In the world of Earth Medicine, the healing realms of plants, animals, and stones (rocks, gemstones, earth, etc., think animal, vegetable, mineral), there is so much to see and experience. We can also look up to the Sun, planets and outer cosmos for insight and inspiration.
Every day we have the opportunity to make meaning of what comes our way from the natural world, and also seek it out when we are in need of curative results. I’m reading all about the Perseid meteor showers today and anticipating a beautiful show under the beautiful Oregon blanket this week. I look to the skies to balance my earthy nature, to lift me up and show me the world from a different perspective, as I suffer a bit from myopia down here on the ground sometimes. It’s my natural gesture, to be up close and personal with the plants and animals, and helping to mediate the natural world. It’s always been a great comfort to me and so I find myself returning again and again, to learn, to pay in gratitude, and to recharge.
I think this return to blogging is also sort of like that. I’m getting to know myself again after ten evolutionary years of writing online. One thing the Facebook issue has taught me (among the many lessons) is that it’s easy to get lost in the chaos-the sea of everything else rather than the wee pond of what’s in front of me. I love my little pond, my SouLodge community, and real conversations. I have missed them greatly. I’m still on Facebook today, as I and my team reorganize our groups and make the move consciously, trying to take care not to leave folks hanging, but I am looking very forward to the day coming soon when I can say goodbye!
I’m deeply appreciative that I get to reacquaint myself with my voice here and hear yours with more focus.
Here are a few differences I’ve noticed since the preliminary breakup with Facebook:
- My mind is free to daydream (an underrated pastime).
- I feel much more creative energy, which happens when we detox-all overstuffed channels begin to move again.
- I felt a sense of dread when I checked in each day about what I was going to see that I didn’t want to.
- I love the challenge of dreaming up something more beautiful and aligned with my ethics and what I want for those who participate in Lodge.
- I’m writing again, in my journal and here, YAY!
- I get to link to people/articles/neat stuff as much as I want to without crowding up my timeline! (You have to read The Web We Have to Save to fully appreciate this one.)
- My visions for how I want to spend my time and what I want to do are more clear.
- I realize that I’m part of an exodus greater than just my own- that by coming back home to my site and looking for supportive resources which enhance our experience rather than distract us, we can get back on track-and back outside with our focus on the earth and sky-the real medicine.
So, here’s a challenge. I know many of you were bloggers back in the day. Tell me, what do you miss about your own writerly voice in your own writerly space, if anything? What is your relationship to your voice? What beautiful, close-up details get missed in the sea of social media?
Dear Pixie, brava! I spent two weeks at Mt.Shasta, unplugged from media and plugged into nature. Absolutely divine! This morning, I was pondering creating a personal blog to share with friends (which I have never done before). Posting on FB doesn’t resonate for me. Do you recommend a blog hosting company? Thank you and many blessings.
Heather
P.S. I received your book…I look forward to reading it as soon as I get moved into our new home.
Heather, I use Bluehost.com now but I’ve used Site5 in the past. Typepad was where I spent the most time as a blogger back in the day. I use a WordPress template now and the site was designed in ProPhoto. Hope that helps to get you writing!
Yes, yes, yes to “…it’s easy to get lost in the chaos-the sea of everything else rather than the wee pond of what’s in front of me.” When I am outside working in the gardens, walking through the woods, hanging laundry, fully engaged in my pond, I find words flow into me and I have so much I want to write, so much that wants to come through. But when I end up in that chaotic sea, my voice and that desire are drowned out. My journal centers me in my world. My own blog, the one I don’t end up circling back to enough, is me strong and loud and clear, pouring out those words, connecting to resonating others. It’s been healthy to watch your process, helpful to remember what these social media choices really create (or do not create) in our daily lives. When I look at it, I realize I continue the FB relationship only because of a small few contacts that I gain much from. But in reality are maybe 1% of the time I actually end up in that sea. Much to think of – thank you for the continued teaching! Aho.
Melanie, thank you for this. I find that it’s in the early mornings and late nights that the ideas for what I want to write come in-like dreams. Once I get pulled into the day, no matter what is distracting me, I lose that inspiration. Beautiful reflection!
Hi There! I just discovered you. So exciting! I love your reflections about leaving FB. It resonates with much of how I feel. And I have just started to blog and finding my voice. It feels good.
You have a lovely website!
Hi Pixie (and community),
I loved reading this. I’ve never been someone who expresses my voice regularly via blogging, but in the past couple years I’ve tried–at least for the sake of starting my coaching business. I haven’t been consistent. I tend to write ideas and content for blogs in my hard-copy notebook or Evernote. It feel more “me”.
My issue with blogging is simply that I have not created the weekly habit of getting it out. I’ve contemplated how I can best share my voice with people. Maybe it’s podcasting, I don’t know. I’m just going to fall back on the path of least resistance and write for now.
The problem I see with social media saturation is that the “voices” are too loud. Spending time on Facebook, and sometimes other media, causes me to lose my voice and/or think about things I think I should care about. The other voices I “hear” are so loud that it causes a disruption in my awareness of my own purpose. I think it’s designed this way. Maybe it doesn’t affect others so much, but I’m not that good–I lose my focus. I once heard a violin virtuoso say that she excelled at violin because of “planned neglect”. I call it intentional neglect now. I MUST neglect the things that derail me from my path. And I have to remind myself of this daily or I’m back in the pit. I feel that anyone who is up to anything in their life needs this Bodyguard, this Space Holder, to say no to the BS. Saying yes to our purpose means making space for real moments in real-life.
