Social media is here to stay

I must admit that I've been very slow to jump on the social media bandwagon.  I have Facebook and LinkedIn accounts, but I don't use them much and I'm sure I only touch the surface when it comes to all the features available.  I don't understand why people think anyone would want to know that they just ate a giant bowl of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, it's snowing outside, or that they just finished cleaning up after a sick puppy.

As annoying as the personal updates are, in many ways the "professional" updates are worse.  Constant contact isn't necessarily productive or effective content.    I often wonder how successful some professionals can possibly be if they spend all day every day sending out tweets, Facebook updates, and changes to their LinkedIn profiles.  I simply find the never-ending updates and links hawking goods and services that I don't want or need to be very intrusive and irritating.

Perhaps it's because I'm an HSP/introvert that I find it all so overwhelming.  Or maybe I'm just old-school.  Whatever the reason, I'd better find a way to get used to it, because it looks like social media is here to stay. It pains me to say that, but I'm afraid it's true.  Don't believe me, check out this video, then you decide.

Icon image by mfinley designs.

Forgiveness

The subject of forgiveness has been a ongoing theme for me for some time now - longer than I like to admit.  I've experienced a lot of pain in my life, and I've had lots of experience at forgiving.  However, I'm still fascinated by the process, particularly the correlation (or lack of it) between the intensity of the hurt and my relationship with the person who hurt me.  

While I could spend time analyzing how and why I forgive, or don't, it's irrelevant.  What matters is that forgiveness is something that I have to do, whether I want to or not, and whether it's easy or not.  It's not something I need to do for the people who've hurt me.  It's something I need to do for myself.  I've written more about the importance of forgiveness and the specific challenges of forgiving a family member at Suite101.

2010: The Year in Review

2010 started with such great hope and optimism.  While it got off to a good start, my enthusiasm for a great year didn't last long. From a potentially blinding eye problem resulting in major surgery, to the complicated and confusing end of an important relationship, to saying good-bye to a small business I'd run for nearly 10 years, 2010 was a year of endings.  

This season of grief has been overwhelming at times, but it has not been without its opportunities for growth.  I've learned a lot in the midst of the storm.

Things are not always as they seem.  Nothing made this point clearer than undergoing cataract surgery in July 2009, followed by emergency surgery for a detached retina only six months later. What we see with our eyes is rarely all there is.  Life would be so much richer if we could see our lives the way God sees them.

God is teaching us things even when He seems silent.  It would be wonderful if God called us on our cell phones or sent a text message when He had something important to say to us.  Unfortunately, He doesn't work that way.  God is communicating with us all the time, it's just harder to hear Him and know what to do when He seems silent.  But, it's during those times of silence that it's more important than ever to strive even harder for an intimate, personal relationship with Him.

Growth requires letting go. Situations and people enter our lives for a reason, and usually only for a season.  Rarely does a situation or a relationship last forever.  Part of maturing is learning to acknowledge that as we change, our needs and our priorities change as well.  We can be thankful for the learning opportunities that were provided when we needed them, yet still be prepared to gracefully move on when they are no longer working for us.  Periodically we need to reexamine our lives and take an honest inventory of whether the things and people we surround ourselves with our helping or hindering our spiritual and emotional growth.  We need to nurture and develop those things that are healthy, and gracefully let go of those that are not.

Sometimes acceptance is more important than rationalization.  Sometimes we can analyze and rationalize ourselves into knots, expending countless time and energy but never resolving the issue that challenges us.  I'm learning that understanding the what and why of a situation is not nearly as important as accepting the reality that it exists and moving forward accordingly.

If the shoe doesn't fit, maybe it's the wrong size.  Many of us go through life wearing other peoples' expectations, goals, and dreams, all the while thinking that they are our own.  If things just aren't working for us, or if we've achieved the trappings of success that we thought we wanted, only to find that something is still missing, maybe it's because we're not being true to our most authentic selves.

Despite facing one challenge and/or disappointment after another in 2010, I am thankful for the lessons I learned and the clarity I received about some things that have been troubling me for some time.  Perhaps most importantly, even though 2010 didn't turn out the way I'd hoped, I made it through and I'm entering 2011 with an even greater sense of hope and optimism for the New Year.

Wishing you love, joy, peace and prosperity in 2011!








Photo credit

Spiritual deadheading

Even though it's the middle of winter, my mind drifted to gardening today.  Specifically I found myself thinking about deadheading flowers.  Go figure.  

