I don't write to share what I know...but to find out what I know.....

​Colleagues are encouraging me to get more visible on social media. Apparently it’s the way of the future, but you probably already knew that…..
I feel a bit like a dinosaur being unwillingly dragged into a modern age of enlightenment.
 
I accept that virtual relationships & online learning are now key ways to interact & to develop oneself, if somewhat publicly, but….& it feels like a significant ‘but’….it feels empty to me.
Whilst intending no disrespect, I struggle to feel enthusiastic about, or ‘seen/heard’ by virtual ‘friends’.
I’m reminded of something I once heard…..
“Friends all over the world, without a friend in the world”
I do get a buzz out of something I’ve posted being ‘liked’ by a stranger, & have to remind myself that the ‘like’ doesn’t necessarily refer to me. Then, I wonder if I care that my opinion was valued, for its own sake rather than because I expressed it.
Maybe it comes down to the question;
Am I the same as my beliefs & ideas, or am I more than/different from them?
 
I’m a passionate advocate of letters, (the unique & sometimes scrawly pen print of an individual written on paper, that arrive through your letter box!) Do you remember when that’s the way it worked?
I miss the sense of adventure hinted at as I open a slightly battered envelope & take a journey with the author within.
I write letters all the time, & friends tell me they really enjoy receiving them. It’s been a long time since I received one back though. That should probably tell me something.
The short, pithy, buzz words of tweets or posts seem easier, to involve less commitment, less thought, less time. Am I being unfair? After all, we live in a world that gets constantly busier & more demanding. Realistically, who has time to sit & ‘drop’ into the depths of themselves where we are each doing our best to make sense of ourselves, others, the world, & journal, or compose a letter, or even a paragraph.
 
What might it say about my life that I do, & I want to?
Clearly, I need to put down my pen & get out more....except that writing helps me to understand who I'm taking out the door every time I put on my coat....
 
I work everyday with wonderful, complex, puzzled, human ‘becoming’s’, in corporate & private life who variously are relieved to, or struggle to express the personal meanings they make of the world & their lives. And I wonder where do we get the practice these days to consider meaning?
 
Strangely enough, as I was writing this a piece of said parchment with my ‘soul name’ written on it (to remind me who I really am) & blue tak–ed above my desk….fell down.
I’m going now to reflect on, & write about what that might mean……but don’t hold your breath, I probably won’t post the result of that reflection anywhere public. 

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