Did I mention my lack of focus and short-term memory loss in my last column? Anyway, if I didn't, it's become a wee bit of a problem of late. And though it pains me, I simply must lay the blame for this vexing issue at the crazy-cute feet of my diapered darling. In my efforts to ape her behavior—à la the recommendations in Harvey Karp's Happiest Toddler on the Block— I'm now the unhappy owner of a 2-year-old's attention span.
Since I write for a living, mentally bouncing around like a ping-pong ball is not ideal. So when a recent round of deadlines loomed, I headed straight for my jewelry box. There, buried beneath a tangle of turquoise beads, I spotted my long-forgotten Q-Link pendant necklace. Although I'd worn it constantly after it crossed my desk accompanied by literature describing its ability to reduce stress and increase focus, I hadn't given it much love lately.
Curious how this unassuming blob of silvery metal might help me get back in the zone, I called Richard Gray, president and chief operating officer of Clarus, the company that makes the Q-Link. He explained that each pendant is embedded with a little chip that balances your own personal "biofield." While groovier cultures, like the entire Eastern half of the universe, refer to the biofield as the chakra or meridian system, we Westerners like to get all techy and roboty when we name something.
Basically, the Q-Link is meant to block a lot of the not-great stuff winging at us from our cell phones, our computers, our GPS devices, etc. Happily, I'm no gadget girl (half the time I don't even know where my BlackBerry is), so I don't surround myself with technology 24-7. But it's not as though I craft my work on a stone slate, so I'm definitely getting a little electromagnetic action on a regular basis.
Still, I'm more interested in how Q-Link can help with the bits and pieces of life that don't require a battery charger. "Stressors can be psychological," says Gray, "like having a row with your partner or getting cut off on the freeway. And these things change the optimum balance of the energy systems."
Although Gray recommends wearing the Q-Link around-the-clock (even when, as my tot says, "Mommy go night-night"), I decided to shoot for just a couple of consecutive workdays. And I'll be damned if I didn't feel a lot more tuned-in. I finished my assignments, shopped online for my spring wardrobe, and taught my tyke all about the wonders of plastic grass to line her Easter basket. Of course, I collapsed the second the Saturday nanny arrived, retiring to my boudoir for a five-hour power nap. But my point is this: When I really needed my Q-Link to come through for me, it absolutely did.
By calming down and mitigating the effects of our plugged-in world, I was able to focus. Three cheers for a balanced biofield!
