Tag: #technology

Giving Me Practice

I went shopping yesterday and left my phone at home. It was intentional, just to check myself and make sure it didn’t bother me, and it didn’t.

I spent years addicted to my phone.

The day I deactivated my Facebook accounts was the day they congratulated me for spending six years with them. They sent a notification, and I was mortified. Six years, and what did I have to show for it?

Thank you for all of your kind comments on my Blog posts recently. They absolutely terrify me.

It takes time for me to respond, because I still overthink the response. I don’t have the WordPress app on my phone, so I don’t receive immediate notification. I let notifications run my life for years.

The past couple of weeks, I’ve been sharing things with you that took a long time to admit. It may look like Blogging tips, but for me it was painful lessons.

It’s not even about me, it’s about the lessons, and being used by God to prevent someone else from going through the same heartache. It’s by God’s grace that I’m able to sit here and share. Palms sweaty and hands shaking along the keyboard.

I don’t realize all the activity on my Blog without the app. Two or three times a day, I open my laptop, logon to this site, and see that you have visited.

I read the Blogs in my Reader, and love on others. It’s natural to give love, and leave comments on what you write, but I stare at the screen in awe when that same love and kindness is returned.

Sometimes I don’t know what to say, so I just ‘like’ the comment, and come back later to respond. I don’t know how people do it that have 100’s of comments a day. I would be so overwhelmed.

I enjoy living a calm, quiet life, but to live that way, I turn off all notifications, and my phone is usually in another room of the house. I’m not quite ready to tell you exactly how bad it got with 6 social media accounts giving me a feeling of importance.

Wow. That slipped out.

I don’t run my Blog in the normal way, because if I did, it would begin to run me. Thank you for your love and kindness, and taking time to comment.

It’s becoming less terrifying with every response, and you are giving me practice.

Quiet is Good

My life is quiet. I created it that way on purpose.

Some people cannot embrace the quiet. They have to stay busy. The stillness of life is a beautiful thing.

Have you practiced just sitting in it?

Sometime last year, I took all the apps off of my phone that made noise. I have an undying love for Google, so the Google family of apps stayed.

My phone may be quiet, but my mind is not.

I’m always thinking, and this was disturbing my sleep. It would take so long for my brain to shut off, I started dreading bedtime. Plus, I would wake up the next day tired from trying to get some sleep!

I tried a lot of things to prepare my mind for bed.

My daughter recommended Melatonin, but that just knocked me out. This is the same daughter that told me, “You look tired.” I longed for a good night’s sleep. That feeling of drifting off to dreamland.

The other night, I laid in bed and listened to my breathing. In my mind, I heard my Yoga instructor say as if to remind me, “It’s all in the breath.”

I’ve been practicing Yoga and meditation all year.

I’ve been doing both of them wrong.

Yoga was a form of exercise for me, but that is not it’s main purpose. That is more like a fringe benefit.

I could never get my mind quiet long enough to meditate. Guess what? I’m not supposed to. It’s okay to be mindful of your thoughts during meditation.

thoughts

This is when I tried Headspace for 10 days straight.

My daughter mentioned I was ‘sighing’ a lot, but it wasn’t a sigh. It was controlled breathing. I was sorting through my thoughts with each breath.

Two nights ago, guess how I fell asleep?

By counting my breath. Just being aware of my breath, and counting each inhale and exhale.

I felt myself drifting off to sleep. Quiet is good.

ALOHA

aloha

Learning with WordPress

I woke up at 4:30 am, and already had a Chemex.

I knew nothing about Blogging when I began, but here are some things I learned with WordPress.

What should be the name of your Blog?

When I opened a Medium account in August, it automatically connected to my gmail account, so it used my real name. Use your real name if you can.

When starting this Blog, I used Letitgocoach, because I thought it would reflect that stage of my life. Six years of Social Media later, I’m known as Letitgocoach, so will probably use that pen name in writing a book. We will see if Google can let it go.

Don’t delete pictures from your media library.

This one still causes me to sigh. Whatever you delete in your media library, disappears from the Blog you used it in. I have a years worth of Blogs with this weird little broken link icon instead of a picture.

When inserting a photo, or meme, leave off any alignment. Click the + button on your toolbar, choose ‘media’, and then ‘add new’, to upload your photo. Once inserted, you can click on the photo to see options. This is where you choose, ‘no alignment’, and type in a caption, or photo credit.

Mr. Smith reads my Blog from his phone, and told me he could only see half of my Meme. That is because I used to ‘justify’ the photo to the center of the page. By choosing ‘no alignment’, it floats around nicely on every device. Here’s one for Smith.

touch-her-butt-not-her-coffee-16212979

Make your Blog easy to read.

I love reading, and following new Bloggers. While in my Reader, I click on the ‘Search’ option, and it pulls up a lot of newbies. There is no easy way to say this but, break up the page. It’s easier on the eyes, and more enjoyable if it’s not a 1,000 word paragraph.

Before clicking publish, I click ‘Preview’. This allows me to see what the post will look like on a Desktop, Tablet, or Phone to ensure it’s easy to read.

The Pingback. How to tag another Blogger, or insert a link in your post.

