Eckhart Tolle says people grab their phones during any wait, even with no messages, which pulls them out of the present moment into a collective hive mind. He suggests treating phone checking as intentional rather than automatic, using waiting time to practice stillness instead.
Nowadays, almost everybody, the moment they're waiting, they have to reach into their pocket and get out their phones. There wasn't a message coming in at this moment, not even that. No, but just check to see what's going on. There's always something to look at. There's always something to take you out of the— completely back into the— you're back in the mind. It's the hive mind, your personal mind, so-called, linked into the hive mind. And this is something that I would suggest as a spiritual practice, you let go of that so that you only look at it when you need to, but not as an automatic thing to fill every moment. And so you're never just comfortable with where you are and completely there. No spaciousness can arise with that. So So this is a practical advice: you need to just engage with it when there is a real purpose, but not as an automatic thing, especially when you're waiting for something. Use the precious opportunities of waiting for spaciousness, spacious presence.
Why alcohol feels like relief, and what it is really giving you | Eckhart Tolle
