Pondering Approach - Part II "Your Real Mission"

July is the month that I'm dedicating to delving more deeply into what "sparks" me, what fascinates me, and what moves me. My goal is to be curious. To have, as the Buddhist's say, "a beginners mind." Want to join me? I'd love to hear about it if you do. And no, it doesn't have to be work related, it can be purely personal. I think that's the most powerful place to start.

So, along these lines, what also came up for me over the weekend is that it was time to get clearer about my "real mission" and how doing this might help others too. Yes I'm a writer, yes I'm a publicist, and yes I help people with their social media outreach and marketing and getting clear on "how what they're doing right now might not bring the results they want but how we can now steer things in the right direction."

But really at the heart of things I'm all about authenticity and connection and great storytelling. That is what sparks me. That is what has me jumping out of bed in the morning. Sometimes I get distracted, and I have off days, but that is me in a tiny nutshell. I feel strongly that the Internet allows each of us to share our own story, our own "real mission" as it were, in powerful ways as never before. Let me give you an example - Twitter. Twitter can be about sharing inane info to a group of people who are sharing inane and useless information back - or it can be an exercise in getting real and sharing that to others that are doing the same.

It's your choice. You can be part of a cacophony of loud and useless, or you can focus. You can choose to allow your own uniqueness. That uniqueness can lead you to others who share your vision, or to those who could be inspired by your vision. A conversation can be sparked, connection can begin, synergy can simmer.

Pondering this idea as I turned on Twitter this am @Greybon was one of the first "tweets" I spotted. She noted she has a hoola hoop on the way and I thought "aha, that is exactly what I needed to be reminded of! Perfect!" Sometimes that sharing can be serious and sometimes it can be silly and sometimes it can be both - but it can totally be you. (update 3:47 pm 7/7 I am now the proud owner of a hoola hoop).

One of my goals this summer is to strengthen my core and a hoola hoop is a great inexpensive way to do that. I was so happy to be reminded of this that I clicked on her bio to remind myself about who she is and what she does and I read this fabulous example of a great short sweet super bio with punch:

"Writer. Web Junkie. Ordinary Geek. Internet Marketing Manager at Tor Books (@torbooks). Reiki Master & Tarot Reader at Cat 'N Owl (@catnowl)."

Fresh. I was even more curious. So of course I clicked on her website and am even more intrigued (I am a fantasy geek myself, and would love to have an author as a PR client). She too is an artist and I love Tor. Their website is a great bit of marketing genius for sci fi and fantasy fans. Want to know how to engage your fans? Visit Tor.

This weekend it also it also felt like time to clean out some of the connections on my computer, those  emailers and RSS feeds and whatnot that I'd signed up for that felt more like they were "selling money secrets" than bringing me true connection or authenticity. It felt good to let go of things that weren't engaging or personal, and instead say "yes" to Mahala Mazerov of Luminous Heart.

It also felt good because I realized that I want to dedicate more time on this site to delving into the concept of Maitri, or unconditional friendliness. I want to be clear that I am not a devout Buddhist nor an expert on Buddhism, but that this concept moves me and flavors how I handle my business and my life. As such I want to start sharing links to people like Mahala who are devout students of Buddhism, and have now become teachers themselves, for those who might wish to learn more.

What I know is that I am drawn to the advice and services of those who come from a place of connection and authenticity in what they do - I prefer "here's what I've faced and overcome" versus "I've got all the answers." How about you? Isn't it perhaps time to take a deep breath and dig a little deeper into why you're really here and begin to share that with others?