A Magical Power

Hundreds of years ago, remote communication on earth didn’t extend beyond smoke signals, drums in the night, or the written and spoken word traveling vast distances by ship, horse, or the lonely runner. If you had lived back then and spent the day plowing a field or hunting the woods to feed your family, you would have spent much of it in isolation. That solitude would have given you something many of us are missing now: time to think, time for deeper thoughts, time to discover who you were.

Communication is instant now. We have near-constant access to friends and family and they have access to us. We can find the answers to pressing questions with ease. So much power and information sit in the palm of our hands from tiny magical boxes we carry all day long. They make us feel connected. But are we? Are we really connected or are we tethered?

When you look at the flip side of instant communication, the constant barrage, there seems to be many who are overwhelmed and agitated by it. I sometimes hear people wish for simpler times, an era before the tiny boxes when each of us wasn’t so accessible. I’ve had those thoughts too.

But when those thoughts flash in my head, I stop and remind myself of one thing: I’d much rather live now, than in a time before the devices existed. Because the most magical thing I can do with that tiny box is to hit the off button.

I control my life, not that tiny box.

I have the choice to power down, to make time for deep thoughts so I can ponder questions whose answers can’t be found on the internet.

You have that magical power as well. Don’t be afraid to use it.