What do you do when you stand in line?

Can you wait patiently?

Can you maintain focus on the back of your predecessor’s head?

Can you keep your mind engaged without a glance at technology?

What about in the nonlinear lines in which we spend our time—

the doctor’s office, the DMV, the pew of a church, the crowd of a jury duty summons—

can we resist the urge to pull out a device or even a book?

Why is it so hard to disconnect with technological distractions?

Why do we accept every diversion rather than engaging with our surroundings?

Why do we find the need to fill space when there’s beauty, joy and hope right in front of us?

Can you go offline for a day? How about an hour? Maybe start with 10 minutes.

Find a moment, a minute of freedom.

Enjoy the sunshine or a cloudy sky.

Make eye contact with a stranger.

Take a breath and let your body be.

Pray in the middle of the day.

There, in that offline state, you can reorient yourself to the line you want your life to follow.

You can see forward, instead of being stuck in the past.

You can set straight a vision for a life worth actually living rather than a charade of tethered reactions.

Choosing to be offline might be your greatest chance to set things straight.