There is an acute skill required to be fully present – to truly notice things like the shape of the shadows that the tree leaves on the sidewalk, or the way the sun glows through the layer of clouds in the morning. When we rush through each day, constantly checking our clocks and reciting affirmations like “two more hours,” it is easy to miss these details and feel like we are being left behind by a world that seems to be spinning faster each week. But when we can slow down and practice the careful act of presence, we can be instead of simply exist.Â
When everyday life gets consumed by a constant buzz, practicing this presence can be especially difficult. When I am walking to class, for example, I am distracted by the music rumbling in my headphones. Before I go to bed each night, my fingers scroll through the day’s Instagram feed. Even when I am doing “nothing,” I still seem to occupy my mind with looming to-do lists and forecasted text messages.Â
We are often victims of using our all-too-available access to constant stimulation in an effort to pass the time or distract ourselves. This overwhelming flow of short-form content on social media platforms has created this need to “escape” into the digital world, mindlessly scrolling through the endless supply of TikTok videos when we need something to do.Â
After the culmination of this “doom scrolling,” however, satisfaction is limited. When I finally put down my phone, I find that I cannot pick out any of the information from the pool of content I just swam through. It’s impossible to really digest all of this media, so instead, we float on the surface of seemingly important or meaningful material. This is not to say that meaningful material doesn’t exist on social media, but one of the main attractions of the content we see online isn’t necessarily the quality of it, but rather its mere abundance.Â
In a poetry course I took last year, we were tasked with keeping an “observation list,” which seemed simple enough: every day, we must record one outstanding detail that we perceived, paying close attention to the five senses. With a newly created notes document in my phone, I felt adequately prepared for the assignment. Similar to scrolling online, however, upon returning from my first day of so-called observing, I realized that I could not recall a single exceptional detail from my day besides the usual sequence of get up, go to class, remember to eat, go to work, and go home.Â
Actually observing your surroundings and being truly present takes a lot of effort, especially in a culture that expects constant productivity and provides infinite digital consumption. Over the course of the quarter, however, I made an intentional effort to avoid fixating on the chores that lie ahead and stopped looking for an internet escape. Instead, I paid closer attention to the here and now, and, eventually, logging my observation folder became a part of my daily ritual. Some of my favorites from that list include the little details that easily slip away from our preoccupied senses:
“The girl’s pinky finger sticking out of the hand-holding bond,”
“The tulips on the kitchen counter have begun to droop, their heads too heavy for their stems,”
“For the entirety of my bus ride, the man didn’t look up from his novel even once.”
We can also go beyond being a closer observer-of-life. There are many physical and practical ways to be present throughout your day that can ease the inclination to plunge into the on-screen reservoir. Just a few of these ways include:
- Exercising your hands (instead of your fingers) with the act of making–painting, drawing, scrapbooking, crocheting
- Reading a book during those little pockets of free time
- Spending time outside and pausing in the fresh air
- Journaling to give your emotions an outlet instead of diverging from those feelings with social media
- Being bored!–sitting with the silence and stillness that arises in the absence of occupation
It is a privilege to have the time and consistency to practice this sort of presence, but even those little moments of attention can help us disconnect and slow down within the chaos of daily life.