Online > mobile/recovering > present

I've been actively putting myself online... or rather updating my online presences and trying out the tools to manage my online connections lately and having been finding myself being hyper connected and active while I'm at my computer. While I'm working I'm usually listening to music, have a variety of online tools open (google reader, basecamp, slideshare, etc.) while at the same time doing email and working on docs/presentations. When I'm in that mode I can be hyper productive... but sometimes, like an hour ago, my nervous system screams 'stop'.

I listened this time and went for a run in Springbank Park (I love where I live - because 7 minutes the otherway and I'd be in a Provincial Park for some hilly trail running). It was a good idea as what I probably would have started to struggle with for the rest of the day came to me half way through my run.

Thinking about it I notice 3 different states that I now tend to operate in: Online (where I'm hyper connected), mobile/recovering (where my connectivity is limited or my system is still in recovery mode), or present (where I'm fully aware of just what is around me at that moment). Sometimes these states interweave with each other which is good - and as long as I don't resist what my nervous system is telling me - there should be a healthy balance of each.

Thanks also for the great pic post this morning Sarah of graffiti wisdom that took me down this path.

Heavy load? Or not heavy enough?

I had my first chance to spend some time with Andres Dussan from Ashoka here in Canada. Just an introductory meeting from some mutual friends and it's been a conversation that's stuck with me a few days... deeper than I originally realized.

Andres talked passionately about the power of media in shifting the cultural mindset to place where balance between people and the planet can re-emerge. I've had this conversation a number of times over the past year but something in it reminded me of the responsibility I have as white guy with upper-middle class roots, living in an affluent city within Canada. This is something that I was really first awakened to when I met my wife Shawna years ago but somehow since getting married, having our two kids and moving into a comfortable house with a big yard and lots of family support around I've conveniently put that responsibility aside.

When I stop to think about the pervasiveness and persistence of messages that reinforce our society's image of success (pick whichever one you want) and how that subtly makes it into my own images of what I want/need/should be it gets alarming. I know how it has impacted me in the past as one of those with the greatest of privilege and can only imagine the impact on those who do not fit the images we are constantly fed. And now extend that to the impact of extending those messages globally.

I've heard, and used at one time, all sorts of justifications for the messages are delivered and how marketers really care for their customers and those they want to be their customers, but when I now watch the green-wash frenzy marketers are gorging on I don't really have much hope that the images will ever truly get past that which will sell more product. And that's not to say this is the marketers responsibility to bear alone, or that it is the product manufacturers, or that it is anyone's alone...

I've just really been reminded that it is everyone's... starting with mine.