Archive for the Category »Reflecting «

07
Dec
What Can Be Said In 140 Or Less
Denyse

When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand.  The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.  ~Henri Nouwen

This is a small thank you to those of you that have touched me through my Twitter stream.  Today I reached 50,000 followers.  It is with a very humble heart that I share this with you.  13 months ago when I started writing my profile and signing up on Twitter I thought, who is going to follow me and what will I ever say to them?  What I have found in Twitter can only be understood if you connect to others on Twitter yourself.

Who would think that someone you do not even know, that might even live a world apart from you, would ever have really touch you in any way that really mattered.  The followers in my stream on Twitter do that each and every day.  There is never a day that goes by that someone does not ask me how I am doing, and really is waiting for a genuine answer.  They are not saying that just because they need something to tweet.  They are saying it because we have connected!

Within 140 characters we connect in such a way that I never would have thought possible.  We have shared the joys and pains of our lives.  We have cheered at achievements and listened when an ear is all that we can give.  We have reached across the miles, across borders, stretching into countries we will never see, and we have connected in such a way that lives have actually been changed just by tweeting.

I saw the love and caring working at it’s fullest in Twitter when I lost my mother this past summer.  People from my stream that I had never connected with followed her health progress with me.  They prayed and told others and people that were not even following me were praying.  It is not only your followers that touch you, but they ReTweet to people following them, and some of those people in turn also reach out to you to offer you hope and comfort.

When Mom passed on, many of my followers listened to me and offered me love and comfort and encouragement.  Some even shared loss of their own parents with me.  It was a process of healing and these people helped so much.  As in the quote above these people chose to share my pain with me and reached out and touched me with the viral hand of 140 characters.  Often they only gave me a place to share my grief, but they were always there.

Besides, the sorrow they also share in the joy!  Many connect and ask how business is going, how the projects are going, and are interested in what is going on in our lives.  Yes, we even laugh and joke and play tricks on each other, make fun of our funny hats, or dance in the rain, or a number of crazy other things like the week we had a virtual pillow fight!

My Twitter stream is filled with new friends.  A year ago these people were strangers to me.  Today, right now, I could send out a tweet and someone would be there to answer a question or smile with me, or share a moment of my day.  Twitter changes daily, so people will come and go, but the spirit of the people of my Twitter stream will be always with me.  Many people have touched my life just by connecting.

When you follow someone, you actually do yourself a great disservice to not try to connect.  You just never know what kind spirit you may find that will touch your lives as so many have touched mine.

To my followers, I thank you for the wonderful opportunity you have given me to connect with you, to learn from you, to laugh with you and to share moments of our lives.

Follow me on twitter if you don’t already

http://www.twitter.com/denyseduhaime


Category: About Life, Just Thinking, My Twitter Family, Reflecting, To Tweet Or Not To Tweet, What's It All About  Tags: , , , ,  Leave a Comment
09
Nov
Reflecting–Do We Do It?
Denyse

Reading without reflecting is like eating without digesting. ~Edmund Burke

I sent out this quoted tweet tonight and it got me thinking.  Actually a lot of my tweets today were on the subject of thoughts.  How many times we we read a quote and not really digest what was being said.  We quickly Re Tweet it for our friends to share, and we move on to read the next tweet.  Often these quotes are worth more than the brief second of time that we give them.

There are so many powerful words that are passed between us with tweets.  Some of them are by our World’s most famous authors, but often some are just the thoughts of one of our followers.  I have found some very thought provoking ideas being share.  However, if we do not take time to reflect on the words we are reading, then we are just reading words.

I know I am guilty of this in reading other things like emails or even some blog postings.  I am a pretty fast reader and sometimes I find myself skimming the content looking for the juice of the subject.  I especially do this in reading articles and web content.

There are a lot of tweets that go by our streams and we cannot possibly read every single one of them.  So we pick and chose followers that we enjoy reading.  A lot of the tweeting that we do among ourselves is all in fun, and we are relating to each other, trying to break the ice or cultivate a friendship.  We thank people politely for Re Tweet us, and we ask how our friends are and what they are up to.

However, there are tweets that our followers send that are certainly worth those extra few mins while we try to absorb the idea.  We might not always agree with the idea, and that is a perfect time to start a real conversation.  There is nothing wrong at all in having a difference of opinion, in fact sparring is great for the spirit and for the mind.

I am hoping that in the posting that I start to write in this blog will cause you to do some contemplation of my thoughts and you will feel free to add comments of your own.  My thoughts come from my life’s experiences and they are very different from yours.  I know the next time that I read a blog posting, or an email from a friend, I am going to take a second read and think about that person and what their thoughts are and how they affect me.  I have a feeling that I will learn a lot about myself when I do this.

Category: Reflecting, What's It All About  Tags: , ,  4 Comments