Working With 'ONE' As A Path To Presence

I have always thought of myself as a great multi-tasker.  Truth is, I am most certainly a mono-tasker. I have been deluding myself for years. This is a rude awakening for me, coming to know I had been living with the illusion, or delusion of being a multi-tasker.  I came to know more of the truth of this aspect of my character when I committed myself to taking four hours of consecutive quiet and retreat time during this past week.  It didn't happen.  It didn't happen in an obvious, in my face kind of way.  It's not that I didn't get anything done, I attended to a number of things.  My attention was called to a broad array of items, nearly all legitimate and needful. What I discovered was the things I attended to were not the things I held as  my highest priorities: like four hours of personal retreat time, and two consecutive hours of writing time, daily. 

I CAN do many things at once.  The questions that come have more to do with what part of me is directing what I choose to do, and whether splitting my energy up into multiple tasks is really serving me, my life purpose or bringing me the desired balance and focus I say I am committed to.  Who really is in charge of my decision making? 

As I review my past week, I acknowledge nearly every thing I did had some value.  I didn't actually 'waste' any time AND I also didn't do ANY of what I had listed as the top three items of my priority list, either.  This is where the rub comes in.  Life throws us curve balls all the time.  The thing about curve balls is they change direction as they come toward us and we naturally shift the direction of our focus as we notice.  Suddenly, the intentions at the top of the list are out of sight and out of mind.  Shifting focus automatically shifts balance and shifts where our energy goes.  We don't choose curve balls, and they usually require some kind of attention so we don't get hit. 

As I sit here writing, I am being barraged by the onslaught of three people talking, disregarding my request to quiet writing time.  Perfect example of this kind of curve ball.  How do I manage this?  Breathe, focus inward. The distraction comes from two places that I notice:  my emotional response (aggravation and resentment) and lack of skill at mono-tasking.  Does mono-tasking takes more skill than multi-tasking...food for thought.