Why we must avert distractions

Do the things external which fall upon thee distract thee? Give thyself time to learn something new and good, and cease to be whirled around. But then thou must also avoid being carried about the other way. For those too are triflers who have wearied themselves in life by their activity, and yet have no object to which to direct every movement, and, in a word, all their thoughts. — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book 2, Meditation 7

Our mind is sensitive to external stimulus. When we see our mobile phone, we immediately unlock it and go on Facebook. On our news feed, we see an advertisement for a game. We want to play this game so we download it from the app store. While playing the game, we are shown an advertisement for shoes. Now we want new shoes.

Modern technology exposes us to more stimulus than we have ever been exposed to before. This means that the number of distractions in our environment are innumerable. We are constantly seeing things and our behaviour is subconsciously shaped by the things we see.

In this meditation Marcus is teaching us to learn to avert distractions. Our awareness is our greatest enemy and our greatest friend. We have already seen how easy it is to get distracted. Similarly, it is also possible for us to use our awareness for our own benefit. We can choose to shape our awareness by changing our environment. If a phone distracts us, we can choose to put it in another room or put it out of sight. If Facebook distracts us, we can find a website blocker. All it requires is a little forethought.

Once we learn to avert distractions, we find the time to focus on learning. Luckily, this has never been easier. We can literally learn anything from the comfort of our home. YouTube, online learning platforms, and books are just some of the avenues available to us.

However, learning and acquiring knowledge alone is not enough. We must find balance. The things we learn only serve one person: us. Acquiring more and more never leads to happiness, regardless of whether we talk about wealth or knowledge. We must direct this knowledge outward. We must find ways to use our learning to help others. This balance between the inward flow of knowledge (learning) and outward flow of knowledge (creating) is where we can find happiness and contentment.

Source

The content in this article is based on the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. The full text of Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations is available here.