On my drive home yesterday, I was listening to Mark McCartney’s beautiful podcast conversation with Dave Gribben.
Dave shared a story about leaving his phone behind him at home before leaving for a series of client meetings that day. His first reaction? To ring his wife and tell her!
Our habits are hardwired.
For the moments between his meetings, he simply watched and observed everything around him. He observed himself too.
He admitted that there’s very little chance he’d allow himself that stillness and presence if his phone was in his pocket.
Would you?
Dave doesn’t think he’s evolved enough yet (to completely ignore his phone), when there’s something more compelling to be done.
I know I’d be looking at my phone, no doubt.
Last night my neighbour reminded me that the electricity would be cut off in our area between 9am – 5pm on Wednesday 14th May.
No dramas – Ciara and I both needed to be in town with clients.
I was woken up at 5.30am this morning with a beeping sound I didn’t recognise.
Following the sound, I discovered that the house alarm was telling me of a system fault. As I tried to read the display through my blurry field of vision, it dawned on me that it was eerily quiet and darker than usual in the laundry room.
Where was the automatic light, the extractor fan or the mechanical whirring from the heat pump system?
No electricity.
I headed off to the gym and chatted to one of the workers on the road. They had to start earlydue to a local school’s demands or needs. Fair enough.
When I got home, the kids were waking up and Ciara arrived from her morning workout. The next 15 minutes were one comical realisation after the next as to how dependent we are on electricity.
- “There’s no time on the cooker, I don’t know what time it is”, shouted Nico.
- “What about the icecreams?” wondered Edie.
- “I’m going to have to get going early so I can shower in your Mum’s on the way to my meeting”, reflected Ciara.
- “Alexa, how many religions are there in the world?”, asked Ciara. “There’s no electricity Mum”, explained Edie. “Alexa – how many religions are there in the world please?” asked Ciara again, either not having heard Edie’s reply, or hoping the word please could bypass the laws of physics.
- “Mum – there’s no electricity, Alexa isn’t working”, explained Nico without crediting Edie.
- “That’s what I just said Nico, you bum!” hollered Edie.
This morning, as Ciara and I drove towards town in search of showers, she prepared for her meetings as I listened to the second half of the podcast conversation between Mark and Dave.
Dave shared another story of a trip to Bangladesh twenty years ago. He and his fellow-travellers met a lady over there who had worked on the frontline of wars, doing emergency relief work.
She was dressed in her worn out sandals and basic sarong, sitting in a windowless office, no air-con. It was uncomfortably hot.
She looked at them sadly and sympathetically said “All of you people in the west need so much to be happy”. She didn’t mean it in any patronising way, Dave clarified. She was coming from a place of sadness. Her experience told her what really mattered in life.
Dave knew he was hearing the truth.
I reflected on my own perceived needs for my phone, and for all the comforts I have powered by electricity.
At the end of the day, I won’t be giving up any of the above, but it is worth reflecting on our actual needs vs our perceived needs when it comes to our happiness.
I genuinely think I would be happier if I spent less time using my phone, yet I don’t.
- What are you plugged into that could be worth unplugging from?