We recently learned a simple, powerful practice from Ginny Jordan, a founder of Bead for Life, and author of Clear Cut: One Woman’s Journey of Life in the Body. Acutely aware of how precious time is, Ginny found a way to quickly discern what is truly meaningful amid the endless time-consuming activities of modern life. She asks her self a simple question: Is it additive?

Here’s how she describes it:

Simply put, it is my way of creating a new measurement for my life…noticing, noticing what fills, nourishes and adds…when so very much at the end of the day lays neutral, at worse subtracts.

This is why I only allow myself two times a day at my computer…for 45 min…as FOR ME the screen starts to actually take something away..some hand reaches out and steals me away!!

Ginny’s emphasis on FOR ME is essential. What constitutes additive are personal and unique to each of us.

Since we spend quite a lot of time at the computer creating Improvised Life, asking Is it additive? can keep us from spinning off into mindless surfing and bring us back to what’s really important to us.

But we find asking Is it additive? helps hugely to clarify many kinds of choices we make throughout our precious day…

today clock reversed*

…whether it be how to spend our time…

…what to eat…

…what to buy…

…what exercise to do (or not)…

…ANYTHING we consider making part of our lives…

 

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2 replies on “‘Is it Additive?’ (Ginny Jordan)

  1. I like this idea so much, But heads’ up: every mention of the word “addictive” in this post lacks the letter “c.”

  2. Hi, what an interesting comment. The word is meant to be ‘additive’ not ‘addictive’, meaning: will it improve or strengthen me or my life? But replacing ‘additive’ with ‘addictive’ makes great sense in another way, since so many things in modern life are by nature addictive and not good for us. ‘Is it addictive?’ is another fine filtering question.

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