What gets missed in the sea of social media is the authentic self. The approval-seeking self (ego) is running the show.
I made a commitment to get back to writing/blogging this week,no matter how bad it is or who isn’t reading. So, your post was very timely. I thank you. 🙂
Loved reading this Gabrielle! You have to check out my next post, you and I must have been sharing thoughts! I would love to read your writings!
I love this Pixie! I’ve been itching to get back to my blog, have it be my central place to share and muse. Not be distracted by other forms of media. “The Web we have to Save!” is a brilliant article, feeding my longing for the slow and lyrical, the reaching out and weaving in the web that used to prevail. There are reasons to go back to blogging….slower, deeper,expression for the sake of it, on my terms. Healing Voice! Yes!
i used to blog quite a lot for social media unexpectedly took over. I have tried to get back into that habit but so far it simply hasn’t happened, which makes me a little sad. ! A couple of weeks ago I migrated my blog to WordPress and am getting used to that forum. I planned to blog frequently again,..so far no. I want to, but something is holding me back which I am gold mining into. I was going to write a long comment then, going into detail. But heck, why don’t I just blog it?! A few years ago a huge and raw situation lead me to take two months off Facebook, no noticed to friends, just silence. It was blissful. I often wonder why I went back and the support I received in groups was one of the reasons. Moving locations to a softer, sweeter, quieter and more intimate space is just what so many of us need! Enjoying this transition phase and the lessons it is bringing up in me x
Hi Pixie,
I attempted to blog for a while and then it just fell down. My audience was teeny tiny and I just couldn’t “frame” my thoughts for anyone. I still have a journal and I write there often. I’ve done journaling since I was small and it always feels like home. The closest I kind of got to that again was on Tumblr, but I became too pre-occupied if anyone liked what I wrote. I sense a theme here… 🙂 I may pick up one or the other again- but, I always write in my journal = in cursive with pictures. And, I paint- I paint up a storm some times. I’m thinking of making an exodus from FB soon- I’m on Me We to continue in Soul Lodge- thank you for inviting me with you there. 🙂 <3
Love and Aho,
Eileen
Oh Pixie, I have been loving all of your latest posts. They and inspired me and have sparked a smoldering fire within me. I can’t stand Facebook!! For all the reasons you’ve mentioned, but mostly because of the dread it gives me. I have grown my followers from 1300 to 2700 in one year and it hasn’t increased my art sales at all. What has helped is doing local art shows and meeting REAL people, whom I can speak with and connect with. They want to support me, buy my art, write me emails, come to my home to hang out with me and buy more art (using your boundaries course to help me with this ;p ). IT HAS BEEN AMAZING! So, reading about all of your FB problems has really got me thinking about how I spend my time online and how I’ve been completely neglecting my 10 year old blog!! Over the last couple of years, my voice has become more and more quiet and it makes me so sad. I miss it. I’ve been inspired, by you, to get back into it more. My hope that there is people who feel the need to break away from the Stream and take time to read what I (and others) actually have to say. Thank you for giving a voice to something that has been mumbling inside me for so long.
I suppose it is my pure stubbornness that kept me blogging even when it felt like I was writing for the crickets and the wide and empty sky. In the few times when I wondered “Why do I keep doing this?” I almost stopped, but the habit – thank goodness! – was too well established. The gift of practice, right?! Because I blog first and foremost for me. It is a tool for helping me to slow down, to take breaks to think and reflect, digging into my life through writing and photography. Always, this is my intention: what I “do” is in service of connecting me more intimately and deeply with my life. When it becomes a distraction from my life, then I will know I’ve lost sight of its true purpose.
The choppy seas of social media is too much for this Vata-Girl; I prefer and need large spaces and chunks of time to play and create in. Perhaps the gift in the shift away from blogging has been a spaciousness to do what feels right – to do what feeds me – with little worry about how I might be perceived. The few people who do show up to my blog, well, there is time and space to read, digest, think about what was shared and come back in for comments and conversations. Interestingly enough, I’ve returned to old-fashioned letter writing with many of my more intimate friends/readers. To have a conversation unfold in the time of snail mail, oh sister! It is juicy goodness!
What I have been hungry for – and what I perceive in others – is the care and love expressed through attention. Taking time to slow down, read/listen, and respond signifies “I matter, you matter. I want to learn more about both of us.” This is where I believe I can make a difference in my small world.
LOVE sitting in this space with you – again! xo
Lisa, your handwritten letters are the bomb. Not some quickly scrawled note in a card-real letters!! I know you have been blogging for the reals for a long time, and I’m so glad you do. I don’t think it has anything to do with who reads it. Writing for writing’s sake is a good enough reason. Practice makes practice!
I’m so delighted to see so many women coming back to blogging – how it all began. These micro sites like FB made it easy to share a photo or a small update while getting sucked into taking a peek at what everyone else is up to.
I’m still on there with albeit with a vision to fully quit in the Spring of 2016 (I host community groups there as well).
I agree with Lisa above. Writing is slow, intentional, thought provoking, and intimate. It is a way to connect to those who are attracted to our stories, or pieces, ourselves. Our websites/blogs are our online homes, so I ask myself, why hang at the outlets when I can nurture my home + visit my friends.
Your writing is full of wisdom and wit. I’m glad you found your way back and the clearing it has offered you. Love to you, Pixie girl.