Although I am playing around in social media a lot, I never really felt organized in it. I just did what felt good and followed my guts. I hope this course will give me some clarity and new strategies to follow.

The first assignment is to write a blog post with an honest appraisal of my social media experience so far, using Michaels post ‘Your 7 Simple Pillars to build Online Success‘ as a guideline.

These are my 7 pillars.

1. Find your pot of gold and stick to it This is probably the hardest part to all humans and goes from cradle to grave. If you do not find your passion in life, your pot of gold and what makes your heart tick, there is no goal really. In social media I see a lot of people retweeting, repeating, reposting what other people create. If you are unable to find your pot of gold (and I am sure everyone has one), there is no creation, no originality and therefore no success. Does that mean that we cannot learn from our masters and teachers? Certainly not. We can copy our masters but more important is to become your own master in what you do.Does this sound heavy? Just think about your childhood. What did you like to do most when you were young and playing? I remember demonstrating in my street with a self-made banner on sticks that said: “no more school” and felt very successful in getting a crowd behind me. I remember my surprise at the followers I got. My quality lies in the fact that I am able to collect a crowd and draw the attention to something. There, I said it.My passion is Raja Yoga, which means connecting to the Highest Source of energy. Yoga means connection. Social media means connection. My goal and passion in social media is to use social media as a way to help people connect to their Source as well.
2. Don’t be afraid of technique As a webdesigner, clients often thought of me as some computer expert. Well, I am not a computer expert. When my hard-disk crashes, I bring my laptop to the bicycle computer repairman. But, I do keep up to date with the software I am using. When I want to use something, or want to automate something, I am a quick learner of software tools that will get me there. I am not afraid to try new tools. But I am also trying not to be attached to them. If my goal is clear, any tool can get me there. The tools I use are under my command. It is not about technique, it is about strategy. Discussions about the differences between Mac or Pc, Facebook or Google+ are totally irrelevant to me.To me, the Empire Avenue game plays a big catalytic role in measuring the tools I am using. For each action online in any online tool I am collecting points. It gives me great insight in which tools work best for me and for the people I want to reach.
   

   Empire Avenue Connection Scores

3. Give and add value I think the best strategy online is to share. People want to share, we want to give. The best things in life are for free. The whole internet consists of information people shared for free. This is the biggest power of the internet. In any online action you do, there is no sense of giving, then most likely your action will not lead to success. If you are afraid that what you post will be stolen, then don’t post. As soon as you push the ‘publish’ button on any tool, you give it to the universe. When you keep this in mind, the universe will give back to you in the same amount or even more. Sharing is giving and giving is receiving.In giving and receiving, timing is everything. Do not use twitter when you are tired. Do not write a blog post when you feel down. If you see Twitter, Facebook and other social media tools as a way to interact, look at it as if it were a cocktail party. You dress up (mentally), find yourself in a good mood and then go and engage with the crowd. Only when you feel fresh and recharged, you can give to others. Posts, tweets, comments will be useless when you feel drained. With every action, online or not, you transmit energy. When there is no energy, do not act. For me this means, that my best time is early mornings. For other people this maybe evenings or nights. But for me after 8 pm, most things I do online are not giving energy, but rather taking. I use the evenings to read some and listen to music and stopped forcing myself being productive at that time.
4. Be social Say thank you when somebody mentions you in a tweet. Re-share a post when somebody adds it to your timeline on Facebook. Click Plus when somebody makes a comment on your Google+ posts. Answer, engage and be attentive. People will feel the energy you sent out in this too. If somebody mentions you in a tweet, you can give back with mentioning them in your tweets, or a Follow Friday tweet.
5. Create a party Social media is here for years now and is here to stay, and yet I still hear the same old prejudices that say: but I don’t want to share my whole personal life, I don’t care about people tweeting about what coffee they drink and where. If you don’t like what is being tweeted, posted and YouTubed, do it better! Be challenged to make a party out of your own life. Social media is not about locking yourself up in a room and stay behind your screen all day. Look at the beauty that happens outside. For me personally I love attending lectures, going to museums and talk about it. Having small children my time and geographic area for doing this is limited but there is a lot going on in my garden and kitchen table. Look at all the crafting we do and sharing it. I love the activity that is going on in my small housebound world here. If you think your life is boring, start making it exciting!
   

