After spending last weekend in Washington, D.C., I came back home to teach the Business is Personal course. It went swimmingly, except that the last class didn’t get recorded due to a technical glitch (no big deal — I re-recorded it here at home the next morning). The class was great, though… I had a blast teaching it, and (knock on wood) people were thrilled.
And in addition to all the activity of family life and business, it has also been an interesting week on a personal front as well.
Being so steeped in the Business is Personal teachings — which are all about noticing (and transforming) the filters you have between you and all the things that happen in your life, particularly the beliefs that sabotage you from being at your best in your business — I had a number of interesting epiphanies (read: upheavals) emerge for myself, in my relationships, life purpose, websites, email & rss, and money.
Hoo boy. Like I said… what a week.
Shifting things up a bit
One of the topics swirling around in my consciousness lately is the menu of articles on Monk at Work, including Gratitude Friday. I love doing Gratitude Friday, and yet I’m tossing around the idea of releasing it from its fixed weekly position, and perhaps rotating topics more freely, instead of locking a particular topic to a particular calendar day. Thoughts? Preferences? (I’d have to change the name, of course, but c’est la vie…)
One of the driving factors behind this is the realization that I prefer reading blogs/sites that aren’t publishing daily — it’s just too much information for me, even when I love the topic and the author. I’ve been no where near daily here at Monk at Work, but having GF in place often means I only get one article in between each Friday, and so that drives the relative frequency of GF posts up considerably more than I thought it’d be when I started it.
(Besides, I’m taking such an ascetic stance lately on reducing information input, that it just seems more monk-like to abstain from overloading you with too much to read… I’d rather keep it meaningful than monotonous.)
So, a little gratitude to finish off this whirlwind post:
Brian Roberts for coming all the way to D.C. (and bringing his family), and for friendship, ideas, and inspiration.
Steve and his cohorts for the iCandy.
Derrick Ashong (of Soulfege and SMT) for his contribution on The Shift Movie (and thanks to Ed for sharing it). I was inspired and touched by Derrick’s words, and his passion and energy.
Dawud Miracle, for his post on eMoms at Home (yes, you read that right). Great advice for anyone who blogs. (And while I’m here, I dug this post from Wendy, too…)
Image by Jansen Mann at Flickr, via Creative Commons license.
And thanks to all those who commented on the two previous posts so far: Jan, MichelleVan, Jean Browman, Sue Melone, Sue Smith, Wally, Brian W. Roberts, Pat, Todd
Monk at Work is Adam Kayce's website about personal webdesign, inner peace and outer effectiveness, and helping you bringing your best work out to the world.
Wow - TWO gratitude Friday’s in a row! Now you’re REALLY spreadin’ the gratitude around!
Thanks friend!
One of my favorite bloggers posts less than once a week, so I agree with you that content is more important than frequency. How about having a gratitude section at the bottom of each post? You can keep it short, but I think gratitude is one of the most important parts of spirituality. For me it’s a daily, not weekly, practice.
What am I grateful for? I’ve been mourning some losses, so I’m grateful for J. K. Rowling for writing one of the best spiritual books I’ve ever read…Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows. Deathly Hallows a spiritual book? It sure helped me during some sleepless nights. I decided to listen to it because I wanted to hear it as well as read it, and I figured my lying there awake was a good time to do it. As it turns out it was extremely nourishing. After all, the main themes are death and loss and courage and love.
I have all sorts of techniques to use in times like this, but this is the first time I’ve tried listening to fiction. I will definitely keep that in mind for the inevitable next time.
Hi Adam
Interesting question…
I don’t think it’s a good idea to let the blogging calendar drive your writing - it’s really there as a back up if you’re stuck
I wonder what other ways you could try to express gratitude…
As Jean suggests you could do this at the end of each post - although in some ways you already do with your ‘flag’ to previous commenters (a lovely touch)
Perhaps some short link posts as and when you want to express thanks?
