Here's a fun one from Helgi Páll Einarsson of Everyday Wonderland, The internet vs. inner peace (emphasis mine).
I'm sure many of you recognize the symptoms of being mentally over-stimulated; email, RSS, instant messaging, forums, blogs, podcasts, social networking services, etc., together working to create a constant stream of information that demands your attention all day every day. ... Speaking from my own experience, all of this ... has proven to be a great challenge in my spiritual practice.
He then suggests some methods to bring the spiritual practice back into a world of over-stimulation. I've taken to Victor Davich's 8 Minute Meditation techniques, and have found a lot of value in starting my day this way -- and in reconnecting throughout the day. This is what Einarsson is suggesting, I think.
Einersson's "remedies for this self-inflicted attention deficit disorder:"
- Observe your breath
- Listen to silence
- Feel the aliveness within
- Stop thinking
In 8 Minute Meditation, the essence of the recommendations is "allow, allow, allow." Recognize the sounds in the environment, the thoughts running through my head, the sensations in the body, and allow them all. And Einarsson closes with the important notice that all this requires practice.