Thursday 27 May 2010

Distracted


This morning, I de-activated my Facebook account...and, for some reason, I feel ridiculously happy about it. I´ve been trying to figure out why that should be for the last few hours and I think I might have sussed it out.

I read a quote recently by Herbie Hancock - “You would not exist if you did not have something to bring to the table of the life.” Yay Herbie, I´m with you on that one! We are all here to serve a positive purpose, we each have our own unique gift to offer to the world, our own paths to walk, our own dreams to fulfil, otherwise, quite simply, we would not be here.

Which is all well and good, but living as we do in what the Taoists refer to as “The World of the Ten Thousand Things”, we are surrounded by distractions (and I think it´s safe to say that there are more than just ten thousand) which makes it almost impossible for us to even figure out what our higher purpose is, let alone focus enough to actually achieve it.

Some distractions are good – they can energise us, revitalise and renew us, even inspire us. But if we are serious about bringing our gift to the table of life, then we need to be able to differentiate between positive distractions, and those that do nothing other than take our attention off the main goal by filling our minds with negativity or meaninglessness.

This will be different for everybody. For one person, playing a computer game would be seen as a total waste of time, for another, it sharpens the mind and the reflexes. Laying in a field, watching the clouds float across the sky would be an unthinkable squandering of time to some, while to others, it calms and inspires. Some people would be thrilled at the distraction of unannounced guests turning up on the doorstep, other people would see it as an intrusion on their time and energy and feel resentful. Nobody is right and nobody is wrong. The key is to recognise how you work, what helps and what hinders you. And that´s what I came to realise about Facebook. There´s nothing wrong with it, and I know a lot of people gain a great deal from it - it just turns out that I´m not one of them. It had become a negative distraction, with very little of interest to me personally and actually, at times, certain posts irritating me with their banality and self-indulgence. And yet, there I was, several times every day, scrolling through my news feed allowing myself to be distracted.

The universe is communicating with us all day long, quite often through our feelings and emotions, so it´s important to take notice. When we ignore our true feelings, when we allow ourselves to be surrounded and influenced by people who are not in harmony with our true purpose, when we take on board other people´s dramas and negativity, when we spend our time doing something that serves no function other than to distract us from the joy of our higher purpose, then it is all too easy to lose sight of our dreams.

So, now it´s official – I am no longer a member of the Facebook community, and the happiness and sense of lightness I feel, along with the extra whoosh of creativity that is now coursing through me, tells me that this was the right decision for me.

Be distracted and inspired by all means, just don´t be distracted by dross – whatever that is to you.

In the meantime, long live Twitter, that´s what I say!! ;)


Namaste.