Blue Gypsy Inc. Blog

Ever since I started making connections through, and dabbling in, social media I feel the way I did when I was reading Synchronicity: The Inner Path of Leadership by Joseph Jaworski. It's the same tingly feeling I had when I first went bungy jumping off the Kawarau Bridge in New Zealand (141 feet above the Kawarau River!)

I know. What do reading a book on leadership, writing blogs, twittering, facebook, and bungy jumping remotely have in common? Well I'll tell you. They are all about experiencing, listening, sharing, learning, connecting, and jumping off into an abyss while hoping for positive results.

In Synchronicity, Jaworski talks about his personal experiences. He meets people in the right place at the right time to lead him along his life's path. Maybe I like him because he meanders as he finds his way, but mostly I think I like him because he digs for the deeper meaning in his interactions. Though I read the book at least 7 years ago on a recommendation from Dr. Tom Hill, a great motivational speaker, I still remember having those ah-ha moments as I moved through the pages. Ah-ha's are always a tingle of excitement for me. It's as if I'm glimpsing the full picture. I believe in synchronicity and everything coming together to move us along the path of discovery on our life's journey.

This is why I find social media so fascinating. I meet people on twitter and facebook that I'd never bump into in the grocery store. Through our interactions I get that ah-ha feeling. It's the same exhilaration I felt the first time I steadied myself on the edge of a bridge, poised to jump off of a perfectly good solid surface into the unknown, attached to nothing but a giant rubber band. As I began to free fall and felt the ground rush toward me I kept thinking, "What have I done, what have I done, what have I done." Then all of the sudden the cord caught, I bounced back into the air, never allowing me to smack face first into the river but instead I felt as if I was floating on air. (At least going up...going back down again was that same terrifying ground rush) That tingly floating-on-air feeling is the same thing for me when I meet that right person in the right place that moves me along the path.

I've had those ah-ha feelings a lot lately. Up until recently I'd read new home sales training books by Myers Barnes, heard about his amazing seminars, but never had the chance to meet him in person. I wasn't going to bump into him at the grocery store. A friend told me to "friend" him on facebook so I did. Now his status updates are an uplifting part of my day. They are those little ah-ha's that keep me on my path of learning and improving. He reminds me of what I used to teach to teenagers. Now I'm reincorporating these lessons back into my daily life. (something I tend to forget from time to time when caught up in the everyday) As Myers and I started to interact on his facebook updates, I realized I was getting the opportunity to share insights with a great mentor who I never would have met if it weren't for social media. That is what social media is all about. Interacting and creating relationships.

Today, in a webinar from Mike Lyon's Social Media Boot Camp, I had one of those ah-ha moments. The subject was blogging. While I'm a novice blogger, and know I have much to learn, it was great to meet and interact with, Sarah Yaussi, blogger and editor for Big Builder. She had many insights to share from time management and implementation to execution and return. On a personal note, I was flattered to find that not only had she read my blog, but also liked it! And wrote about it! (if you read my hummingbird entry you'll know that I didn't know anyone was even reading it.) Again I just felt like I'd made another connection with an amazing person I wouldn't have likely met if it weren't for social media.

Though sometimes those connections we make through social media may seem to be just a tiny thread, there are moments when we can see they actually are stronger than we think - bouncing us up in the air rather than letting us fall on our faces.

I'll keep looking for those synchronized connections that give me that little ah-ha tingle letting me know that I'm on the right path as I keep exploring social media.