Perhaps it's the approaching New Year that has been contemplating what I need to leave behind as I enter into the New Year.  

Whatever the reason, I just posted an article on the parallels between the deadheading I due in my garden to help my flowers and shrubs be as beautiful and as healthy as they can be and the spiritual deadheading that I believe God calls each of us to do in our lives.  

An open letter to boomers

I wish I'd written this post, but I didn't.  I found it today on LinkedIn, posted by David on the Aspiring Writers Group board.  He says he didn't write it either, but he doesn't think that the original author would mind if others shared it.  I tend to agree, so here it is, reposted in its entirety as I found it.

WE ARE AWESOME !!!

No matter what our kids and the new generation think about us, 

WE ARE AWESOME !!! 

OUR Lives are LIVING PROOF !!! 

To Those of Us Born between 1925 - 1970 : 

~~~~~~~~~ 

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE 1930s, '40s, '50s, '60s and '70s!! 

First, we survived being born to mothers who may have smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant. 

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes. Then, after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummiesin baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints.We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets, and, when we rode our bikes,we had baseball caps,not helmets, on our heads.As infants and children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes..Riding in the back of a pick- up truck on a warm day was always a special treat. We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one actually died from this. We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter, and bacon. We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar. And we weren't overweight. WHY?Because we were always outside playing...that's why! We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.No one was able to reach us all day.--And, we were OKAY. 

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride them down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes.. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem..We did not have Play Stations, Nintendos and X-boxes. There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVDs, no surround-sound or CDs, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet and no chat rooms. WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them! We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits from those accidents. We would get spankings with wooden spoons, switches, belt, ping-pong paddles, or just a bare hand, and no one would call child services to report abuse. We ate worms, and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever. We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls, and -although we were told it would happen- we did not put out very many eyes. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them. Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team.Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law! These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers,problem solvers, and inventors ever. The past 50 to 85 years have seen an explosion of innovation and new ideas...We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all. If YOU are one of those born between 1925-1970, CONGRATULATIONS! 

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good. While you are at it, forward it to your kids, so they will know how brave and lucky their parents were. Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it ?

Giving great gifts doesn't have to break the bank

Today I started a series of articles for Suite101.com on gift ideas in time for the holiday shopping season.  If you're looking for creative, unusual and inexpensive give ideas, check out Inexpensive Gift Basket Ideas Using Dollar Store Items, 6 Easy and Inexpensive DIY Gardening Gift Ideas, and Inexpensive Gift Ideas for All Types of Gardeners

Revelations from the road

My recent road trip held even more revelations than I'd anticipated in my previous post.  I started my journey with my GPS, but also with printed directions from MapQuest.  Even though I knew the GPS would get me there turn by turn, the ability to see the "big picture" was an extra measure of security for me.

As it turned out, my parents were on a road trip of their own, traveling north as I was, about an hour or so ahead of me.  Not long into my journey my Mom called me to give me her version of the real-time traffic reports.  She strongly suggested that I avoid I-95 at all costs because of extremely heavy holiday traffic.  So, as it turned out, my big picture directions which had me traveling on I-95 for much of the way were suddenly useless.  I had to laugh at the irony of having to rely on my GPS after all.

As I reached the DC area, something unexpected happened.  Even though I was driving east towards Annapolis to avoid I-95, my GPS refused to recalibrate for the new route and for about 30 miles it insisted on telling me to turn at every conceivable exit in order to make my way towards Baltimore to connect with I-95.  While trying to ignore the directions coming from the GPS, I started thinking about the voices of often well-meaning friends and others who try to convince us to go in the direction they think we should be going, even if we know the path that we're supposed to be taking.  While their directions may still get us where we need to go, there may be a better path for us to take.  After all, God can see those obstacles and challenges ahead that we and others can't see.

After I crossed the Bay Bridge and got past the exits to Baltimore, I noticed another interesting pattern.  The GPS stopped talking altogether.  For about 40-50 miles there was complete silence.  At some point I realized that the reason the GPS wasn't giving me directions was because there weren't any.  I was on the road I was supposed to be on, so there was nothing more to say.  At that point I realized there's another reason why God is sometimes silent.  When we're doing what we're supposed to be doing, we simply need to keep at it until God tells us to do otherwise.

I'd say this was a pretty productive trip!