To be Present Once Again...

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/14qi1Q6DoZW/ 

"teaching people to look. Not to glance, not to observe from a distance, but to be present to the actual world with enough patience and humility that it shows you something you could not have predicted"

I have yet to read her books but what a legacy. Funny how this found me today. Of late, even on a busy mind for work, at some tiny portion of it, I'm bemoaning (perhaps even mourning) how the ability (art?) of really seeing is dying. Almost everyone is on their screens. Even the children when we are driving, we often have to urge them -- look outside, notice things... I'd be in a quiet corner of a cafe or a new place and notice, nobody seems to be "people watching" anymore... not the looking and judging kind but having that stillness to just look at how life flows, imagining where that guy with a backpack is hurrying to; or whether this new couple who just came in have been together for years or just recently, how they've met... I'd sit at airports these days and most people are just looking at their screens to while the time away. Even at home which is sad. In fairness, the children are on screens for school work like 75% of the time, but since they're already at it, it's so easy to switch to "taking the break" through doom scrolling for the rest of it. At these moments, the only conversation taking place is when I get a lliteral shoutout -- "Nanay, listen to this. Tell me what you think. Does it sound right?" -- for their homework. Or, "Nanay, listen to this. Do you know this song," which is often better because it leads to actual conversations.

Haaay.... these days my phone is often "lost" and "somewhere," (which makes third party authorisation requests a mini-adventure of treasure hunt of sorts); but it allows me that breathing space to just people watch and notice my surroundings. But even I, am guilty of doom scrolling on many ocassions.

So yeah... life is beautiful and magic are often found in tiny, simple moments. I'm also reminding myself this -- let's slowly and consciously do away with our phones to look up, notice the little things, let our inner world breathe and think... it's been slowly dying because we've been constantly bombarding ourselves with external content. Really notice our loved ones around us, their little quirks and authentic self that is for us to discover everyday, know and love... We've lost that. No wonder so many of us are depressed because we've lost that deep and real connection that can only be sustained by really being together, having that face to face conversation, and a little pat here and there... Everything comes and goes in a blink. Life flows. It does not wait on us..