   Forest walks, play gardens and our crafting table is my world. I make a party of it every day.

    

6. Pay it forward Give help and receive help to get shared. Do other people share your same goal? Add them to your circles, share their posts, give shout-outs. Being online alone is no fun. Get in circles, groups that can share your content and pay it forward. Don’t be afraid to lose anything when you promote your competition. The pie is big enough for everybody.
7. Think BIG I don’t mean a little bit big. I mean HUGE. Transcend the role you are playing now or the role you think you are playing. Are you a housewife? A mother like me? Are you trying to run a business and get the laundry done in between? It doesn’t matter. You are infinite. You are what you create and what you can create is much bigger than what you see now. You can be a King in your next life. Don’t hold yourself back with false modesty. Thoughts like “nobody is interested anyway” or “whatever I do is meaningless” are arrogance really. Who are you to judge? Let your audience judge about that. You just create the best you can and skip any limit.

Foursquare Day badge

In 2010, foursquare fans declared April 16 4sqDay (4/4^2 – nerds after our own heart!). Two years and two billion check-ins later, you’re still why we get out of bed each day. Thanks to all 20 million of you for making us part of your lives. Happy 4sqDay!

Do you want to learn more about Foursquare today? Then join @mqtodd for a #4sqday #EavChat 7pm EST 16 April on “Why use#4sq ? > http://michaelqtodd.com/4sq“

My two flag poles, honestly wished for

To me this means that my thoughts are aligned with what happens on the outside. You may recognize it from your own experience or saw it in a movie. For example, you drive your car with your spouse and you talk about somebody whose name is John. The moment you mention John, your eye falls on a sign that says ‘John’s fish’ or something that carries the name John. It is as if your life is a movie and all you see is a decor of your play. These ‘coincidences’ happen to me more and more.

This morning, my friends of the DHL package service stopped in front or our house. As soon as I saw this big yellow truck, I quickly scanned my memory to see what I ordered on the internet the last couple of days. I couldn’t come up with anything so I continued playing Empire Avenue. Then somebody knocked on the back door. The DHL people know me because I order regularly on the internet and they know they can come through the back door instead of ringing the front doorbell, which is only for queens and kings.

I saw him carrying a flag pole wrapped in bubbled plastic. Through the plastic I saw an orange bulb the flag pole had on top. The young yellow man came in and I told him ‘hey, this is the second flag pole I got this week and I only ordered one. They must have made a mistake”. “Well I can take it back” he told me and I quickly answered “no I’ll keep it, if they want it back, they can call me”.

I put the second flag pole next to the already unwrapped one and scanned my memory again. I realized that, for a couple of times,  I thought about how nice it would be to have 2 flag poles. One for our house and one for our garden cabin. I also remembered visualizing it. But never took action to order a second one. So I guess the universe ordered it for me.

These things happen more and more often. Even yesterday evening. I was just pondering on how nice it is to have friends over in our house and I always run around my house with the thought that I will have visitors soon. My children love visitors too and I love having my garden full of children running around or family staying over. And when they do, I do my best in making life comfortable for them. Making coffee, sending a kid to the loo when I see him suppressing his needs because he wants to play. Bake bread or just relax (a good host needs to know how to relax).

I also thought about how it would be to have a friend live in our garden cabin permanently. At 9 pm the doorbell rang. An odd hour to ring somebodies doorbell …. . A man whom I did not recognize, stood in front of me. He told me that he was looking for a place to stay. If I could rent out my garden cabin. My first reaction was “No, certainly not”. He asked me why. “It would cross our sense of privacy” I told him, and wished him good luck with his search. I couldn’t imagine renting a part of my house to a stranger, but after he left, I realized  that I did wish for a friend staying in our garden cabin…

Sometimes the universe mixes things up I guess.

Me Myself and I on Foursquare

Don’t get me wrong. I am all in favor of being your own best friend. But it doesn’t seem to be so hard to:

1. Stop receiving Friend request when your list of Friends is full
2. Stop receiving tips from Foursquare to add Friends when your list of Friends is full.
3. Stop receiving any Friends notifications at all when your list of Friends is full.

Sounds like a simple If > Then statement?

Now I must admit that the technique involved scares me off a bit. I prefer just gardening in the sand and the idea that plants grow on fish tanks seems like rocket science to me. But there seem to be great resources on Youtube so why not go ahead with it and make it real this year.

