Last Sunday I was feeling for spiritual and life reasons like I felt a fast coming on. Before I could clearly set that intention, at church my pastor spoke a word that rattled me up enough to try something new. Ever heard a sermon or talk and you feel like someone is speaking directly to you? This was the case last Sunday, and I had to stop myself from squirming in my seat, because then I’d be sure everyone would know the message was hitting home with me. My pastor was talking about fasting, and how for some giving up foods isn’t really that challenging (I squirmed), and that fasting is about SACRIFICE, and we should be creative in finding things that take up our time. During a spiritual fast then, we replace the things that were taking up our time with things that bring us closer to God (prayer, meditation, reflection etc).
He then went on to say he had ideas about some things that we could give up in our modern world that would cause more of a sacrifice. The first thing he suggested was social media. Imagine if you prayed or meditated as much as you were on Facebook. Interesting right? Obviously your relationship with God would strengthen tremendously, in that time you would’ve been lurking on pages, liking posts, and adding friends. As soon as the words social media escaped his mouth my heart skipped an extra beat and I was bordering on hyperventilating at the thought of giving up Facebook and Twitter. I mean, I’m a blogger for gosh sakes! Social media is one of my primary means of communication. At that moment I knew, there was my challenge. At first like any addict, I was like I’ll do two days, okay maybe three. Finally realizing that this actually may cause some sort of breakthrough for me I decided seven days seemed unfathomable, and therefore, I had to do it. I scheduled all of my blog posts posts for Raw Girl, and also posts for Facebook and Twitter in advance for the week. I ceased all the rest of my Facebooking and Tweeting on my personal pages and also was not allowed to read other peoples posts, read or reply to comments, or check any notifications.
What a revelation! It’s amazing how automatic the reflex to check Facebook and Twitter is for me. I had to literally catch myself mid-typing from going to the urls. LOL. By the end of day one, I was amazed at how productive I could be without the distractions of social media throughout the day. Now that I’ve passed the seven day test, my eyes are open to my bordering on addiction to all things social media and I am determined to continue limiting my time on social media pages. Maybe I’ll stick to checking only on certain days. One things for sure, we are in a new world where technology rules all, and it is up to us to create some balance, especially if we are determined to live a life that is in tune with Mother Earth and the Source that governs all. -XoXo Raw Girl
