Tech-Challenged Technophile

What was the last thing you searched for online? Why were you looking for it?

I enjoy, invest in, and regularly play with/utilize technology in a variety of forms. I imagine I am “tech-savvy.” Searching for simple tech how-to’s on the web is embarrassing for me.

Yesterday I as listening to the Acoustic Hits playlist on Apple Music. I listen hands-free in the car while I am driving and Siri is always friendly and helpful. I got in the car, attached the phone to MagSafe charger, pressed the music app, and selected my playlist.

Apparently, I was not attentive to my touchscreen after the first song began to play because somehow I had transformed the music into “sing” mode, which dials down the lead vocals so you can sing along like karaoke. This was NOT the mode in which I wanted to listen while heading home.

I stopped. I attempted to turn off the sing mode in ways that seemed obvious to me. It did not working. So I decided that riding home in silence was my best choice since stewing is unbecoming to a meditative person of “deep spirituality” (my reference to myself yesterday afternoon-lol). Later in the evening, I searched (DuckDuckGo) for the answer; it was simple. This morning when I opened the app- you guessed it (maybe)- it played in “normal” mode. Who knew?

What I learned. Since I believe the Universe is always teaching me something, I considered what I was learning yesterday afternoon. First, I was reminded that all of life is practice; yesterday’s app-debacle was simply another opportunity to practice letting go (not unlike my centering prayer practice). Additionally, I was reminded to let go of destination-thinking, imagining and measuring my life by how close I am to “arriving/getting ‘there,’” wherever I imagine “there” is.

Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality [gift] to be experienced.

-Soren Kierkegaard

When I get caught up in my destination-thinking, I miss this beautiful gift of Now, of the Real; another way to express it is that I get caught up trying to see Reality through my lens, not as Reality is but as I am. Finally, rather than experiencing “asking a question” as an embarrassment (which I regularly assure others it is not!), I can simply be thankful to ask and learn.

Often learning, always being taught, sometimes teaching- this is being alive!