1. Step one. Planning a place to set up an Aquaponic system.

I have thought about building a greenhouse in my garden for some time. I think the best way to start is using plastic as a cover. Not so organic but affordable. These are called Polytunnels.

Polytunnel

My little piece of garden at the back where I plan to make the greenery

Polytunnel here I come

The little piece of garden at the back of our long garden is perfect for a Polytunnel because it is surrounded by trees and will not catch too much wind. I only hope that there won’t fall any branches on it.

Great instruction for making a poly tunnel

Since I like to save my veggies to make compost it made me feel like there was nothing left to compost if I’d give everything to the Guinea Pigs. So I looked it up in my big compost book if I could use the Guinea Pigs poop as fertilizer. And my book said yes! Guinea Piggy poop is perfect for the compost bin. So now we have a nice organic cycling thing going on. Poop rocks!

Guinea Pigs at the neighbors

Here you see the composting in progress, a Guinea Pig is eating... soon to be pooping yeah!

And there it is, tadaa! One weeks harvest of 100% unadulterated pure Guinea Pig poop

On the threshold of 2012 we are uncertain about what time may hold for us. Ours is a time in which there are two energies at work: an ascending energy and a descending energy.

We are reminded constantly of the descending energy and its destabilizing effects on the world, increasing feelings of fear, anxiety and hopelessness.

Perhaps less visible, but assuredly more powerful, is the ascending energy. Like new growth below the ground in late winter, ascending energy is working quietly in the hearts and minds of people everywhere, shaping a new story. We see it in the surge of those seeking spiritual truth and in the hundreds of thousands of civil society organizations requesting transparency, authenticity, and a return to values.

We have a choice about which energy we affiliate with, about where we put our support. We make this choice at the level of thought. When we allow anger, greed, or fear into our thoughts, we strengthen the descending energy, and we lose our capacity for generosity and mercy.

When we meet situations with peace, love, and persistent happiness, when we are careful not to say or think anything that would hurt another’s heart, we amplify the energy of ascent.

We find these qualities inside of ourselves, as they have always been our true nature. But to find them ready in moments of need, we have to nurture them daily. To make the greatest contribution to the world at this time, keep the fire of goodness alive in your heart and mind. Fill yourself with the energies of peace, love and happiness and let them infuse your every action.

With love
BK Janki

From http://www.bkwsu.org/

Methods Of Settling Our Karmic Debt

There are three methods of settling our karmic debts and setting ourselves free:

1. Practice Of Soul Consciousness
The first method is to increase the awareness of the self as soul and
reduce the illusion (false belief) that we are our body. This ensures that
all actions come from an inner state of peace, generosity and benevolence
(kindness), without any personal gain or conscious desire for any return.
This requires the gentle effort of constantly reminding ourselves who and
what we are — soul not body. Our identification with our body is so strong
that it can be drawn like a curtain across our consciousness in a second.
The path of a soul who is waking up spiritually is therefore one of waking
(awareness of self as soul) and sleeping (under the illusion that we are our
body), waking and sleeping. We tend to fluctuate between the two (like day
and night) until we find stability in soul-consciousness. This is why it
is important to awaken and stay awake, and for that it’s important to give
our mind and intellect good spiritual food (knowledge) and exercise
(meditation) every day to keep them fresh and alert.
Being soul-conscious, and acting from that consciousness, naturally heals
the scars (habits and tendencies) left by past negative actions which were
based on the illusion (false belief) of body-consciousness. The evidence
that our meditation is working is a lightness of the mind and an increasing
easiness in our interactions with others. These are the signs that we are
clearing our karmic debts. It is at this stage when we are gradually
transferring ourselves from body-consciousness to soul consciousness that we
will often find it helpful and supportive to be in the company of those who
are also practicing meditation, learning to be ‘soul-conscious’ and making
the same effort to awaken and to stay awake. It gives us the opportunity to
share experiences and learn from others. We will also be less likely to
find benefit or make progress in the company of those who continue to focus
mainly on the material world and who still see themselves only as physical

