We’re all hooked – we’re all social media junkies. Think you can stop anytime? When was the last time you promised to close the computer NOW and found yourself still sitting there at dusk?
We’re tweeting our Tweeps, fanning our Facebooks, blah-blah-blogging…. are we losing our ability to look each other in the eye without a device between us?
Is being fully present a thing of the past?
Left to our own devices, we might never come out from behind our teeny, tiny screen-centered universes. How do you keep from losing your connection to yourself?
In this world of type and click, nothing clicks you into place better than hot yoga. It is the one place where you have no choice but to you open up and close down those multiple-urls hovering above your head.
Hot 26 yoga in 105 degrees with a teacher talking instructions as you look into your own eyes in the mirror, not at the Gumby body next to you. You are fully focused on just one thing: surviving!
Watch how fast your paltry worries and your overloaded To Do List become unimportant by comparison.
Just 90 minutes of hot yoga and you’re back in the present, without being tense. From there, you can connect with everyone else, including yourself.
A device itself can be an obstacle to getting close, or it can be a boon. When it comes to touchy-feely closeness, the only device that brings people closer is birth control. But the device of social media can actually create worldwide closeness.
But please, let us see the whites of your eyes every now and then.
Stay conscious; stay present; stay with it. And every now and then, let go.
What’s your favorite way to connect in person or online? COMMENT HERE
I love this Rhonda! I was eating out alone the other day and noticed how many people were sitting together yet saying nothing to one another ~ each was engaged in their phone, iPad or laptop. I am making a real effort to be fully present more, especially with my kids. Yes, I’ve been known to complete a 20 second task on my iPad at a stop light . . .
This is so great Rhonda! I love how you said let’s see the whites of your eyes. I do worry about how people just aren’t present to the conversations at hand now because of all these mobile devices people can’t live without!
I love this reminder to get centered with all of the stimulation we are receiving from social media. It is so important to have quiet time and really connect with our inner spirit. Wonderful article!
I can’t even believe I am doing what I am doing on SM or anything else internet/computer related. I have become a mother to another. I get up before work and where I once used to chill, first thing I do now is turn on the computer.
Great post Rhonda!
Thanks for this, Rhonda! We all need meditative and movement practices that keep us in our bodies and on the earthly plane. Hot yoga is a great recommendation for those purposes.
You have given some good points here, Rhonda.
Of course, the real problem is talking or texting or even glancing at the phone while driving. We all know how dangerous it is, but the habit is a strong one….best not to start but once you do, it’s like being an addict who says, “I can stop anytime,” but then doesn’t!
Hi Mandy…Sometimes I applaud technology for showing us that yes, we can actually transcend the physical world. Time and space disappears when you’re on the Net. But the beauty of the physical world has value too!
I highly recommend hot yoga when you’re ready for that “exercise” Theresa – it’s one of those “excersises” that gets into your soul, too!
Love it…
You got it right! I find myself watching my phone at dinner or in the carpool lane or even at church! These things have become so integrated into our lives we have to be careful to not be completely disconnected to the physical world.
Very good points, Rhonda. Sometimes I find it very hard to disconnect from the technology. I sometimes miss those days when people would call your house and leave a message…then wait patiently for a return call…if you weren’t home. What I’d give to not have heart palpitations when I forget my phone at home. I have been doing a better job at taking better care of myself with regards to food and sleep…next is exercise!
Yes, once you have connected with yourself, you can authentically connect with others. This post brings up a lot of valuable points, Rhonda. I like walking for connecting with myself and with nature. : D
Really enjoyed this post, Rhonda! Yes, we do need to schedule time just to “BE!” Social media is great yet I think, from some of the comments above, some times it is carried too far! LOL! AND other times, it does bring people closer together. I have met wonderful friends through social media that I would have never otherwise met. It’s just to find that happy medium!
Great analogy! Your right about all the interruptions and distraction. We need to just “be” and make sure we schedule the time to do it .
Hi Gina – My favorite way to connect is over a meal, too. Sometimes I go to the same local restaurants where the food is only so-so, to partake of the joy of sitting across the table from a dear friend and feeling nourished on toasty sandwiches, hot coffee, and warm words. Hot yoga, on the other hand, is a whole new level of connection – oftentimes you automatically feel connected to those in the hot yoga room, because you are all very literally and in the same moment sharing the same struggle. It’s a lot like this life we all share, only we don’t always see ourselves as fellow travelers as clearly as we do through the steam of hot yoga.
Hi Denny – I had the same exact experience about 8 years ago, carpooling my son and his friend…my son in the front seat texting, his friend in the back seat texting…turns out they were texting to each other! Kids….!
Oh I so agree, that people are all over their digital devices, thinking they’re more connected than ever before when really they are absent from those in their very space! I love to connect over a meal. It seems like a lost art. I think connecting after a yoga class sounds pretty cool too, but no one does hot yoga in our town. Of course during the summer we could just go outside and enjoy 40% humidity and 105 degree weather! I’ll have to find a yogi to teach at the park!
great post – the world has shrunk and we can’t be with some of our connections in person due to distance… social media and tools close that gap – I love em for that!!! great job!
Yes, you have touched upon the other side of this invaluable coin…just the other day my granddaughter and a few of her friends were together, each with their cell phones in hand busily texting away….I interrupted and suggested they enjoy each others company while they were together…turns out they were texting each other WHILE sitting beside each other ??? Huh? New one on me!