It's no effort

to scroll 
through the crumbs 
of comfort, connection
left by profiles on platforms
all searching for crumbs

or be busy 
with the glimmer
of matching and movement
in a game thinly based 
on Harry Potter. 
 
Harder

to sit 
with the feelings 
I don’t want to feel

put down 
my phone
and do something real. 

the real hard 
                         breathe in...
                                                  real work
                         don't want...
real truth
                         hold it...
                                                  of just really being
                         and release...
                                        
alone.

---

Backstory

For a good while I used to be pretty addicted to a Harry-Potter-inspired version of Candy Crush… and I’m not even the biggest Harry Potter fan but one of my kids was playing the game and I got sucked in.

I don’t play it anymore, but I find I always have some other game or show or habit that I can rely on to keep me safely distracted from the heaviness of fully experiencing myself, existing here and now.

And who’s to say distractions are a bad thing? Not me! Not all the time.

You have to pace yourself. Be real with yourself. Relax. Do what makes you happy.

If that means playing on your phone now and then, go for it.

Just maybe not all the time.

Not too much that you forget why you’re here. Or get scared to really be here.

Because there’s really just so much to get out of being here, when you can actually be here.

Alive, awake, and present.