the forest floor I tread lightly these days  and with great reverence as there are so many  

Treasures yet to behold I like to snatch  away a few minutes on these cool mornings  

before the busyness of the workday sets in  to Express gratitude for all that has been  

renewed I don't have much time but what I do  have I value deeply and that has made all the

difference in this video I wanted to share  something that I've been working on for a  

very long time and that is fixing my attention  span as a child I could become deeply absorbed  

in things that interested me even just watching  the sun through a car window engrossed in an  

imaginary world of my creation everything I  experienced I did so in the present moment  

even if my curiosity took me somewhere else a  moment later but something happened to me as  

I got older and my brain got more muddled  and at times I've had to take inspiration  

from the better parts of my younger self and  wonder how I want to spend the time I have

[Music] 0:01:29.920,1193:02:47.295 [Music]

[Music]

good

I'm out here just enjoying a little bit of  the breeze and the Sunshine and later this  

afternoon I'm going to a hair salon for the  first time in a very very long time I finally  

decided that um it was time to cut my hair  to give my hair a chance to grow out again  

so that is the plan today to work to get some  time outside to take time to enjoy the spring  

beauties that are growing everywhere to look  out for yellow bells and blue bells cuz I'm  

sure they're about to start blooming and to  say hello to the honeybees I'll probably get  

a little more work done but after that I'm  going to go to the hair appointment and I'm  

a little bit nervous so wish me luck the  spring beauties are always one of the very  

first flowers that come out this time of year  they're very interesting actually at the very  

base there is a root ball called a corn and  you can eat them and I've eaten them before  

in videos they are absolutely delicious I  describe them as floral essenced potatoes  

and it's it's a a beautiful flower with such  delicate colors I love the little tiny hints of

pink as I got older I started to become more  impatient focused on productivity of saving time  

to get more done I was introduced to a much faster  pace of Life partly through starting to use my  

phone lot more I grew up with limited internet but  once I entered University and started realizing I  

was way behind on that front I threw myself into  the online world and got my first smartphone and  

don't get me wrong I think this has added to my  quality of life I've connected with other kindred  

spirits and learned new things been exposed to  ideas and inspired but I also found how easy it  

was to misuse the tools at my disposal to get  to the point where I gravitated to my phone at  

every dull moment scrolled for hours without  even knowing what I was doing half the time or  

being able to remember what I watched or learned  so easily it became a way to disconnect from the  

world uncomfortable emotions boring moments where  I would otherwise have to spend sitting with my  

own thoughts the more I used these tools in an  unbalanced way the less I enjoyed being without  

distractions over time my mind started to struggle  to concentrate on less stimulating tasks I found I  

was Finding less joy in things I used to love as  a child I didn't find things as interesting as I  

had I felt less peace in general often Fired Up by  the latest controversial post i' had seen over the  

years i' had been spending less and less time with  just me and without even realizing it I had lost a

friend my ability to pay attention to  things to be present and hold my my  

own Focus was increasingly fragmented and  unstable my mind became a buzzing bee of  

activity that was relentless and constantly  distracting sometimes I wanted to avoid it  

all together to be clear I don't blame my  phone or anything else for this change I  

noticed I still love using technology of all  kinds I love making videos here on YouTube  

I need to connect and I enjoy every moment  as long as I'm using these tools in balance

that was the key not to look at things from  a black and white perspective but wonder how  

can this serve me better and that answer for  me was to become more intentional with how I  

interact with my phone to challenge the idea  that I needed to keep up with what was going  

on every minute of the day and I'll be honest  the more addicted I was to living online the  

more distractable I became the more short my  attention span I decided I needed to rethink my

lifestyle every time I get to this stage in the  painting process I just feel like quitting to be  

honest um and I don't really want to do anymore  and um I just want to stop and never finish it  

um but I'm going to try to persevere there's  still a lot to do so I'm going to keep going  

I did get my hair cut it is not as short as  I was going to cut it but it is still quite  

short I think I cut about 6 in off it um which  is a lot cuz I have not cut my hair you know  

drastically for many years um but yes I was going  to go shorter but then the woman that was cutting  

my hair reminded me that when you still have  very wavy and thick hair and you cut it very  

short it has a tendency to mushroom out I was  inspired this week to think a little bit about  

attention spans and how my ability to focus and  more than that more importantly than that simply  

my ability to be comfortable without huge amount  of stimulation uh with just being um has been such  

an important part in healing and thriving for me  it's not perhaps the most exciting thing to do  

with your life to just cut out highly stimulating  things at certain portions of the day and training  

yourself to do kind of more mindful hobbies and  more boring lifestyle choices at times it's all  

about balance for sure I think that technology  has a wonderful and important place in our lives  

if used well but I have not always used it in  a healthy way at the time I think over the long  

term it created this habit of not observing not  looking outward as much and that was something  

that was very unhealthy for me and did not  lead to my long-term joy and fulfillment and  

that may be completely different for you I'm  not saying this is everyone's experience and  

that this is an unhealthy thing for everyone  um I just can can only speak my experience

[Music] oh

okay well I have procrastinated long enough it  is time to finish this project if uh you want  

a wonderful challenge for improving your internal  dialogue and your inner life I recommend doing a  

big painting project without any distractions  because boy you are going to have to come to  

terms with all those thoughts going through your  head because you are literally watching paint dry  

I'm going to get back to work but I also wanted  to let you know I do have my Etsy shop open I am  

not going to have it open for too much longer  I am expecting baby soon so I will be closing  

in several weeks and I appreciate your support  there if you are interested in my art or on my  

patreon where I make extra videos about simple  living there of course is never any obligation  

but I always like to share it as a way to support  my work as an artist and this channel thank you  

so much for being here I'm sending you so so  much love and I'm going to go and finish this

goodbye

now many years later I'm continuing to learn  how to do things differently and have made  

enormous progress I've learned slowing down  isn't about what's happening outside we don't  

always have control over that but a shift within  I'm continuing to develop a balanced relationship  

with the internet not to fuel unhealthy mindsets  in comparison and consumerism once I made a few  

small changes I started to become more aware of  what triggered unhelpful feelings and wanted to  

weed that out even more and I think the best part  of the process was that as I distanced myself from  

the online world and balanced it the world started  to seem less angry and my mind stopped feeling  

exhausted all the time and I liked that taking  Tak a break from information overwhelm helped my  

brain reset and become more quiet more attentive  it became easier to find Wonder again obviously I  

love the internet but I do think it can be helpful  to consider our relationships with the things we  

use most in our lives and make sure they align  with how we want to use the very limited time  

we have this personal inquiry started me on  a journey perhaps it will do the same for you