Hey there! Today I’m going to keep it short, sweet, and a little bit spicy. I’ve noticed that the general vibe of the world is even more chaotic than normal and I have a theory as to why.
Today I wanted to provide a quick lil’ reminder that we get to choose what we pay attention to. I for one get easily sucked into the world of social media (or is it anti-social media at this point?) and it always freaks me out when I check the time and realize how many minutes I have been mindless instead of mindful.
That’s when I know it’s time to practice what I call digital distancing.
paying (with) attention
While scrolling online the other day I saw a post that blew my mind and instantly shifted my perspective. It pointed out that if you’re on social media for 3 hours a day over the course of the year it equals… 45 days. That’s real – do the math.
If someone told you on New Years Day that you were going to spend 45 days of this year on your “smart” phone (aka dumb phone), would you sign up for that? Probably not. This goes to show how distracted and indoctrinated into this screen culture we really are.
We’re living through a period where attention is currency – specifically when it comes to social media. And what’s the payoff for us? Sure there’s some interesting info, a funny meme, and a dopamine hit here and there, but ultimately it leaves us depleted of real-life experience.
Social media is designed to trigger our nervous system and keep us engaged. That’s a fact. We are purposely shown information to engage us, or piss us off – these tech companies have done a ton of research on what makes us humans tick and they take advantage of our super sensitive biological reactions every time we open our apps.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not all bad and there’s nothing wrong with a little distraction here and there, but having agency over your attention is more important than ever.
focusing on what matters
Recently, someone mentioned something horrific that had happened a couple months ago and I didn’t know about it. They were completely shocked and said “are you living under a rock?” and I said “yeah, it’s great”. It was inconceivable to them that I wasn’t up to speed on this selective current event.
Here’s my question: Why do I need to know about every terrible news story? Why do I need to know how many people have been murdered this week? What am I supposed to do with this information? Having my brain and heart full of all the terrible $#!% going on in the world is not exactly a badge of honour I’m interested in wearing. I see more benefit in focusing on the life that I’m actually living.
I often remind myself that we never used to have this level of access to constant information. If something affected us, we wouldn’t know until it came into our own sphere. Someone had to ride through your village on a horse and tell you the war was over. AKA – we didn’t have our nervous system hijacked on the regular by a constant stream of information.
Understanding that everything is energy and that you get more of what you pay attention to, I truly don’t understand why we seem to place our focus on such silly things.
One thing that makes me giggle is that lately there have been an unprecedented number of UFO/UAP sightings and confirmed “non-human” crafts retrieved…AKA “The aliens are here!”… but nobody gives a $#!% because we’re busy arguing over the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico or if Beyoncé deserved album of the year at the Grammys (she didn’t 😜)
If we’re going to be stuck in this insanity we might as well find the humour in it.
tuning into goodness
It’s funny to me that I am co-founder of a tech-based wellness business, and here I am trashing our addiction to technology. Ha! We always encourage digital distancing when people come to the studio – we say take a break from your technology, and relax with ours.
And when the world shows me how crazy it can be, I always come back to the reason that we created Vortex. Every person that walks through the doors is coming here to take care of themselves and every person leaves lighter. They head out into their world emitting a more positive vibration and that energy ripples out into the community.
I truly believe that being responsible for your own vibe is the best, easiest and fastest way to create change on this wild planet. If we all focus on taking care of ourselves, the world can become a much better place.
That’s why we’re here. We’ve got the tools to help you get your $#!% together and keep it together. Remember… change starts in your own heart.