Or longer and more thoughtful posts as and when the spirit moves you?
I look forward to reading what you come up with - whatever the solution
Joanna
The 90-minute thing really works. I usually begin my new blogging clients on it. And I’ve found that most of my clients in general need to evaluate their blogging-flow. Way too much time can we spend on blogging and all the socializing around it.
Wendy, you’re welcome — and hey, I call it as I see it! If I like it, I’m gonna share it! :-)
Jean, gratitude is also a daily practice for me as well, but blogging about it each time… I’ll have to ponder that one. My first thought is that it might get a bit overwhelming (for me and you). We’ll see, though. (oh, and I’m on chapter six or HP&DH…)
Joanna, I agree on the blogging calendar piece… I know one blogger who starts each post with “Tuesdays is x day”, and that bothers me. I’d like it to be more organic than that, and at the same time, I know I could use some structure to help me write more consistently. I’m looking for the middle ground, I suppose.
And while I like thanking previous commentators on each post, there will come a time where I probably drop that practice. It does take time, and if/when the number of comments I get grows, it’s going to become prohibitive. For now, I’ll stick with it, though.
Dawud, yes, I think I’m going to have to go back on the 90-minute plan. It’s a good blend.
Adam wrote, “it just seems more monk-like to abstain from overloading you with too much to read — I’d rather keep it meaningful than monotonous.”
Continence in one’s speech. Excellent. This enhances both your peace, and mine. I have many blogs that I love, and I save the feed posts that are particularly special. One blog does that “Tuesday is X day” thing, and I’m noticing that many of the posts are repetitious, which I’m finding disappointing (I know, expectation brings dissatisfaction!).
I like your idea of not posting in that way, that it should be more organic. To that end, when you feel the gratitude just welling up, let it pour out! And when you’re not feeling it so strongly, let it ride for a day or two. Same goes for commenting on every comment.
When you feel the need, go ahead and reply. Don’t feel pressured to respond to every post, that is not our (or at least, my) intention when making a comment.
When continent in speech, the words that do arise are much more powerful.
Good luck!
Om Shanti
Adam. Thank you again! I hear you with the info overload thing. You may have noticed that I’ve been MIA here for a while. I’m working on my time-boundaries and playing with priorities to see what works and what doesn’t.
It’s so easy to get sucked into the thrill of connecting with other bloggers and join a lot of conversations. I’m leaning more in the direction of getting deeply involved with just a handful of bloggers with whom I deeply resonate. You’re one of them.
Still playing with the balance. And I salute you for playing with it too and brining us into the conversation.
As far as the schedule goes, I’ve never been able to stick to one. I’ve tried emulating Wendy’s Motivation Monday’s. Didn’t stick. I’ve tried having Saturday be my day for gratitude and link love. Didn’t last.
So now, I just do what feels right in the moment. Works for me. And so far, my readers haven’t complained. (Of course I haven’t asked them!) ;)
Thanks for the encouragement, Gayle — I never thought of the word “continence” applying to speech (seeing as how I have a background in anatomy and physiology), but it sure makes sense!
And Ed, no worries about being MIA — you’ve got your hands full with your big celebration!
As of this moment, I’m thinking to toss the whole Gratitude Friday idea back into the mixer, and see what pours out (and why I’m using a baking metaphor, I have no idea…). We’ll see!
Adam:
I love everything you write… I resonate with all of it pretty much.
My thought on this is to do whatever feels right in the moment… because that will be the perfect fit.
If you feel gratitude in your heart, share it if you want.
If you don’t feel like writing, honor that. It doesn’t need to even follow any particular schedule in my book…because when you show up with the printed word, you really show up.
That’s what I love about your writing and it takes a while, I would think, to just observe enough to come up with the incredible insights you have.
You’re doing a super job… what you write is always eye-opening to you and I am very grateful to have access to your material.
Have a great weekend.