2. Self Transformation
The second way in which we can begin to clear our outstanding debts is by
giving back to those souls from whom we have in the past ‘taken’ and with
whom we now have some ‘karmic account’. However, this can take time,
especially if we imagine all the souls we have interacted with during many
births. We are sure to have one or two people in our life right now who
seem to have the capacity to cause feelings of discomfort inside us by
simply being in our presence. If we are serious about clearing our ‘karmic
accounts’, we will not avoid these people, nor will we go looking for them.
Instead, we can use these relationships as teachers and opportunities to
learn about ourselves. We can ask ourselves, “What is it within me that is
reacting to this person in this situation? Why am I creating this
discomfort in their presence?” In this way, we will see and understand what
we need to change within ourselves. We understand which sanskaras need to
be healed and transformed. It will always come down to something connected
with our own ego or attachment. Our inner healing will always begin with
the ‘letting go’ of something. When we identify what that is and when we do
‘let go’, we find it takes the negativity out of our thoughts and actions,
thereby breaking the patterns of negative energy exchange with others.
The moment we are aware that our own discomforts in relationships are due
to us and not due to others, we are halfway to self-change and the clearing
of karmic debts. The next step is to forgive ourselves, for wounding
ourselves with our negative thoughts and actions, and to forget the past. When
we do this work of inner healing, we automatically change our response to
the person or situation previously causing our discomfort. Our new
spiritual response is like a new step sequence in our dance with the other
person and if we change our step they have to change theirs. Or maybe they
are dancing the right steps and we learn to dance the right steps, too.
Whatever the case, the saying, “When we change, the world changes’, holds
true. If they don’t change, we will need to strengthen our own capacity to
be patient and check that we do not want them to change in a certain way as
a result of our own desires and expectations. If we do want them to change,
it means we are trying to control them in a subtle way, which means we still
have a selfish motive. This always results in frustration and failure as it
is not possible to control another human being.

3. Connecting With The Supreme Source
The third and most effective way to heal and clear the burden of our karmic
debt, both inside and outside, is through the process of meditation. In
meditation, we establish a direct link with the Supreme Soul, the Source of
spiritual love, light and power. When we are directly connected to the Sun
of spiritual energy, we can allow that energy to heal the negative sanskaras
(habits and tendencies) within our own consciousness. As our energy changes,
through our power of thought, we are able to send out that positive energy
towards those with whom we have some difficulty (karmic account). In
meditation, we open to the warmth of pure love and the spiritual light of
eternal truth from the Source, healing our own self and liberating ourselves
from the illusions (false beliefs) which made us create wrong-thoughts and
perform wrong actions in the first place. The illusion was simply in seeing
ourselves as limited, physical beings. This led us to believe that love,
happiness and peace were physical and to be found externally, which in turn
made us use others to get what we wanted. Healing has taken place when we
experience ourselves as souls, unlimited, spiritual beings and children of
the Supreme. Healing has become a reality when we rediscover our own
internal resource of love, happiness and peace. Only then will we begin to
see and perceive others in the same way. This spiritual vision transforms
the quality of energy we give to others which then heals and transforms
those relationships. Once we have fully healed our self-awareness, we can
act as instruments or mediums to bring that spiritual light from the Supreme
Source into the lives of others.

Mind acts as a sieve between the soul & physical body. Negative mentalenergy blocks the sieve of mind thereby blocking the flow of spiritualenergy (peace, love etc.,) from the soul to the target organ. It alsoattracts microbes e.g.: bacteria, viruses, etc., oxidants, toxins towardscells of the target organ in the physical body, which damages the immunesystem thereby leading to disease over a period of time & diseaseconsciousness. Positive mental energy opens the sieve of mind therebyincreasing the flow of spiritual energy (peace, love etc.) from the soul tothe target organ. It protects the cells of the target organ in the physicalbody from microbes e.g. bacteria, viruses, oxidants, toxins etc. It attractshealing proteins, molecules and anti-oxidants and boosts the immune systemthereby leading to rapid recovery from disease and health-consciousness.

‎”Children inhabit a world of ‘it is,’ now a world of ‘it isn’t.’ They come to us with their being brimming with potential. Each of our children has their own particular destiny to live out – their own karma, if you like. Because children carry a blueprint within them, they are often in touch with who they are and what they want to be in the world. We are chosen as their parents to help them actualize this. The trouble is that if we don’t pay close attention to them, we rob them of their right to live out their destiny. We end up imposing on them own own vision for them, rewriting their spiritual purpose according to our whims.”

Dr. Shefali Tsabary

Now watch this: