I spend a lot of time on the phone.  I live a long way from my mum and we would have a couple of very long conversations a week.  Then there are friends – old and new – that due to circumstances are hard to find time for a face-to-face visit so we chat on the phone.  Over the years my social life stayed alive thanks to the phone.

The phone has offered many training opportunities for my children – probably the biggest was that they have learnt to interrupt conversations with respect (in recognising that there is another person on the other end of the phone.)

Though the phone is so much a part of my life – and a positive part of my life – there are also times that I need discipline.  There is always the danger of too much of a good thing.

Lately I am trying to discipline myself to do something with my hands while I talk on the phone.  One of the pre-requisites when we by a phone is that it fits a headphone – I must be hands-free when I spend this much time on the phone.

I have generally worked while having long conversations

• do the dishes
• prepare dinner
• do the ironing
• sweep and dry mop the floor
• polish leather couches
• clean out the fridge

But these days I’m trying to establish the new habit of doing something even for the short conversations.  Here are a few tasks that I have thought of so far:

• hang laundry – fold laundry – put it away
• dust
• clean ceiling fans (just one fan is progress)
• clean windows (once again one window is worth the effort)
• chop veggies / fruit platter
• prepare green smoothie (whizz it up after the conversation)
• clear my hotspots (the clutter that piles up)
• tidy a draw or cupboard
• clean a mirror

But then there are those other phone calls that I just sit down, enjoy the view and pretend we are having a cuppa tea together!