How to Break Up with Your Phone, Revised Edition: The 30-Day Digital Detox Plan

by Catherine Price

Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, calls this a “state of non-doing”—and if that sounds easy, trust me: it’s not. Even people whose attention spans have not been weakened by their phones will find that it’s nearly impossible to maintain their focus on anything without their minds wandering. Not only is that completely normal, but it is what our minds are built to do. As one of my meditation teachers liked to say, “Your mind wanders because you have a mind.” The trick is not to fight your mind when it wanders. Instead, once you notice that your attention has drifted, gently bring it back without criticizing yourself. You’re likely to have to do this multiple times during your practice—possibly every few seconds, depending on how quickly you notice that it’s happened. And that is totally fine. The very fact that you noticed that your mind has wandered means that you’re doing it right. If you have been using your phone a lot recently, you’re likely to find this type of exercise to be particularly difficult. But the harder you find it, the more important it is to do—and the more you do it, the better at it you’ll become.

Exactly how we refocus ourselves during our five prayers!