I have had the opportunity to spend a good amount of time outside over the past two days. Yesterday, it was spent watching Silas play soccer, cleaning the pool cover, getting everything ready for opening it in a couple of weeks, and just being outside to be outside. Today, it’s been sitting outside working on some writing while Roman has basketball practice.

I find it much easier to silence the call to pick up my phone and scroll or waste time when I’m outside. I don’t even think about it when I’m enjoying the warmth of the sun and playing H-O-R-S-E with Silas—shoot, I don’t even think about it when I’m doing manual labor like cleaning the pool cover.

This might just be another reason for an Encinitas relocation someday—if the weather of the last two days were the norm, I’d probably be able to get one of those Minimalist phones. For now, I’ll switch back to black and white on my iPhone display and remove the distraction apps.

This morning, as I enjoyed my protein coffee and read some of What The Buddha Taught, I reflected on how much I enjoyed yesterday and how little I had my phone with me. I wondered why I can’t adopt a daily routine where I’m not close to my phone—I tell my Self that I need to be accessible for my clients, I listen to my music from it, and I actually do enjoy Instagram and the experience, specifically posting, is not the same on my iPad. So in the past, when I’ve switched to black and white and removed apps, I’ve reverted to my old ways after a week or so because of the stories I tell myself.

In today’s world, I do really believe that our phones are the source of much of people’s unhappiness. It might not be the phone itself, but it is certainly the content and information delivered through it.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any solutions, and I hate it when people complain about something but don’t offer any solutions or try to do anything about it. All I can do is use this nice weather to break my habits and to bring your attention to how your phone is impacting your life.

I know one thing—your Authentic Life is not going to be found on your phone.

I can promise you that.

See you tomorrow and keep pursuing,

JC