a lot of my previous writing to Kindle and try to publish it.  I’ve some interesting interviews and I thought it would be great service to people to put it out there.  I’m embarrassed to say that a good portion of my writing is on a 2002 Gateway computer that I have held on to.   I’ve not only had to figure out how to transfer that material but also figure out how to properly format it for Kindle.
• The organization to which I applied for a grant to travel to Japan decided to tweet winning proposals every hour, in addition to mailing out snail mail notifications.   I received a grant three years ago, so it’s a long-shot, but that did nothing to settle my iDistraction.

I finally realized that I had to do something when I realized that I had children in my home.   There’s a moment when you realize that they aren’t watching television any more and have moved on to exploring flammable chemicals.  Not really but that’s what it felt like.   🙂

It’s a new day and I am not feeling so much iDistraction.  The organization is not issuing any tweets and it looks like their website has crashed.  I am not making any promises but I am aiming to do a few things that might help this iDistraction:

• set time limits on my different efforts.  Part of what I learned to do while I was on Silverspoon was do things in little bites throughout the day.  Learning Japanese is such a huge project that the idea of it all can swamp me.  But I learned to use different “time-boxes” and “chillax” periods to keep persisting without the overwhelm.
• re-read or skim Steve Chandler’s Time Warrior and Wealth Warrior.  He really writes cogently about the importance of silence, reflection, and non-overwhelm.
• Re-investigate a spiritual path, meditation, or at least go back to recording things that I am grateful for at the end of the day.   Ironically, the project I was working on was an interview on the interplay between a spiritual practice and money with Jerrold Mundis, author of How to Get Out of Debt, Stay out of Debt, and Live Prosperously. Mundis really emphasizes the importance of operating from a calm center in relationship to money:
  

  And indeed, when we are obsessed with material and wealth, acquisitiveness, craving it’s very hard to lead a spiritual life.  One can lead a spiritual life and still have material things, and still have money, but the spiritual life comes first.  And, out of that center and calmness one can use money quite healthfully and well.

I’m going to get on all of that.  After I check one more tweet.