After I finish a phone call and before I start something else, I simply pause. When I pull into work in the morning and when I pull into my driveway in the evening, I pause.

My soul just can't do life at the speed of smartphones. But I was asking it to; everybody's asking theirs to.

A workspace with minimal distractions A daily walk (many would write in the morning, stop for lunch and a stroll, spend an hour or two answering letters, and knock off work by two or three in the afternoon) A clear dividing line between important work and busywork Limited social lives.

Like my evening walk.

Turn your phone off at 8:00 p.m. Give yourself some evening time for real things. And banish all technology from your bedroom.

If not us, who? If not now, when?

The great French Marshall Lyautey once asked his gardener to plant a tree. The gardner objected that the tree was slow growing and wouldn't reach maturity for 100 years. The Marshall replied, In that case, there is no time to lose; plant it this afternoon!

We must use time as a tool, not as a crutch.

But this is human life: the war, the deeds, The disappointment, the anxiety, Imagination's struggles, far and nigh, All human; bearing in themselves this good, That they are still the air, the subtle food, To make us feel existence. -Keats, Endymion This is the 'goal' of the soul path — to feel existence; not to overcome life's struggles and anxieties, but to know life first hand, to exist fully in context. (Thomas Moore, Care of the Soul, p.260)

La vita è un'avventura da vivere, non un problema da risolvere.

Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans. You better believe it.

We don't have to do it any better than we can - ever. Do our best for the moment, then let it go. If we have to redo it, we can do our best in another moment, later.