Dear Friends of Balancing Act,
Too much screen time. Not enough face time. Too much to do. Too little time. Too much negativity. Not enough good news. These are the complaints I hear from so many coaching clients. This month's e-letter will pass on some new perspectives for those overloaded with computers, tasks, or negativity. Read on and give yourself a well-deserved break. Pat
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Breakfast Before Browsing
Screen-time addiction is rampant around the world. We wake to our smartphones, check our messages before breakfast, and Google the answers to life's problems before that first cup of coffee.
Not so on Moodoff Day, when an Australian non-profit is challenging us to to wake up and abstain from our screens for five hours straight. Organizers have designated this Sunday, February 24, for the experience, designed to bring attention to smartphone addiction.
This year's slogan is "Smart hours for Smart people without Smartphones." If this Sunday doesn't work, you can try your own Moodoff date.
Granted, for some, Moodoff Day may provoke anxiety. A Pew Research study shows that 46 pct. of adults in the U.S. own smartphones, and 44 pct. of them experience phone separation anxiety.
Organizers recommend focusing on positive diversions instead, such as things you used to do before you got your smartphone.
For example, have a cup of coffee with someone and share a joke, go for a walk and find out who your neighbors are, sit down for breakfast and actually talk to people, and read a real newspaper.
Who knew?
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Awesome Way to Gain Time
So little time, so much to do is a mantra that's hard to shake. But a Stanford researcher offers possible relief - not by making us more efficient or giving us more time but by changing our perceptions.
Melanie Rudd, a final-year PhD candidate at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, has researched the powerful positive emotion of awe and concluded that it's a time-expander. In other words, when we are in the presence of vastness, whether it's size or numbers or complexity, we are inspired to understand it. And that puts us in the present moment, where we feel we have all the time in the world.
Sound a little way out? Here's Rudd telling how this works - in just three minutes. In case you're pressed for time.
 | | Melanie Rudd: How Awe Expands Our Perception of Time |
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The Good Life: One Short Essay At A Time
If you feel you have very little time for reading, you can probably work in an inspiring bite-size essay by the late Chris Peterson, a lead researcher and teacher in the field of positive psychology,
His latest book, published after his unexpected death in October, offers 100 mini-reflections on pursuing the good life in families, workplaces, schools, and sports, He looks at the difference between employment and work, the value of doing the right thing, and why books matter, among other topics.
The mini-essays in this book display Peterson's characteristic warmth and self-effacing humor. For example, his commentary on living in the moment:
Sometimes people are urged to live in the moment. I think this advice needs to be qualified by understanding what the moment entails. To paraphrase Albert Ellis, if the moment in which we live is draped in ought's and should's, it is probably better not to live in it.
Copyright 2013 Pat Snyder
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CHANGE YOUR MOOD, CHANGE YOUR LIFE
Pat's hit the speaking circuit with a one-hour presentation "Change Your Mood, Change Your Life," based on positive psychology research.
Designed for busy professionals, it features 10 exercises to help deal with job stress and work-life integration.
If you belong to a group that might be interested in such a talk, contact her here.
LAWYER MAKES A GOOD NEWS STORY
 | | Tony Tolbert. |
Tired of bad news? Here's some good news, courtesy of the often maligned legal profession.
An LA lawyer has moved back in with his mom so he can give a homeless family use of his house for a year.
For a quick pick-me-up, click here, and hear his story.
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LEASH LAW
NO. 50:
DON'T GO IT ALONE
When caring for aging parents, form or join a support group of local caregivers, or join many of the online support groups. Find resources for achieving inner peace during stressful times on my website here.
This is derived from one of 74 leash laws offered in Pat's book, The Dog Ate My Planner: Tales and Tips from an Overbooked Life.
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