According to most bloggers, what I’m about to do is very wrong. Not wrong, like you-were-bad-and-there-will-be-no-deliveries-from-Santa-for-you wrong, but certainly the wrong move if I want to ‘grow’ my blog and become number one!

My problem would be number one at what? At collecting totally random ideas? At a theme that isn’t really a theme? I’m not exactly in competition with TripAdvisor or Expedia here. Got no hot tips on how to save $2,000.00 on your next trip…sorry.

So what I’m supposed to do if I want to grow this site, is to get someone really popular in the travel/writing/spirituality/blogging world to do a guest post and then we’d drive each other’s traffic up. I like that idea of finding like-minded people and I will do that. I think it’s very sound advice and I really would like more visitors.

But meanwhile, it’s my party and I’ll get the guest posters that I want…even if they don’t have a website presence or a blog or can really help me in anyway that apparently matters 🙂

But here’s the thing. I believe my writing buddy, Stephen Sell ‘counts’ on a level that isn’t measurable in conventional statistics or traffic. He’s generously allowed me to post his writing before and I think his latest piece is timely for my current state of mind and maybe yours?

In further support of my decision, I stand behind one no less than Mr. Einstein on this:

“Not everything that counts can be measured. Not everything that can be measured counts.”

Without further ado, I present Mr. Sell’s essay entitled:

ONE MORE LATTE BEFORE I MEDITATE

It’s official. The world has gone mad, and there’s nowhere you can go for help.

A friend of mine recently said he wanted to learn about meditation, and was very confused when he looked it up on the internet. I wondered what could possibly be confusing about meditation, so I Googled the word, and one hundred and eleven MILLION results were presented. Good grief! How much information do you need to sit and do nothing?

In disbelief, I did the same for yoga, and that produced two hundred and seventy-one million results. Tai Chi came in with a mere twenty million, eight hundred thousand. As the British would say, I was gobsmacked. These relaxing disciplines are all supposed to ease the frantic tempo of our lives, but even they have their very own information overload.

We snivel and whine about our lives being too fast and complicated, and then keep adding more details to the things that are supposed to simplify and calm our existence. Perhaps we need to start questioning, or even rejecting some of the advice that is hurled at us on a daily basis. We naively believe almost everything we read, not questioning the sources of our information.  We must constantly ask ourselves – is this true? – does it make sense?

I suggest that we start to question our reliance on these great gobs of information from Google, or other vast, anonymous source, before embarking on any seemingly uncomplicated project – for example, how to meditate.

Consider meditation techniques – there’s so much nonsense written about special cushions, stools and various pretzel positions, it’s small wonder that most people never attempt this rewarding discipline. All that’s really needed is an upright chair – preferably without arms – in as quiet a place as possible. Sit nice and straight, with your feet flat on the floor, and imagine that the crown of your head is being gently pulled from the sky with a string, so the chin is tucked in slightly.

Breathe in slowly through the nose, taking the breath down to the lower abdomen – about two inches below your navel – and imagine you’re inflating a little balloon. Breathe out through the nose and try to quieten your mind as much as you can. Any thoughts that occur, just be aware of them, and let them drift away like a cloud. Start with five minutes a day, and try to build up to twenty.

That’s it – no need to spend time looking at one hundred million websites. It’s also worth noting that even the Dalai Lama says that sleep is the best meditation!

As for the two hundred and seventy-one million souls that submitted the yoga sites to Google, I marvel that they have enough time on their hands to keep us informed about new trends. I’m told that the latest one is called “Hot Yoga,” which is probably the same workout that you get from aerobics. Mercifully, that one has only forty-nine million, four hundred thousand results to sift through.

And if all that isn’t enough, there’s the clothing issue. Yoga wardrobe options are phenomenal. You can’t just wear a t-shirt and sweat pants anymore – you’d be laughed out of the class. Now, one has to have the right gear to flatter one’s tush. It’s also in poor taste to visit the local community centre for your session. Now it’s de rigueur to have the full spa experience.

I’m convinced that the gazillion information choices we have to make are having a detrimental effect on our peace of mind. Nothing is basic any more. It’s now very difficult to buy a cup of coffee without having a multi-lingual experience, and there’s no such thing as an ordinary telephone. Our need for simplification is now chronic, and judging by the number of books on the market about happiness, I don’t think I’m alone in this assumption.

This gentrification of our basic relaxation disciplines was recently highlighted by a conversation with a neighbour. After seventeen years as an award-winning yoga instructor, she’s been laid off – all because the gym where she was teaching wasn’t glamorous enough any more. The yoga chains, like their coffee counterparts, are taking over. This lovely, quiet lady was dignified about it though, and said, “Well, at least my students learned how to breathe.”

Maybe we should all take time to simply breathe. But let’s have a mocha frappe latte first.