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Ideals or Restrictions: Live Your True Values Online

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dkaloSooner or later, the internet puts our deepest values to the test. Where we focus attention is everything online.

Today’s news, as usual, is gruesome.

  • They want to shut down the government again.
  • In my state, legislators rejected federal Medicare dollars.
  • The middle class is earning less than it did 30 years ago.
  • The costs of education and healthcare are increasingly prohibitive.
  • Disastrous weather systems seem to be multiplying.
  • Unemployment – and underemployment – remain one of our worst problems.
  • And more and more and more.

More undeniable indications that our society and economy are crumbling. I take this personally. Am I supposed to just carry on as usual, cinching in my belt (and my hopes) without fuss? Do I cheerily chatter on about inbound marketing despite the destructive lack of investment in our collective future?

I follow the irascible @umairh on Twitter and he points out that not only are institutions disintegrating but there seems to be a taboo against talking about it. Social media is social, above all; few want to be seen as making trouble or being negative.

You know that awful moment when you browse a tweet about marketing or cats and right after see one about a mass killing? The dis-junction is excruciating, though I suspect we’re becoming immune to the shock. Is that a good thing?

Whatever your response to these issues, I thought I’d post today a few alternatives, so that those of us slogging away online don’t always have to sweat anxiously in the cracks between our work and our constant exposure to a world in turmoil.

In tune with Gandhi’s suggestion that we become the change we want to see, we can align our online activities and our services to clients with life ideals, rather than allowing life’s restrictions to dominate.

We tend to focus continuously on money, with success running a distant second. Personal and family health and safety may be a regular concern, and personal popularity is often of vital importance. If you think for a minute about what you think about when being purposeful in your daily life, it’s likely related to one of these areas.

What if we tried focusing on other things? How would you act differently if you

  • adopt compassion as your ideal, and spend a week with your main attention devoted to ways you can be more compassionate towards your fellow human beings
  • foster creativity both inside you and outside, so you’re tuning in to the innumerable and surprising places where creativity manifests and celebrating it enthusiastically
  • kept firmly in mind the imminence of your death?

Oops. Should have prepared you for that last one. It’s not morbid in the least though. Try it for a day; try living in awareness of the truth about living.

Wars, politics, prices, economies, institutions, even the weather are serious threats. Still, we live as though we will never die. What words, thoughts, and actions of yours would change if you kept the fact of your approaching death firmly in mind?

I’m not saying we should quit our work and join the Peace Corps (though maybe some should do just that) but I’m thinking that more attention to life’s truest values will bring us good business as well as more constructive internet dialogue around our problems.

Your thoughts?

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I specialize in handling online business for itty bizzes, professionals, creatives, and others who know better than to spend 16 hours a day on the web. May I help you?

 


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