As I was doing my morning exercise today I was watching TED (again!), you do know I am a fan! I've always wanted to speak on TED's platform myself and perhaps one day I will talk about the World Without Offices there.
Anyway's today I watch Sherry Turkle talk about being connected yet feeling more alone than ever before and I think it really hit home in terms of the message she brings.
What she is talking about, from my perspective, is that the more technology plays a role in getting everyone "connected", the more alone people really are as they try to replace real communication with text messages, email and social networking.
One question she asks and I think this is quite a profound statement, is that can you be alone in solitude and be comfortable within yourself during that time? I know my answer is yes I can most of the time, but of course sometimes I do crave love and attention as well.
This is not new thinking
The great Buddhist monks and many other great groups of enlightened people are often teaching the power of meditation, solitude with a view to being in oneself to be able to reflect, learn from oneself and to really think about yourself and be completely self aware.
Unfortunately I agree with Sherry completely, too many people are absorbed into being connected (not that there is anything wrong with that), but at the expense of discovering who you are yourself, who you want to be and what you want to do.
When you let yourself become part of the connection and communication without ever stopping to become self aware, you are just letting yourself become a part of the system, being controlled by the system and living your life by the way the system demands it.
Take some time out, get yourself into a space where you can turn off all your communications and sit in peace with yourself and contemplate your life and yourself. If you can do this once a week for just 30 minutes, you'll enter into a new world.
A world where you start creating your inner peace, and that will reflect into your life as well.
