Their is so much that happens in our lives that seems by chance, random and just happens? Don’t you think?
Simplicity can be a vision for the future and if we do it consciously and by design then we can perhaps we can create a powerful transition.. The best thing we could do now is slow down, take a step backwards, pause, breathe and think and listen.. listen deeply.. And just maybe simplify?
Mid March and that Fateful Monday that our PrimeMinster announced a national lockdown, the Week that the World stood still!!! Not a single plane in the sky!! Well almost!! I spotted a Hercules flying that week!!
So much of our reality has shifted? As much as so many of us clutch to bring back a sense of normality? So much has changed and forever? Their is no reset button, not in that way!!! I pedal past County Oak Retail Park and it’s packed to the brim!!! People queuing to go in shops!! Retail therapy, a knee jerk reaction to reclaim normality? For a moment my heart sinks, Hoping humanity has somehow changed and learnt from this time? Yet it’s Dashed and Torn to shreds in days, have we forgotten already? Then I listen a little deeper and I know!! It’s off kilter and it’s hanging on by a thread!! And so much has forcibly changed!!
It’s now September 8th it’s just gone 5am it’s not quite Dawn, yet I hear the birds singing!! I’ve been woken by a presence in the doorway!! I’m thankful for those moments!! A lifetime of interactions that are deeply profound, they enrich!! Unseen conversations that teach me so much!!
I lay listening!! “Shane what’s smart about a smartphone?” I laugh... Over these last 6 months I have done allot of thinking about smartphones!! How they came into our lives and on the surface seemed to revolutionise our lives!! Even simplified and enhanced how we do things!! Without a doubt it’s incredible technology! Yet a phone become anything but a phone? The flip side was and is, that the brief was to make it as addictive as possible, alongside its apps, all addictive as possible, especially Social Media!! Research and Science has shown this and the dopamine hits and hard wiring that happens and occurs during use!!
It’s a form of social engineering!! Totally embedded into our way of life!! We become reliant on it!! As it almost does everything? Even makes your bed in the morning 😂 seriously Walk past any cafe pre - Covid what did you see? Couples and friends siting together yet not present or in each other’s company!! Sitting their staring at a screen, scrolling through sh*t!!!
I’m a bit of a ambassador for connection so I have struggled with that one!! Concerned in the direction that humanity is heading in!!
Then their is the other aspect!! Smartphone contracts run between 18 months to 3 years? What happens a few months beyond contract? Your phone starts to play up!! The battery normally goes on the blink!! Yet you cannot replace the battery? You have to replace the whole handset!!! Your telling me the likes of Apple cannot design a phone with a replaceable battery? Of course they f* *king can! They are not designed to last? That would be a bad business model,would it not?
All we are is food on a plate to them!!
Consuming and feeding of us!! That’s big business for you? And by clockwork a month beyond contract the calls start coming in! Are you ready to upgrade we can offer you a new contract on the latest all singing and all dancing smart phone!! Well Apple and Virgin Media you can stick your smartphone that has a shelf life or approximately 2 years where the sun does not shine!! Your behavior is costly to our way of life, to human connection and to the planet I’m unplugging...another victory, another step further along the path to off grid living!! I have gone and got myself a brick of a phone!! That purely is a phone!! It rings you pick it up , you have a conversation and then end the call!! Once charged it has a standby time of 14 days... WTF that and my digital camera I’m all set!!
And what compounded all this was the Day Dad and I walked around the Church Yard, sharing stories of the most incredible people, my phone powered down by itself!’ And stayed off for over 12 hours, no matter how many times I tried to switch it on!!! A special day that I will hold dear!! On returning home I plugged it in and bingo it powered up!!
Some things are never chance they are by design!!!
And often are a catalyst to greater things!!
Ps for those of you that have my tel number I be dropping you a message with my new brick of a phones new number!!
A step forward!!! Unplugging bit by bit!! Reclaiming the Human Experience!!
My friends, family and Community are everything to me, a precious gift!! Sharing time and experience and taking care of each other is truly important to me! Yet I’ve learnt to choose that really wisely!! Less feels like more in everything I do these days!! What was once right is not always right forever!! Move with the change!! Just like the seasons!!! Stay True!! Keep it simple!! Have heart and grit!!! I try to stay real about how I’m experiencing life and that has made quite a interesting story so far!!!
If you have a moment What about you? How are you? How are you feeling? What makes you, YOU?
Keep Shining You lovely lot!!! The Kettle is on!!
Ring ring 😂🙌✊