My most useful visibility habit of the year

The number 1 thing I did this year to stay consistently visible on social media was to start the day with a short meditation. 

Social media can be a very triggering place to be. 

Activating the collective consciousness seems to be an important byproduct of social media. 

Which makes it both very useful and, at times, very unhealthy. 

Unhealthy, because social media doesn’t provide the right kind of environment to support healthy activation. Instead, it fuels misinformation and tribalism and entrenchment. Which is all very concerning for the future of humanity. 

Given the number of crises and emergencies we’ve had over the last decade and are likely to have over the coming decades, it’s important to know how you’re going to show up and speak up in activated spaces. 

It’s critical to prepare yourself in advance, knowing that you’re stepping into a space of heaving collective agitation. 

It’s important to choose consciously and to walk into such spaces when you’re feeling both centred and grounded. 

That’s where meditation becomes critical. 

Many people are stepping into socials without really choosing it. They have an old habit of checking in while they’re waiting for the bus or during a work break or when they’re bored. Perhaps their nervous system is already unsettled. Then they wander onto socials and are hit with everyone else’s agendas. 

It’s a lot. 

Over time, it becomes a reason to never come on socials again. 

Which is why starting the day with a meditation and then using that centred and grounded perspective to make conscious choices throughout my day has been so beneficial for me. 

It has helped me to choose when to show up and how to speak up. 

More than that, it has helped me to continue to regulate my nervous system even when operating in deeply disregulated spaces. 

By doing that, I’ve continued to feel safe even when socials has not been a particularly safe space to be in.

To continue this pattern, here are the things I’m committing to in 2024 (and which I invite you to consider also): 

• a short daily meditation so I’m centred and grounded for my day and especially before stepping into the collective consciousness of social media
• consciously choosing when to engage in social media (changing any old habits of unconscious engagement)

• 3. being aware of the deep dysregulation of socials and ensuring my nervous system is settled before I step in. 

  4. noticing if I’m feeling activated by people’s comments or posts, and regulating my nervous system BEFORE speaking up. 

  Social media can be an enjoyable place or it can be deeply harmful. 

  We each have a role to play in that.