Culturally significant as a clean slate for all, the new year is contradicted by our country’s tradition of drunken madness and stupidity.
In retrospect, resolutions seem nearly ridiculous when New Year’s Day is spent with a tortuous hangover. Despite the frivolous nature of these meaningless oaths, in 2008 I have resolved to exist in the cliché and live life to the fullest: This entails committing myself fully to every action and not partaking in the banal sin of multitasking.
Technology and the well-intentioned act of multitasking are stripping away the very essence of the human experience, piece by piece. We are living less in the present and more and more in an environment where the main priority is to get from point A to point B via a state of constant distraction.
In theory, multitasking is the key to efficient living. But in hindsight, we only cheat ourselves when we do not devote ourselves entirely to a single task. Multitasking only lessens any chance we have at pursuing perfection in anything we do.
In 2005, UCLA opened the Mindful Awareness Research Center with the mission to use research and education to foster mindful awareness in daily living.
“Mindful awareness is a moment-by-moment awareness of one’s experiences as they occur,” said Dr. Susan Smalley, founder and director of the center and professor of psychiatry, in a 2007 interview. “This means paying attention to where you are at the present moment. That can include things like what you’re feeling, what you’re thinking, your body sensations and so on.”
Our ever-evolving world is becoming increasingly complicated and fast-paced, and new technologies are making it easier to escape from the present.
Computers, cell phones and iPods have drastically changed the way we live our lives, and particularly how we now commit to activities that never before required technology.
We now drive while holding conversations on our cell phones, we walk with iPods attached to our ears and for many, class time is completely wasted by an inherent desire to explore Perez Hilton’s blog.
The Mindful Awareness Research Center links a sense of increasing pressure and stress, as well as mental and physical health problems, and these extraordinary advances in science and technology.
A proposed solution by the center is to take back our lives using “mindful” practices, which can be added or incorporated into our daily routine.
The center’s research on mindfulness has been used to address and respond to health issues ranging from ADHD to anxiety and depression.
The center offers classes, workshops and a monthly lecture series that teach of the true benefits of living a “mindful” existence, details of which can be accessed at www.marc.ucla.edu.
It should be the goal of every human being to live in the present. The greatest experiences and lessons can only be obtained when you give your full heart and soul to the activity at hand.
Whether the event is as mundane as commuting to school or as complex as writing a major thesis, chatting with friends or making love, our lives will be much richer and healthier if we put every essence of our being into them.
This year I will not put my life at risk by driving while talking on my cell phone. I will study as opposed to simultaneously checking my e-mail and Facebook. And I will give full attention to the people I am with rather than letting my mind wander to other trivialities.
In his book “The Four Agreements,” Don Miguel Ruiz writes about four ideas stemming from the ancient Toltec wisdom of the native people of Southern Mexico. The final agreement he instructs us to abide by is to always do our best without self-judgment, self-abuse or regret.
The notion that a critical factor of our existence should be devoted to doing our best seems almost too simplistic to merit writing about. However, this is a valid piece of instruction; if we are not going to put our true devotion into an act, its value becomes worth considerably less.
So by the end of this third week of 2008, if your resolution has already been bruised, battered and broken, you are welcome to join me on my quest: a simple analysis of my time spent on earth, to achieve the simple, single task of living simply.
E-mail Enclade at genclade@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.