DISTRACTIONS ARE INTERNAL TRIGGERS

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Hey Friends,

I wrote a blog post on ‘IS IT FAIR TO BLAME SOCIAL-MEDIA FOR KILLING OUR ABILITY TO CONNECT PHYSICALLY & SOCIALLY..? ‘, which got a very good response and I received numerous mails to write on ‘Distraction’.

Simply put – Distraction is Even we know what to do but still we do not do it and quietly slip into the distractions.

Well , the fundamental problem with the word ‘Distraction’ is that it’s true meaning is misunderstood across the globe. And if you do not believe, try asking this question :- What is the opposite of ‘Distraction’ ?.

And often the answer which would come to your mind is -‘ Focus’. And that is where the fundamental problem lies.

Focus is not the opposite of Distraction, the real opposite is -‘Action’. That why its Distr-Action.

Yes, you read it right, it’s the actions which are holding you back. Having said that, there is a sold science which support that distractions are internal rather then external as commonly perceived by most of us. Also there are certain psychological triggers which leads to distractions. For example – Inability to deal with emotional discomfort and we get into the homeostatic responses like; If you feel lonely – You end up checking Facebook, If you feel uncertain – You end up doing googling.

Broadly speaking, there are two kind of people who are susceptible to distractions . They can be classified as ‘Blamers & Shamers.

Blamers as the name suggest have the tendency to blame their distraction on external cues like FB, Insta , external environment as so on, Where as Shamers get into labelling themselves into certain categories like ;- I am a morning person or a late night guy and many such self loathing labels. There is no denial that shame can be extremely uncomfortable trigger for distraction and may lead to substance abuse. But, the fact is that urges and feelings can never be stopped and wanting more is an evolutionary trait of humans. If homosapiens would not have this urge to want more the human race would not have evolved so much.

So the question is – How I can I cut away detractions “?

I would suggest that putting your energy in controlling your feelings and urges may to be useful but what can certainly be useful is – How you respond to these feelings & Urges ? . If you develop a process of responding to these urges in a constructive way, you will master the art of distraction and will become in-distractable.

I am certainly not against indulging in FB, Instagram ,Twitter, Netflix or any other such social media platforms but what I mean to say is that whenever you do these activities, you do it in your time and schedule.

Solution does not lie in blocking all the media and tech but becoming more aware of your respective ‘Internal Triggers’ to block the distractions and get on to the action at hand.

Take good care & enjoy reading your dose of cerebral happiness.

JOE

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