Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Appreciating our Inner Circles

After reading my last post and not seeing me anywhere else on line much over the last couple of days, my mom sent me a text, “Are you ok?” I had to give a little laugh at the time, half heartedly expecting SOME type of response from her; I mean it was a bit of a DARK piece! (It wasn’t coming from some place in my current life; it was simply something inside that needed to come out) After attempting a texting conversation, I gave up and called her.


We first talked, of course, about what I had written, and its relevance. We continued with our writing, and how we love getting comments on our blogs. She again encouraged me to get out there more, be sure to leave my own comments on others blogs. The conversation then turned to Facebook, and the commenting or lack thereof that occurs there; we are basically Cyber Stalkers!! We silently navigate our way through this On-Line world, occasionally leaving our mark. We step into the world of others, our “friends”, our “associates” or FILL IN THE BLANK, but we don’t actually appreciate our connections.

My mom is, of course, the one who WOULD, after having the slightest question in her mind, take action and make contact with me after reading a “disturbing” blog post. But, it is a funny thing. When it comes to others that we claim to care about, we don’t take the actual time required to care. Their personal topic/circumstance could be absolutely wonderful, it could be a little on the lonely side or even have an air of pain, and yet we often just breeze on by. Some type of “emotion” or thought comes up for us in response to what we have read. But we don’t bother to share that. We don’t share our excitement or concern, or even offer the slightest hint of emotion, reflection or empathy. We don’t allow ourselves the opportunity to relate with those that we actually cared enough to make contact with in the beginning!

Perhaps, like me, you questioned responding to that “Friend Request”. Maybe you wanted to send one out, but you hesitated. But in the end, we made a conscious decision to do so or not. Thereby, sending out to the universe a message. That entire sequence happened for SOME REASON. We likely entered into a “relationship”. Be it friendship, teacher, student etc. There is something there for us. Why then is it that we ignore what comes back to us?

Although it is often easy to become distracted, I try to remember that every person we encounter, each individual that comes into our lives is there for a reason. I believe that every person we come across is there for us to learn from or that we have something to share with them. I suppose that is why this conversation with mom really hit something inside of me. I am guilty, just like so many others, of neglecting the relationships in our lives.

I, we all, make a conscious choice each and every day. We CHOOSE who it is that we are going to allow in our lives. We handpick who gets to stay in our “Inner Circle”. It therefore is entirely up to us what we get out of that relationship.

We can fully appreciate the people we let remain in our lives, or we can ignore them and allow the union to wilt: lose out on the opportunity to experience the goodness (lessons, love, etc.), allow them to leave our world without ever fully being acknowledged.

I hope to be a little more conscious of these things the next time I am walking through the pages of my friends lives.

6 comments:

Good post Laurinda, and so true. I try to visit everyone I have on my list of blogs fairly regularly, but I only leave comments for a few, mostly because of time issues. I was surprised the other day to see how many people actually visited my blog in a day. I had never checked my stats. It is so nice when people comment though!!
 
As I mentioned to you yesterday, I am making a conscious effort to post some kind of comment on every blog I visit. I so appreciate all of the comments I receive on my own blog(s). I agree with Carmen though, that time is often a barrier. How nice it will be when I retire and have time to visit more blog friends!
 
Hi Laurinda!

I think it's great that you are so conscious about why, how and with whom you choose to communicate, especially since the ease of communication sometimes has us making choices about socializing like inviting someone to event or starting a conversation we may not have made without social networking tools.

I think the internet can encourage us to be a bit secretive about our actions (cyber stalking) too, or we might express things online that we wouldn't in person. We can visit Facebook profiles and blogs, getting to know someone without even talking to them.

So I think it's very cool that you and your mom talk about your writing, blogs and Facebook habits together. So open! I think I will try that too. It will help me share in person what I am more inclined to just write on the internet. It will also help me be more purposeful in my relationships, so thank you!

-Ashley
 
Thank you!

Carmen,it really does feel good to see that people ARE coming by doesn't it?

Mom and Carmen, yes time can be a factor at times, I always say, "oh, I'll come back to this one" and don't always!

Ashley, thank you for coming by! I am glad you liked it and found somethings to take with you from it.

I HAVE been making a serious effort to not be so much like a Cyber Stalker, and more of a friend, or follower as the case may be!!
 
I try so hard to be a good commenter because I know how much I appreciate every comment and every follow...the hard reality is, life gets in the way! I think we all do the best we can:)
Newest followe who will do her best to pop by once in a while!
 
Thanks so much Modern Mom! Life really does get in the way, even with my efforts this week, I still find myself slipping quietly around!

Thanks for coming by, look forward to hearing from you (I love comments too!!) and I LOVE your blog as well!
 
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