Do You Have “Action Addiction”?

Do you sometimes feel like all you do during the course of a day is chase down little details so you can cross them off your list?  Is it possible you are using that busy-mode to procrastinate taking care of the more important questions in your life?  There’s a term for this: “Action Addiction” (January 2016 Mindful Magazine).  We are addicted to being busy; the reward we get is a false sense of importance… hey, I’m busy (and proud of it)!   However, creativity generally sparks from the depths of a quiet moment rather than a frazzled, hurried moment.

Rather than needing more time to get those myriad of details done, what we truly, deeply need is more stillness.

To test yourself to see if you unknowingly suffer from “Action Addiction”, the article suggests that the next time you sit down at your desk or computer, see if you can just do nothing for 3 minutes.  If you find that challenging, chances are you could benefit from more practice doing nothing and just resting your mind.

So, if you’d like to be more productive, more creative, you might set your watch or phone alarm to go off every hour to remind yourself to take 45 seconds to just stop whatever important task you’re doing and just rest your body and mind.  Or if you’re feeling really decadent, try a 3 minute body scan noting sensations from the crown of your head to the tips of your toes.  See what happens! If you’re so inclined, share your experience below!   Here’s a link to a 3 minute meditation to break those circuits