With Mayo Clinic oncologist Edward T. Creagan, M.D.

As the holiday season slowly winds down, I hear patients and colleagues express a sense of relief that the expectations, the planning, and the demands of this season are now over … at least for another year. The holiday season has become big business and some retailers start the holiday frenzy in September.

At a wonderful Christmas gathering with our family, a beloved sister-in-law shared a fascinating story. She and her family were vacationing at a remote beach along the North Shore of Lake Superior. A few hundred yards down the beach was a family of about six to eight young couples with children and, yes, the obligatory golden retrievers and Labrador retrievers.

It was a festive scene of families simply enjoying each other. But wait … there was something missing. The scene was unnatural. The scene was almost un-American. Not one person had a cell phone! Not one person had a Blackberry or a Trio.

On the way to the parking lot, my sister-in-law asked one of the women about the absence of technology, and it was made crystal clear that when this group meets the phones are left in the car. If there is an emergency, obviously the phones can be retrieved, but there is a shared collective effort that this time together will not be wasted by the intrusion of modern technology.

This point was also raised during a Christmas service where the minister talked about the epidemic of "intermittent partial attention." While we are on the phone, we are catching up on e-mail. While we are listening to our partner, we also have one ear on the television. Yes, the ancient sages were right. Stay in the moment, focus on the day, and we can clearly savor the goodness, the peace, and the joy in each waking moment.

This is also a resounding message from the members of our digital community as well. The past is over; the future may never come; so let's put our energies right where they belong, in the precious present.

And what can each of us do to be present, to be engaged and to listen to our families, colleagues and friends?

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