IT'S GOOD TO UNPLUG

I have spent the biggest part of today unplugged from the internet and from playing games until this evening.  I decided to break the cycle and and spend some time away from the keyboard.  Now I know a day is hardly makes it worthy of being declared as abstinence but it felt good just the same.  I spent some time in the back garden, not doing anything but taking in things around me.

It was quiet and still for the most part and the weather, although sunny, was still chilly in an early Spring type way.  Just taking in the myriad of flora and fauna around me was quite the eye opener.  I am not saying it was like being in the Amazonian Rain Forest, but we spend so much of our time going to and from places that I don't think we spend enough time taking in our surroundings.

I also noted that, even in winter, nature reclaims the land we take from it in next to no time.  There was grass growing behind the shed at an already overgrown height and moss and grass is aleady sprouting between the flags on the path.  It set me thinking how nature will one day reclaim all the resources that man has cultivated from the Earth.  Whereas it is important that we respect and look after our environment, the over powering strength of nature will repair any damage we make long after humanity has gone from the face of the Earth.

Whoa, nearly got all strange and surreal there!

Back on being unplugged - I think it does everyone good to simply leave the modern day communication devices off for a while.  So much of modern life is given over to the intrusion of stuff like the internet and other telecommunications.  The advent of the mobile phone is almost like having some sort of tracking device on you at all times.  Everywhere you go you can be contacted, you cannot be away from stuff for a moment.  One thing I have started to do of late is leave my mobile phone either switched off or at home should I venture out.  I am fed up of being beholden to this intrusive device.

I don't know.  I have often wondered what life would be like living in a more simple and sober age.  I have often wanted to live the life of a monk high in the mountains of Tibet, spending my days working a subsistence lifestyle and generally being a peace with myself.  The problem is I am so familiar with the noise of the information age that the calmness and stillness and immediacy of each moment would probable drive me insane!  I guess I have not reached the right spiritual enlightenment level yet.

I appreciate that this posting has been one big long incomprehensible ramble, but it sort of sums up the day I have had!