Hello,
Let me start by saying you don’t need technology to practice Love. You don’t need anything other than your brain (check) and the will to change your mind (check?). But technology can make this extremely difficult process of becoming a more Loving person a little easier—and anything that can help with that is like a public washroom after chugging an AriZona iced tea. Much appreciated.
Here’s my current tech setup for practicing Love. It’s simple and not overly expensive. You just need a smartphone and a smartwatch. I use an Apple iPhone and an Apple Watch because when I was in grade 4, my parents bought me an Apple iBook G4, and I’m been sucked into the Applesphere ever since. “Get ‘em young!” is, I think, Apple’s slogan.
Devices You’ll Need
Smartphone
Smartwatch
Apps You’ll Need
Reminders app
You’ll use this app to set hourly reminders to practice—these reminders should be sent to your watch
Voice Memos app
You’ll use this app to record your practice successes and failures, to be logged later in your Become Love Log
How to Use This Setup
Set hourly reminders using the Reminders app. My first reminder starts at 06:00 and reads, “The goal of my life is to BECOME LOVE.” That way, the minute I wake up, I’m reminded what my day is all about: “Oh right, becoming more Loving.”
Then, I set hourly reminders alternating between “Repeat Love” and “Practice PFGC (patience, forgiveness, gratitude, and compassion).”
So at 07:00, I get the reminder, “Repeat Love.” I stop for a few moments and repeat the word ‘Love’ to myself, silently, five to ten times. Then I go back about my day.
At 08:00 I get the reminder, “Practice PFGC.” I stop and look around to see if there’s some way I can practice Love in this moment. If yes, I do it. If not possible, no problem; it’s good to be reminded, and I go back about my day.
If you’re working on a specific practice this week, for instance if you’re working through the Commit in Stages Plan: Stand-up Meditation (Practice PFGC) from The Coaching Edition, you can set a specific reminder for that practice. Example: If you're focusing on practicing infinite patience towards yourself, then every two hours, set a reminder, “Practice infinite patience towards myself.” Update that each week as you change your practice focus.
That’s it for Reminders. It’s simple but effective. Our days are busy and we get distracted. Having an hourly reminder to practice the Love we know will make us feel better is extremely helpful.
Next. The Voice Memos app.
After you’ve practiced PFGC, or even after you’ve failed to practice, use the Voice Memos app to log what happened. To make this as quick a process as possible, I put a button on my watch face, I click it, and I’m sent to the Voice Memo app. So if I go out of my way to thank the nice cooks at Five Guys for being generous with the fries, I click my Voice Memo app button and say, “Gratitude Five Guys.”
Then, at the end of my day—or when I have a spare moment—I open my Become Love Log and log that gratitude practice.
You can do the same thing for PFGC fails. So when I flipped that guy off for throwing a banana peel out of his car window, I made a voice memo, “Patience/forgiveness fail, driving, banana peel.”
In the future, I’d love for there to be a Become Love Log app on my phone where I could send these memos directly. If you know how to design such an app, send me an email: alexander@becomelove.ca.
Wrap-up
That’s it. Just two devices and two apps keep me focused on practicing Love all day. Using my tech this way, I’ve turned devices that usually distract me into ones that help me achieve my number one goal. Make technology work for you.
My phone and my watch have become the tools of my practice. I’m like Batman without all those billions and unresolved trauma.
Good Love,
Alexander De Jordy
Become Love Coach
Founder, The Become Love Company