Wonderosity

It’s funny, well, sad actually: I really used to love blogging and podcasting. I enjoyed the creative act, the experiments I conducted, the excitement of being heard by others, and the pleasure of getting feedback on my thoughts and creations. Then something happened. Certain factors crept in and killed the joy. And now I’m wondering out loud what they are for me:

• By far the main culprit: When I started doing ’social media stuff’ professionally, my fear of ‘looking unprofessional’ increased dramatically -the inner censor (”Grammar!”, “Stupid, unoriginal idea”, etc) got loud.
• The #2 reason is that somewhere I lost my soul, my passion, my freedom to express myself honestly. Partly this is just practical –life got busy and took on priorities. But the other reasons, having to do with deeper issues of spirituality and idenitity, are things I need to deal wi th.
• After leaving my last job, and starting two different businesses, life got really busy. But I don’t really believe that’s true as I spend plenty of time ‘consuming’ others’ media.
• Comparing myself to other bloggers and podcasters, which I now consume more of, contributes to that #1 issue big time
• For podcasting, production time can be a bitch.
• Endless experimenting with and indecision between various tools and platforms.

I could list more (what about you?), but I think those are the main reasons and its time to change. So, to all those inner and outer critics: screw you, perfection and people pleasing is not what social media is about.

I just gotta be me, like it or not, buy it or not, ‘digg me’ or not.

Twitter in Business Week today. Article and my response here: http://tinyurl.com/69u3l3

Follow LeifHansen on twitter.

I recently made this list and posted it on my wall to remind me of things that really Spark life for me.
What about you?

1. Personal daily experimental living/learning
2. Playing improv games with a group of people
3. Playing Soccer, Racquet sports and Ultimate Frisbee
4. Stimulating, respectful, deep conversations, especially with my wife and close friends
5. Thinking of new ideas, possibilities
6. Having ‘spiritual experiences’ (sense of transcendence, gratefulness, connectedness, being loved by the Source, stillness, etc)
7. Improvised singing and jamming
8. Being totally goofy and/or laughing long and hard with friends
9. Finding and playing/testing out the newest and latest technologies
10. Snuggling with my wife and daughter
11. Leaning from and playing with my wife and daughter
12. Asking and being asked good, challenging, thought-provoking questions
13. Seeing/understanding how things fit together, and then sharing/presenting that information
14. Imagining/talking/reading/projecting/planning about the future
15. Walking in, exploring and communing with nature
16. Reading, hearing, watching a good story (thus book, play, movie, storyteller, etc)
17. Experiencing other’s artistic creativity, particularly when its really innovative
18. Being creative myself (writing a song, story or paper; creating a beneficial social site or podcast, etc)
19. Accomplishing things that have a dramatic and wide reaching effect for changing things for the good
20. Working with, or even just being a part of, almost any group
21. I love challenging, provoking, encouraging and motivating people
22. Gathering with a group of friends for a tasty meal and some wine
23. Organizing, creating order from chaos (once I’m actually DOING it, not before)
24. Traveling to new places, with either a total focus or a total non-focus

The Background

I love remembering that I can live differently, do normal routines differently, experiment/play with my ‘everyday life’. I know that part of this is out of a fear of being ‘normal’ or boring, but it is also genuinely from a passion and excitement about exploring, experiencing new things, seeing things differently, etc. Throughout the years I’ve been known to tweak my life (go blind or mute an entire day while at college; try to only think hopeful/optimistic thoughts; etc.).

I’ve fantasized about the idea of doing a daily ‘life hack’ or ‘daily quest’ that I share with others. Well, instead of doing what I usually do, which is to state some grand plan/commitment and then gradually giving up or forgetting about it, I’ve decided to commit to doing this –but to do it intermittently. One thing I’ve found is that, while it is usually fun and I learn a ton, it’s harder than I thought (I’m already experiencing left-handed mouse use fatigue).

The Plan:

1. Decide on the day’s real-life hack (name subject to change). I’ll probably keep an idealist somewhere, so if you have one, please feel free to share it in the comments or email me.
2. Write a short blog post here at Wonderosity in the Spark Life / Everyday Living category (possibly with an Eyejot Intro)
3. Live it out, play the game.

Today’s Real-Life Hack:
I’m going to switch use of my primary hand (right) to my left hand. Why? Primarily, like usual, I’m just curious (hey, this is the wonderosity blog). I’ve also heard research that this can be good for the ol’ noggin, get the other side of my brain activated more. We’ll see…please join me if you feel so inclined and able to do so.

Tomorrow is International ShutDown Day and, as many of you know, this is not an insignificant topic to me. I’m excited to see that the concept of dethroning technology’s dominant role in our life, even for one day, is getting so much attention. The stated purpose of the Canadian organization who is sponsoring this event is:

“The idea of Shutdown Day project is simple — just shutdown your
computer for one whole day of the year and involve yourself in some
other activities: outdoors, nature, sports, fun stuff with friends and
family — whatever, just to remind yourself that there still exists a
world outside your monitor screen.”

Because this is falling on a Saturday, and my normal ’shut down day’ (my tech sabbath) is on Sunday, I’m going to go the whole weekend as low tech as possible. This is still really hard for me and I know that the One Ring, I mean my iPhone, is going to be itchy in my pocket.

I have so many conflicted feelings right now as I write, that the only way to get them out is a quick brainstorm (I also really need to get to bed, but wanted to say something before this weekend.) I’m feeling:

• Excitement that people are thinking more and more about these things, and taking steps like this day, taking our Soul Tech workshops, or joining efforts like Ariel’s 52 Nights Unplugged (though I haven’t seen a blog from her about this for quite some time now -is she still unplugging one night a week?)
• Feeling stupid for feeling jealous that I’m not getting as much attention/press I’ve gotten in pasts months for our Soul Tech workshop (which, if you didn’t know, was featured in many national and international papers, and then eventually on the Today Show -see the link before for more info including a video from NBC.)
• Feeling guilty that I still struggle with this issue so much
• Feeling concerned that people don’t really ‘get’ how serious this issue of increasing technocentricity is and could become
• Feeling anxious to finish my book on this topic
• Feeling, well, its time for bed…

Good luck to those of you doing it, and hope it turns into more of a habit.