Coffee with Sean. All this week we’ve been meeting here in the morning for lengthy discussions from everything to the economy to finding peace while shopping in Trader Joes to enjoying the feeling of fall in the morning air. I realize when Sean and I do take the time to linger over coffee, we’ve slowed down to a healthy pace in our lives. In fact today is the first day in quite a while where my schedule feels wide open in front of me and I am breathing a nice sigh of relief. I’m experimenting with not making any scheduled plans for the next few weeks, instead leaving socializing open to spontaneity and how I’m feeling on any given day. The fact that I feel a sense of relief is a sign that this is exactly the kind of space I need right now. Hey, the beauty of the life I’ve built for myself is having this kind of freedom in my schedule and I’m not going miss it any more either...!

In light of the present state of "things" in this country, I feel inspired to share some of our coffee time discussion here. Before coffee, I popped in on some blogs this morning and realized that there’s a reason I haven’t been visiting many blogs lately. And if my own blog seems a little me-centric, there’s a reason for that too. Along with leaving some space around me, being in my own bubble these days has been important for my sense of peace. And as you can see from the photo above, my own bubble is a pretty nice place to be.

I’m realizing that the more internet focused I become, the stronger I need to be in my sense of self, for a number of reasons, one of which is this ~ the more connected we are, the less genuinely "connected" we are, because we are overloaded with knowing too much about everyone and everything. It used to be that all we knew about was what was happening in our very own neighborhoods. In my opinion there’s TOO much information out there between television, radio, and now the internet, and that’s probably only going to increase. And if you’re not feeling strong in your sense of self it is just way too easy to be buffeted about by what’s happening outside of your own bubble. And while it can be good to be informed, and aware of what’s happening in the world, if it’s not in your control ~ or effecting you directly, it can be very upsetting to know too much. I was reminded of this yesterday, when I made the mistake of tuning into Suze Orman on Oprah. Good Lord, while this woman may be financially savvy, she really needs to be checked on how she talks to people. Not only did I leave that show feeling fearful of my financial well being, but concerned about how human beings, especially those with a false sense of power, treat each other. And then I came back to my own bubble, making dinner, planting some flowers and I felt better again. :)

I guess what I’m really trying to say here is this ~ it’s a good time to be more focused on your own every day life. Along with that, I want to say again how much I appreciate those of you who are willing to step out of your own bubble to come and visit me here ~ and if you ever need to take a blogging break from this blog, or go away all together because you think I’m rambling too much, I certainly understand. And now you know why, if I’m not visiting you as often as I used to, it’s because being here in my own bubble is what’s feeling best right now. In fact staying close to home, both virtually and physically, is what’s refueling my own creative juices as well as inspiring me to share more here at my blog. I promise to continue to make it a nice bubble to visit in this wide, wide world of the internet, especially during these times, because not only do we need to surround ourselves with more uplifiting ideas ~ But also if any of us are going to take the time to visit other blogs, or take in any more information, I think it should be worthwhile.