The importance of intention and the revival of the “blog blog”

Think of the simple joys of buying bread from a local baker and vegetables from a greengrocer, instead of shopping in the supermarket. I would like to suggest that we would all benefit from taking the same approach with internet use.

If we slow down and put in a little more effort, we will reap the rewards, and so will the rest of the world. There are three things we should keep in mind: intention, connection and consciousness.

Intention: everything for a (good) reason

A decade or so ago, I used to have particular blogs and websites that I would visit one by one.

I used to go on Flickr to share my photographs, and look at other people’s. For the sake of photography. The focus was on light and composition, on making and sharing authentic art, not attracting attention. I would go to certain blogs for design inspiration, others for recipe ideas. At a certain point, aggregator tools such as Bloglovin’ and Feedly came along, that would bring together posts from all of our favourite sources, into one feed. Amazing! Well, it felt like that at the time. Fast forward to today and instead of having more time, we are all stuck, scrolling through the everything-under-one-roof social media supermarkets: Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, never really leaving and never really knowing why we’re (still) there.

I can’t remember where I first read the phrase, “use technology as a tool, but don’t let it use you”, but it stayed with me.

It’s such a simple instruction and serves as a reminder that our devices and the internet, can enhance our experience in the world, and that they don’t have to water it down until we’re helplessly drowning.

Unlocking your phone and letting your muscle memory take over will not deliver you the key to happiness or success on a plate. You’re especially unlikely to find it if you’re already focussing on unhappy thoughts. Instead, work out what you need to do in order to proceed, and then ask yourself if (and not which) one of the tools on your phone or computer can help you. Make a tiny plan (set your intention), execute it, reflect and repeat. It might be texting a friend, looking for a recipe or watching some live video from one of your favourite musicians. It doesn’t matter what it is, what matters is that there is a clear reason.

It’s also important to address that sometimes the best thing to do is nothing. We can achieve so much by just BEING, if we keep our intention in mind and maintain concentration.

Connection: taking part in reality, being a positive force

If we go to a florist and pick out flowers for them to arrange for a friend, we create so much good energy.

We have a conversation with the florist, we share the thought behind the gift, they handle each stem with care and skill, and the result is as joyful to receive as it is to give. I hardly need to say it, but picking up a bouquet from a petrol station and attempting to peel off the entirety of the sticky price label is just not the same.

You don’t have to believe in ‘subtle energy’, to understand that when we set a clear, benevolent intention, the actions that follow are more likely to send off waves of positivity out into the world. Each small connection triggers another.

Consider visiting a specific blog. You take time out of your day to do it because you value what the person is saying. You appreciate the fact that they have put time into honing their skills, and creating something, becoming a specialist. When you go there and start reading, you get the full experience. Depending on the platform, you get their chosen fonts and colours, their sidebar, their own silly way of captioning images. You are in their world. It feels more personal and real than an Instagram post, and if you want to be a part of that world and help to shape it, you can write a comment. Only people who are there too, need to see it. Any advert or affiliate revenue goes to them, not a huge corporation.

To go back to the grocery shopping analogy, if you only go to a supermarket, you’re not very likely to be served by the same person every time or make friends with them. There’s about a 0% chance that they have made any of the food themselves and their families’ livelihoods probably don’t depend on whether you shop there or not.

What’s more, when vegetables are pre-prepared and packaged in plastic, we think of them as a product, and forget that they were a plant. They are so clean we might even forget they were ever in soil, or that somebody planted, harvested and transported them. When we look through a general newsfeed, the people important to us have this plastic film over them. Their posts can become products that we expect to entertain us. We forget that there are people behind them.

Consciousness: waking up

We have so much choice and stimulation that we grow tired, overwhelmed and desensitised to what’s around us. Things start to feel less special and we can take them for granted.

When I scroll through Instagram, I ‘see’ so many wonderful things -

potters painstakingly perfecting the colour of their glazes, people getting married(!) because they’re deeply in love(!), artists sharing highly intricate ink drawings from their sketchbooks - and sometimes I can be completely numb to all of them. Nothing feels precious, nothing feels new and nothing moves me. I feel depressed and depressed about feeling that way too. Ugh.

But sometimes I see and feel all the details, I am inspired and I take time to send thoughtful, engaging comments. These are the times when the intention was there. When I am putting the effort in to connect with people. Rather than vaguely and drowsily scrolling through my feed.

If you’re in an open, conscious frame of mind, you will remember things better too!

Something I find really jarring socially is the vague sort of question we now ask each other, based on a glance at an online post. “Did you have a good time in… uhh... where were you?”. That’s when we dare to ask, instead of feeling as though we should know more and keeping quiet. I don’t know about you, but I feel there’s an unspoken obligation to keep up with everyone and everything (as well as to share everything with everyone), and this leads to anxiety and guilt. The good news is, there isn’t! Get this. You can choose to pay attention to just one single post, so that you are able to ask a thoughtful question about it. That’s much better than trying and failing to digest everything. Let’s get back to a time when you could ask somebody how they were and what they had been doing, without some lingering, transient memories, getting in the way of you actually listening to the answer.

If you look through books on a shelf, pick one out because you think it relates to your question, feel the weight of it in your hands, sit down in a comfortable place and start reading, you are far more likely to remember what you find out, than if you were to stand in a room full of different people shouting facts at you. Even if they told you everything you needed to know. Even if they queued up and waited their turn. I know that’s a ridiculous example, but I think it’s helpful. It’s important to remember to take time to seek out information about a specific topic or person, rather than sleepily waiting around and hoping it comes to you. Because it will, but you might not be in a fit state to take it in. Look things up, call your friends, (really) read their posts if you have time, and don’t be afraid to ask questions.

My first practical suggestion, is that we clean up the bookmarks on our phones and laptops, and start crafting organised collections of sites to visit for different purposes.

Create virtual havens and libraries of resources. Share them. Ask for recommendations. Create ‘close friends’ and ‘family’ lists. Unfollow a few accounts — you know it’s for the best. Then, in order to set yourself up to be able to use the tools you’ve neatly arranged and avoid them using you, keep in mind those three things: intention, connection and consciousness.

The next, is that we read (and write) more good, old fashioned blog posts.

The years and years of microblogging have us filled up to the brim, with basically nothing. We are exposed to so many words and images every day and we process them all in some way. We are overwhelmed, but not enriched.

The blog blog is coming back.

Writing and reading something that goes into a bit more detail than 280 characters allows, is a very positive way to spend time. It encourages learning and research, it’s productive and the results are tangible. It’s how we progress. We will feel closer to ourselves and others. We will find strength in community. We will become better communicators, gain confidence and find ways of expressing ourselves that work for us.

But,

“How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.”

― Henry David Thoreau

stop feeling pressure to “generate content” right now. Live your life and share when you feel truly compelled. When you have something beneficial or noteworthy for yourself and others. Don’t rush yourself or force anything. I’m not dismissing anyone’s photos of their breakfast and coffee (they are lovely and I mean it), but we should only post them after asking ourself why first. It doesn’t have to be superficially ‘positive’: admitting that you are struggling, describing your journey into getting better, or asking other people for help can be brilliantly valuable.

The social media supermarkets still have their place.

They are a quick, convenient way of keeping up to date with people, reading headlines and sparking our creativity and interest. But they should be a springboard into deeper pools of meaning (online and out in nature), not the stagnant bathwater that we sit in and keep hoping will renew our body and mind.

So let’s limit the time we spend on them, and set a clear intention before we do.

Do you write your own blog or read someone else’s religiously? Please share it in the comments below :-)