Day Twenty-Seven - Facebook detox

Wow -- Facebook really triggers me.

This morning I noticed that the first thing that I reached for after coffee was a screen.  Any screen.  I don't know why.  I haven't written in three days - demerits.  I think I was searching for a writing prompt.  I picked up a book and put it down.  Stared at my notebook in the distance and didn't pick it up. Opened and closed email without even reading anything.  Opened Facebook.  Didn't even scroll -- just an onslaught of information and things that I missed and am not a part of and a whole world that exists, a secret club that I am not allowed into.  All the things that I failed to do.  All the credit I didn't receive.

After taking so much time off from social media, my baseline state is no longer a hardy mix of anxiety and stress. Instead, it is a neutral flow.  It has taken months, actually - even years, to get here.  And so when I gaze at the open Facebook page I can notice in a very real way how triggered I am.  It feels similar to when you are off sugar for a while and then eat a processed snack.  All you taste is plastic.

Facebook didn't originally have "likes".  It was just status updates.  I forgot about this evolution until I was recently reminded by an interview with Cal Newport. (Digital Minimalism is on my reading list.)   And then came the algorithm that made sure that you only got "likes" some of the time.  Essentially following the Vegas models that made sure you lost and won "likes" just enough to keep you coming back for more.

Should I delete Facebook?  You can download your photos and always start a new page...  But all of the modern marketing teachings echo in my head: remember that it is a useful tool that offers a place for us to build supportive communities, share valuable information, and stay connected.  The key here is using the tool rather than the tool using us.

The minimalist decision tree

1. Does it feel good?

      2.  No
           3. Is it necessary?

                4. If Yes --> Only in small doses
                4. If No --> Don't do it/buy it/keep it/think it

      2.  Yes
           3. Is it depleting, neutral, or energizing?

                4. Focus on energizing and neutral, minimize depleting

I should delete Facebook.  But I can't.

Belize 2019.  Off the grid and so happy.

Exit: "Farewell" Bob Dylan

Day Eleven - Books

Tired. End of day posts are something to get used to I suppose.  Or just stop doing.

I'll keep it simple.  Books.  Current reads and past reads that I have on my mind.

Astanga Yoga Anusthana

Everything That Remains

Hatha Yoga Pradipika

The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a Fuck

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

The More of Less

No Impact Man

Wabi Sabi Welcome

Yoga Sutras

And reading -- the fact that I love doing it, believe it is very important, and am finally making the time.  And slowly, painfully, the muscle is coming back.  

Yesterday I was waiting for someone and in the stillness, the purgatory, the lengthy pause in the flow of life we call "waiting", the opportunity to simply exist in time observing and absorbing and processing and just relaxing the brain if we wanted to was presented and I of course almost immediately reached for my phone.  A knee-jerk, completely unconscious action.  My body received a signal and reacted with what it has been trained to do - get phone.  And my phone was purposefully hidden and turned off way beyond my reach.  And I could feel myself getting angry (even though I was the one who placed it at a distance and turned it off). And I thought for a second - ok what about a book?  If you need something to do so badly, why not grab that book?  I think that might be progress.