Karen’s Chat on Free Thought

I took a break from Facebook during Christmas. It was nice to not endlessly scroll and feel the need to like and comment all the time.

It’s a constant information overload knowing what everyone else is doing all the time, and in a way getting involved in their lives. When I returned to social media, I discovered three things:

• I’d missed nothing that required my immediate attention.
• It carried on without my input.
• Your enjoyment of life doesn’t have to include that.

My children are approaching forty, they still remember what it was like before the digital age. Some people won’t.

I sat with my coffee this morning, and as I sipped, I stared out of the window. The wind ruffled through the bare branches of the tree in front of the house. A man in a woolly hat ambled by with his dog and a seagull with huge wings glided from a rooftop. My mind wandered to something back in my childhood for a good few minutes.

All the time, music from the radio played in the background. A song came on from way-back-when. I briefly thought about my younger self and where I was at that time. It made me smile.

My thoughts drew inward and I felt my breath inhaling and exhaling. I breathed deeply to fill my lungs and it felt good.

My point is that free thinking seems to be a thing of the past. Instead of sitting quietly and be in the moment, we pick up our phones instead.

As we scroll our way through the social media sites, it’s a constant information overload. Our brains are stimulated by everything that goes on in the world.

Once, we didn’t know what was happening in the next street, now we have access to literally everything.

I’m going to try not to spend so much time there in the future. Whether I can, I don’t know. If not, it’s good to take a break from it at least once a month.

The reason for this post is to remind you, if this applies to your lifestyle, to take time for yourself, your family, and your surroundings. Don’t get caught up in the world-wind of other people’s lives.. Enjoy some free thinking and it will surprise you how rejuvenating it is.