While reading a Blog post, and you see an underlined, or highlight word, it may contain a link. I will say ‘hello’ to my friend Kat. If you click on her name Kat, it will take you to her Blog.

You can place a link under any word in your post.

Highlight the word, and click the piece of chain link looking thing on your toolbar. In a new browser window, go find the Blogger’s site you want to tag. Copy their link, or any web address you want to use, and go back to your post. Paste the link in the URL window.

You should see your highlighted word in the box below. If not, you can type in your ‘link text.’ If you are referring to a previous post, you can choose it from the list. I click the box ‘”Open link in new window’, so it does. Click ‘add link’ and you’re done.

If you’ve been nominated for an award, and noticed all of the nominees highlighted, or underlined, this is how they did it. You will want to reciprocate.

This is some of what I’ve learned Inbarbsworld. If you want to learn everything there is to know about Blogging, I recommend Renard, in Renard’s World.

 

In Barbs World

I didn’t have any plans of becoming a Letting Go Coach. It was offered to me after going through the Letting Go lessons personally.

If it’s in front of me, I’m gonna walk through it.

I told myself, “There are enough coaches in the world”, and there are some really good ones. People who have a passion for it. I was grateful for receiving the certification, but it wasn’t a passion.

All I wanted to do at the time was write.

In the midst of creating this site, I was instructed by WordPress to choose a name. I had just completed my Letting Go Certification, so I wanted the name to reflect where I was. After trying numerous variations of the words ‘Letting Go’, Letitgocoach was the only name available for purchase.

Personally, I believe it’s because I smashed four words together to make the one word, and it had God’s blessing. I was ready to write as Letitgocoach.

This morning, I was playing around with this site, and decided to make a change. There haven’t been many changes made to it since the very beginning, so it was time to give it a more simplified look. This year alone there have been many changes in me, so the site should reflect more of who I am today.

After choosing a theme, I was prompted to give it a name.

I clicked a lowercase ‘L’, thinking it would remember Letitgocoach, but the computer thought my lowercase ‘l’, was an I, and auto-filled with Inbarbsworld. I haven’t seen that name in years.

It was my very first email address eons ago.

There are many stories behind Inbarbsworld, but most people refer to it in a teasing sort of way. One thing the storytellers have in common is they always say, “Everything is prettier Inbarbsworld.”

My name is Barb, and welcome to my world.

I’m happy you are here.

Once is Enough

Last week, I deleted my Facebook account.

It’s been on my heart to do so all year. One of those last things to ‘let go’ of. The key to doing something like this, and be filled with peace afterwards, is to do it a non emotional state. Sitting calmly in front of my laptop, staring at the number of followers, I let go, and clicked deactivate.

Two weeks ago, I almost got myself fired from my job.

One of my virtual assistant employers asked if I would receive their incoming calls, and I agreed. They were forwarded to a cell phone, and it took a couple of weeks to discover why they wanted them forwarded. It was like politely fencing with a sales person every time the phone would ring. By week three I was done taking those calls.

My salary might decrease, but my joy will increase!

13-Motivational-QUotes

It’s okay to let go of things that are no longer fulfilling.

What do I want to do to bring in income? I’m not sure, but I’m staying open to whatever God has in store. He’s good at signs, and sometimes he has them printed out on neon paper, and hangs it on a door. That occurred last week.

There was a ‘help wanted’ sign on the door of a local drugstore I walked into. I’ve never thought about working at a drugstore before, but it makes sense. The people coming in there want to feel better. Maybe they are going through a Cancer journey of their own, and I can relate.

I don’t know the reason, but I responded to the sign.

I filled out an application, and they called the next day for an interview. The only real experience I have is customer service, and I care about people. It’s been 30 years since I ran a cash register, and they look a tad bit different today!

I’m excited about doing a job I’ve never done, and plugging into community! The application process has been lengthy, but God keeps nudging me along. I’m encouraged that it hasn’t been easy, but it’s moving quick. I’m just waiting for the papers to go through, and they will give me a start date.

I told my daughter this morning, “Here I am again, living in the unknown.” The unknown is beginning to feel normal.

You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.

Watch Your Step

My daughter thinks my LG Health app is hilarious.

I’m pretty sure it thinks I’m not real. This app is on my business phone, which stays on my work table, until it needs recharging. I’m encouraged by this.

Screenshot_2018-06-20-10-51-48
Just 8131 more to go!

This app encourages phone attachment, but it’s confused that I don’t carry it around with me. Most days I don’t even know where my personal phone is! At least now, having a business phone, I can call my personal one to find it!

I helped a friend in her house cleaning business for a month. She taught me how to make every step count. She encouraged me to put everything needed in my cleaning caddy, and carry that from room to room. The mop, and vacuum were by the front door, because they are used last.

The tool caddy, and apron are designed for efficiency.

I still use what she taught me in my own home.

Instead of running around the house grabbing what is needed at the time, I look around in the area of the house I’m standing in, and see if anything needs to be done while there. After pulling the trashcan down the driveway for trash pick up day, I walk across the street, and get the mail.

Just like running errands in our vehicle, we can focus on our steps. Instead of feeling physically worn out at the end of the day, you will feel accomplished! Make every step count, and be productive instead of busy. Watch your step.