- Share This Post
- Pin It
- 0
-
Sparkle (0)
I don't catch Oprah much anymore these days. A busy schedule allows for
little television time, and I'm addicted to the View, so that is my one show a
day that I try to cram into an already out of control schedule.
Yesterday I taped Oprah when I saw the blurb about the story, which centered
around a distracted mom. I didn't know what the content would be, but I heard
that it was about how moms should learn a lesson from this mother-a lesson to
slow down.
While I will not go into graphic detail about this heartbreaking story, I
will tell you the basics. The mother, a school administrator with two daughters,
a woman who, like many mothers, leads a frantic type of life, was asked by her
husband to take the youngest daughter to the sitter's one morning. This was out
of the ordinary routine, as the father generally handled this chore.
Not only was this a change in schedule but the mother was going back to work
for the first day after summer break. When she got to the babysitter's home too
early, she drove on and stopped for doughnuts for the staff. The girl was asleep
in the car. The mother ran into the bakery, put the doughnuts in the back of
the van and then headed off for a day at work.
It was at the end of that day that a staff member saw the daughter in the
car. Unfortunately, the daughter did not survive the heat, which had reached 100
degrees that day.
Now, without stopping to think about this story at this point, stop instead
and think about your life. What is it that you have tried to multitask today? A
phone call and making breakfast? A text message and driving? An email and a
screaming, nursing baby? Putting on makeup in the car? Eating a bagel as you
drive to drop your kids off before you head to work?
Were your kids beside you when you were taking on more than one task at a
time? Were they in the tub as you ran out-just for a second!- to grab the
ringing phone?
Are you really present in your life when you are present, or have you found
that life is becoming a bit overwhelming and the only way you can handle
everything at once is by doing everything-at once?
We all know that when we multitask our minds are never on one task - hence
the term 'multi' task. What does this mean about how much we can really take in
and remember? What does this mean about how much is getting through?
I found this article about multitasking, and loved this particular
comment made by Dr. David E. Meyer, a professor at the University of Michigan's
Psychology Department. He said that since you can't really do two things at once
you are constantly shifting back and forth. Your brain has different channels
for different processing tasks, so if you are trying to do something that is in
the same channel as the other thing you are doing (such as a language task -
writing an email and listening on the phone) you will have to shut one task off
to do the other.
Think about it; how many times has your child begun to recite their day to
you and you've either been watching television or at the computer. You 'wake up'
and realize that your child is halfway through his or her adventures. We tune in
and tune out often; I catch myself doing it on the phone because I am not an
auditory person and I hate talking on the phone. Instead I will glance to see if
I have emails, or I'll catch myself staring at the television.
This show really brought to light the fact that as moms we often try to
handle way too many things at once, and when you are doing this you are really
not focusing on anything.
We should learn this rule and practice it daily, if not hourly, or by the
minute: Be present in what you are doing.
Yet so often we are somewhere else, either in mind, as was this mom, or in
body, as we are when we text a client while giving the kids a bath.
Stories like this mom's come up from time to time. A parent is in a hurry,
changes routine, and then something happens. We have to learn to slow down and
to think things through. We have to learn to bring focus back to our lives,
especially where
