There are few things in life that make me feel my age as much as getting new technology.  Whereas my children are counting the days until they can upgrade their cell phones to the latest and greatest, I am content to muddle along with mine until there is a problem that forces my hand.  This time it was my son’s phone dying before the upgrade period, forcing me to take advantage of my “free” upgrade so I could give him my old one.  This was not only a huge issue for me in just making the decision on what to get (it took me at least 3 hours of research and I’m still not sure I made the right decision…), but a huge problem in learning how use it.  As I can’t seem to find anyone to tell me how to do this, or a child who could do it for me without a significant bribe attached, I have had to….(get ready…) read the manual!  Taking the time to stop and get to the basics is a humbling experience.

When I am on a roll in life, whether it be with work or personally, I don’t like to stop for anything or anyone.  It becomes an annoying waste of time to do anything that is not on my ever-increasing and never ending to do list.  So taking the time to figure out my phone was not what I had in mind, especially if it forced me to slow down. 

I often feel that if there is a lesson I need to learn, I get an initial whisper.  When I don’t heed it, I’ll get a tap on the shoulder.  Ignoring that usually then results in being hit over the head with a two by four.  I’m coming to see the cell phone as perhaps my whisper.  The migraines I had a week were the two by fours. 

If I had thought that stopping my work flow to address the issues of the annoying cell phone was bad, waking up with a migraine every day for a week made the cell phone issues seem like a pleasure.  I found during that challenging week I would awaken, stumble with my head pounding to the medicine cabinet to take my miracle meds and then lay back in bed perfectly still for another hour.  It was during this forced meditation that I found many answers to life’s questions.  Amazingly when I was slowed to a standstill, I was able to allow the answers that reside inside to float up to my consciousness.  It brought to mind an incident that happened recently with my boyfriend and his laptop.

My boyfriend’s laptop was on the fritz and he was searching all over for his CDs to use to repair the problem.  Not only did he not have a manual to consult, he had no backup disks!  An anxious phone call to the ever helpful help line (a term which is sadly becoming an oxymoron), assured him that everything was already inside the machine – he just needed to push a button and it would take care of itself.  And amazingly it did!  I remember wishing that all of life could be like that.  How interesting that shortly thereafter I was able to see that it really is. 

Life’s answers, it seems, are not that far away.  Sometimes it takes something annoying, like a new cell phone, to remind you to slow down.  Sometimes it takes it will take something a little stronger, like a migraine to get your attention.  But regardless of what it takes to get you there, the answers, just like on the laptop, have been preinstalled.  The trick is learning to find that manual. Slowing down and finding the quiet within are good ways to start. But don’t worry – if you don’t think you can find the time to do that now, there’s a two by four with your name on it somewhere in the future to assist you!