Tanya McGinnity

Caught up with errands and other projects over the past few days, I was taken away from my commitment to doing the daily exercises and reflections from The Mindfulist. I must say that I’m really enjoying the attention that I am able to cultivate from spending time on this site and re-framing whatever current thought pattern happens to be rattling around in my head at the time.

It’s remarkable how much of my life has been spent cultivating mindfulness and awareness on the meditation cushion but this knowledge and practice flies out the window when it comes to being out of the meditation hall. It’s kind of like forgetting you’re on a diet and somehow finding yourself at Ben & Jerry’s with a bellyful of Chubby Hubby.

Niklas' lovely kitty Lotta

Discipline is hard to cultivate no matter what format it needs to come in – Single scoop, half-pint or 1 litre.

Now onto my the reflections on one of the latest prompts found on The Mindfulist.

Mindfulist Meditation- “Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.” -Chinese proverb

You know that moment when you’re out on the town and you’re wearing the good ass pants. You’re feeling like you could take on the world but there is that screeching sensation from your mid-section as it yelps out to be released from the death grip of the scratchy waistband holding it in against its will. Many folks experience these when they get caught up in wanting to be more than they think they are. I’ve gone through this before – big time. Some of those stories and labels that I built up about who I was didn’t really reflect my true self. Maybe age helps to whitter away at this need to be larger than life.

Now with a greater digital interconnectedness, sometimes though, the pressure to conform or keep up with the ‘digital Jones-es’ can creep up and cause mental tension. Goodness knows there’s times when I feel it. When this hits me, I head to a quiet spot to do some self-reflection. I sit in the ickiness and pick and pull away at it like a cheap sweater. Why I’m caught up in the negative self-talk? Where is it rooted? What am I feeling left out of? What am I craving? If I had what I was grasping at, how would it change me? Would I really be that much better off?

Relaxation for me takes the form of some deep breathing and slowing down my thoughts. How about you? What does relaxation look like for you? When’s the last time you relaxed? What was the trigger for needing to call a ‘time out’?

Design print by newbeautiful on etsy.com

I’ve been giving some thought to how we connect with each other in the online space and after a recent offline exchange saw how easy it is to be a digital citizen who puts on the airs of knowledge in the space by being one of those folks who perpetually retweets the findings, thoughts and beliefs of other people but in person, demonstrates that they rely on the thoughts of others to prop up their identity.

I’m not trying to be a downer here. I’m not looking to call anyone out. I’m just hoping to spark a discussion or gather some thoughts from others who may have experienced this too.

The thinking behind this post might get back to my previous post on Identity Camp and how we self promote and connect online. It also might go back to my participation in communities during my “formative years” and how fearful I was of being stuck with the tag of ‘poser’. It was the ultimate diss for a skaterat to hear that word.

Authenticity is the currency of the web. It’s how we share, connect and express ourselves. Take a look at your digital presence and evaluate where you’re at.

Do you have a website? Is it listed in your Twitter bio? Do you still track analytics on your personal site or has this gone by the wayside?

Are you commenting on other people’s blogs? Are you as active as you once were or are you now spending all your time with the blue bird of Twitter?

Are you still blogging and displaying thought leadership or are you spending your time MilliVanilli-ing it up and retweeting everything that sounds remotely interesting as a link? (-50 points if you don’t bother to open the link before retweeting it and folks see that it’s obvious you didn’t read it in the first place).

One of my favourite bloggers is Gwen Bell. Sure her tweets are engaging, but it’s her blog that really gives me food for thought. Much more than 140 characters could ever lead me to. Same is true with Julian Smith and Chris Brogan. What these folks are doing is contributing to the ecosystem and bringing new perspectives and ideas to the table.

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