The Promise of having it all

Sometimes I think I couldn’t live without my phone and laptop. I couldn’t write this blog, publish an online class, or keep my arms around my design firm without it. Technology is woven into how I create sanctuary for myself, my clients, and vital to sharing it with my readers and students.So technology is not antithetical to the idea of sanctuary. Far from it. But it is not without its challenges.

The promise of technology

Technology whispers a promise to us — a promise of greater freedom and abundant choice. In chasing that promise we have somehow become immediately available, at all times, to the entire world.Believing that promise, I once imagined that I might be able to fix a minor problem with a quick email while enjoying my daughter’s recital. This really sounds like having it all, doesn't it? The truth, unfortunately, looks more like spending the entire recital answering a chain of texts and emails, all the while eying the exits so I can quickly duck outside to take an important call.This is not being present, this is not being mindful, and this is not sanctuary. And it certainly doesn’t feel like the freedom I envisioned when I got my first smartphone.But you know, I’m an optimist at heart. I believe that our technology actually can deliver on that promise, but it’s not the default setting. It’s a setting we have to customize. We must claim that freedom for ourselves.

The promise of sanctuary

Sanctuary is really all about perspective. Our sanctuary is a place where we can consider the really big questions that we all have — our deepest values and most compelling purposes — and how we live those values and strive to fulfill those purposes in our day-to-day lives.But you and I both know that this type of deep introspection is not well served by constant interruption. So we draw a circle around it, and we say to the world, “This time and space is sacred to me, and thou shalt not tread upon it.” And that’s when interesting things start to happen. As we gain greater perspective and deeper awareness, we become less inclined to allow ourselves to be lured into living from notification to notification. Those boundaries start to appear where needed to surround all of the truly important moments of our lives.We become more present in the world around us, and more inclined to consciously choose how we engage. You could say that we actually begin to live the promise that was once whispered to us, because we are mindfully using technology rather than being used by it. It all begins with that first circle around our sanctuary, and it culminates in a radically different (and much healthier) relationship to technology.I once heard someone say that money is a capable servant, but a horrible master. Technology is no different. It’s time to adjust our relationship to our devices, and get busy doing the amazing things we are on this planet to do.

Let’s talk about it

Here’s my question and my challenge: what is your relationship with technology? Is it working for you, or do you find yourself feeling enslaved to it? And if so, what boundaries can you lay down around the time and space that is sacred to you?With gratitude,Lisa