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Wednesday, September 20, 2006 |
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Thinking of some new relationships I have found such joy in over the last few years ... "For years, copying other people, I tried to know myself. From within, I couldn't decide what to do. Unable to see, I heard my name being called. Then I walked outside." ...... Rumi [discovered at Aparna's blog, when she spent an evening with Rumi] 9:37:21 AM  comment [] trackback []
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Stuart picks up blogging again .. he's back! Its been too long and I've missed his blog. In one of his come-back posts, spurred by Rob's very gentle nudge which just said "Welcome Home", Stuart says: "A trust and set of relationships that has allowed him to do the
unthinkable for many. Not much more than a month ago Rob had never met
Johnnie, Dina or myself. Johnnie met with Rob just over a month ago for
the first time. While for our small roles in this theater we met on
Sunday before the kickoff. For many that's a risk they wouldn't take. For me, like Rob, it is
increasingly one I find myself taking with my blogging buddies. We've
read each other often for years, probably Skyped and chatted off and
on; perhaps met at a number of conferences. For me this small
assignment is just the proof that 1) a new way of working is emerging,
and 2) given the chance a few bloggers can often out strategise, out
perform, and simply do a better job than the most expensive consulting
firms around."
"Something weird and wonderful is going on in the background of the debate about the meaning of blogging. Yes it is an important feature of a new type of journalism. Yes it will change marketing and product development. As interesting to me as these major trends is how blogging is also creating new kinds of trusting relationships. It is enabling an entirely new way to make friends - from the inside out.
No longer are we reliant on face to face and local space to guide our relationships. This is surely a revolution. To all those that don't know - the success rate of "knowing" whom you can trust as a product of blogging is far higher than the traditional. I am not alone in finding that I can work with people that I have never met - such as Johnnie, Stuart and Dina.
I find that I "know" my blogging friends better than most of my traditional friends - why is this - what do you think?" And Euan, Johhnie both blog buddies, and Matt Buckley-Golder who I don't know, add to this celebration, in the comments at Rob's post ..Euan says .. "hear hear!". Johnnie's feeling inspired to blog more regularly on reading Rob's post ... "I've been really blogging light lately, and this post is making me want to get my act together!" Matt adds his thoughts: "Also, many friendships are quite hollow anyway. Conversations have to
begin and end with small talk. People are busy. People are "busy". You
could easily know someone for 5 years and be non the wiser about who
they truly are. Blogs let you put down your thoughts when you have the
inspiration to put them down (which may not -- and likely isn't -- the
same time as when you're scheduled to meet with a friend). It's a
concentrated history of your most inspired moments. Who wouldn't be
attracted to that?" To which I added ... "Perhaps it has a lot to do with the whole process of selecting
friends ... traditionally, we sought within a confined space (physical,
temporal, familial, cultural, national etc). I can only think of the
old penpals system as the only window outside of these spaces as I was
growing up. And we enjoyed those friendships then, when we ourselves
lived in those spaces. Today this isn't true anymore .. I am Indian
sure .. yet I don't feel I just live in my little corner in India. I am
woman ... but my identity isn't from my gender and the roles ascribed
to women. I am a market researcher who's spent most of her life dealing
in traditional industries .. that doesn't stop me enjoying my
interactions with 'geeks' and knowledge workers alike.
Indira Gandhi once said .. "You can't shake hands with a clenched fist". Through blogging, as I extend open palms, I'm able to discover, embrace, enjoy and celebrate so many new forms of relationships of MY deep and personal choice. In the mirrors of these relationships I forge of my own free will, I see my own reflection, and I learn to trust not just others, but myself more. These reflections also tell me more about who I am, who I can be. Instinctively, intuitively. And I am inspired at the discovery that so many believe in me, it reinforces my trust in myself ... I know I live.
Is there a better foundation for trust than this?" Stuart then shares a personal insight spurred by Rob's celebration of his blogging friends and the trust he shares in his relationship with them:"Blogging for me is a social and conversational media. I'd gotten away from it. For awhile blogging controlled me. Now I hope to simply enjoy blogging again.
It's also no surprise to me to see both Euan and Dina commenting
here. I find myself underestimating the support and opportunities
blogging is and has provided me. Nothing I'm doing today or have done
for the last four years would have been possible without my blog."
I feel this with my Tsunami blogging buddies too .. many of whom I haven't yet met face-to-face... many I don't interact with on a daily basis, with those I do we share our lives and support one another. Neha, Nancy, Peter, Angelo, Bala, Megha, Rudi to name a few ... and yet I know they have my trust .. because they believe in me and I in them. There is no greater proof of that than the actions we have taken together, and the difference I know we make. In that, we share a very special bond.
Oh what a celebration this is! Thanks Rob. Your encouragement makes me inspired to get my blogging act together again. 9:29:49 AM comment [] trackback []
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Copyright 2009 Dina Mehta
