"Why does it seem like whenever you live fully in one thing, some
other portion of my life must die"
Robin Norgren.
Piaget an insanely brilliant psychologist of the 20th century made some astute observations about children. One of them was object permanence, the understanding that objects (people, things, etc) continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, heard, or touched. He said that until 8 months of their life infants make no attempts of retrieving an object that is completely hidden from their sight.He inferred from this that for children between (~) 0 to 8 months, out of sight meant out of mind. In someways this reminds me of mindfulness practice. The idea that we can focus on what is in front of us and be completely with it, instead of thinking about what is not there or what needs to be done.
How much we suffer from the over usage of object permanence as adults! Case in point, I usually write after both the kids hit the bed. But because my infant is an infant, he's still trying to figure out what wake-sleep cycle works best for him. So on a day like today he sleeps all through the am and stays up for a good part of the night. Right now, I have him on my lap as I type these very words. Just a while ago I breastfed him while typing with one hand, then because I was not paying attention my breast slipped off the target and the poor child was rooting, after a loud squeal I realized what I had done. Then because I write at night, I had him on my lap gently moving him, hoping he'd sleep. but again because my attention was divided between trying to put him to sleep and having something written before I go to bed, I was not paying attention to the fact that he needed to be held straight up for a burp. He squealed again for my attention and I did what was needed to be done. Now, as I am typing again, he's squealing. I need to let go of this part of today, this writing part, in order to fully stay present with my little one. adieu writing.
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perfectly true! We would never multitask when we are mindful. I stopped getting my laptop home everyday and use it only when I am in office just to avoid working from home. Specially with babies, when you are hundred percent with them you would find that the are quickly fulfilled and go off to sleep leaving you free!
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