Both are gifts you can get and give; but our presence is available at no charge to us and at great benefit to those around us.
Human beings cannot multitask. What we are capable of is handling a number of serial tasks in rapid succession, or mixing automatic tasks with those that are not so automatic. That’s one of the reasons the NTSB reports that texting while driving is the functional equivalent of driving with a blood alcohol level three times the legal limit. You just can’t effectively attend to two things at once – even the superficially automatic ones.
So, how do we stay present? The first thing to recognize is that, try as we might, we really can only do one thing at a time, so we ought to do that thing wholeheartedly.
Ways to foster our own “presence” include focusing on our breathing (and taking a deep breath); stepping back and observing ourselves; letting go of things that are not actually happening in the moment (meaning, the past and the future).
A busy food service operation is a great place to practice being present. Let the giving begin!
Recent Comments