At the spring Binge Eating Disorder Association (BEDA) conference, research was presented about the power of mindfulness in improving insulin function. Note the word is mindfulness, not mindful eating. I notice, that people tend to compartmentalize mindfulness. They focus on mindful eating, but that's pretty much where it ends. Mindfulness in other areas of their lives tends to be random, or even nonexistent.
I've been working to streamline my Twitter life recently, and I've been thinking a lot about that. And as much as I value it as a communications, marketing, and productivity tool, I also believe it has become one of our culture's biggest saboteurs of mindfulness.
Twitter is an incredibly powerful and useful networking tool that has even saved lives. I've made great connections with it.
Twitter can be so chaotic and ever present, however, it can completely take over your life. And when it does, it's impossible to be mindful. So in the name of using Twitter mindfully, so that you get the most out of the experience, without it interfering with mindful living that is so important to your PCOS success, I have created a top ten list of rules for mindful Tweeting.
1. Mindful Tweeters have a Tweet mission in mind. Are you using Twitter to market your business? To network? To share information with colleagues? Are you following people for a reason? Because what they have to say enhances your day? Because they're following you? Because you hope they'll follow back? To deal with anxiety? I do try to keep my follows diverse, as some of my most important communications have come from the most surprising Tweeps, but I also eliminate people whose Tweets consistently do not fit with my general goal for the day. I wouldn't be interested in a person accounting for every single second of every single day if we were sitting together for lunch, and it's not something I wish to use Twitter for. Your Tweeps are following you because they think you have meaningful things to say. Don't misuse the time they give you.
2. Mindful Tweeters think before they Tweet. How many Tweets a day is a person sending out? In general, how relevant are those Tweets to what I intend to accomplish over the day? If this person was my cubicle mate and sending me all these Tweets via email or phone message, would it annoy me? If so, I probably won't follow them. Too much information coming at me from cyberspace keeps me from being aware of what's in my real world. When I'm not aware, I'm not thinking about what I think and how I feel and what needs to be done about it. I'm more likely to eat more and exercise less.
3. Mindful Tweeters read before they reTweet. Just because a Tweet intro to a link sounds interesting, it doesn't mean the Tweet is worthy of retweeting. Too often, it's a teaser to entice Tweeters into circulating promotional (or even pornographic) material. Did you know, activities like Tweeting actually reprogram the brain to respond to them as if they're cocaine! Are you Tweeting because you have the urge to move your fingers? Or because you've actually read the material and think it would be valuable to your followers.
4. Mindful Tweeters use Tweet efficiency tools such as Tweetdeck. I had a Twitter account for a year before I actually used it, because I didn't know about Tweetdeck. It allows me to filter Tweets by category. I don't have to read them all, I can read the news, info from colleagues, trending topics…and honestly, people who aren't exercising #1, #2, and #3 don't make it to those columns. Once in awhile, on a slow day, I look at the aggregate column, but for the most part, I keep people off my follow list who I can't categorize and who are filling my brain and thoughts with information that makes it hard to think about what I need to do to take care of myself.
5. Mindful Tweeters take Tweet timeouts. I turn Twitter on in the morning, read Tweets, schedule my Tweets, turn it off the rest of the day, and turn it on once again at the end of the day. Other than that it's off. Challenge yourself to a Twitter timeout and see how you feel. Anxious? Left out? Needing a fix? That's a problem. Work on that. See if you can take an entire day, maybe even a weekend, off. You were doing it just a few years ago. You can do it now.
6. Mindful Tweeters have real time friends. And they don't Tweet in their presence. Nothing is more annoying than taking the time out from a busy day to spend with a treasured friend…and then have them spend more time staring at a phone or computer screen than to interact with you. Don't be that friend. Put the phone down when you're in the presence of real people. What real-time interaction does to your people skills will transfer to your being a more effective…and mindful…Tweeter.
7. Mindful Tweeters interact with their Tweeps. Before I follow a person, I check out their profile. Is the person talking at a bunch of followers he or she doesn't even know, without responding to what other people are saying? Unless it's a news or information channel, I steer clear of that kind of account. It's going to fill my screen and brain with information that crowds out the important information…my own thoughts and feelings.
8. Mindful Tweeters don't base their self-esteem or success on the number of followers they have. If you're basing your self-esteem on the size of your flock, and not on who you are, as you are, you're susceptible to needing to be online for validation. Have you transferred your obsession with weight and food to your Twitter flock? The inevitable waxes and wanes, mentions, etc., that are completely out of your control, have been given power to influence how you treat yourself. Don't let it happen.
9. Mindful Tweeters live now, Tweet later. An occasional Tweet from the scene is fine. But I recently sat next to someone at a conference who spent the entire time Tweeting. Never looked up from his screen. I was never able to make eye contact to network. When your Tweeting becomes more important than what it is your Tweeting is about…you're in over your head. There is no way you're able, in that frame of mind, to have good insight into how you feel and what you need to do about it.
10. Mindful Tweeters are in control of Twitter and not the other way around.