It's Easy!

You've heard the song, you love the word, you know it's all you need... 

LOVE! 

I love to love things. Oscar often catches me overly-referring to things as "favorite" or "best" or, well, you get the idea. My excitement often finds me exaggerating with words and Oscar in his infinite say-what-I-mean-and-mean-what-I-say wisdom will gently guide, "Really, honey? Didn't you say this was your favorite (insert so-and-so) last week?" Yes, so I admit it. I'm a lady who calls at least half a dozen people her best friend and, well, basically I have several versions of my favorite everything. (I'm working on it!) All joking aside, though, as we talk about love and the objects or people that we give our affections to, I personally have found it a beautiful challenge to narrow that scope of influence and to be more protective over where I invest these precious energies. As Mumford and Sons would say, 

"Where you invest your love, you invest your life." 

In a similar vein, a quote by the author Annie Dillard reminds us that, 

"How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives." 

These days we spend a lot of our time engaged with social media. Even those of us who consider ourselves naturalists at heart still find a portion (or more!) of time during the day that revolves around connecting our ideas and inspiration to people through the internet. For a few years I struggled to find peace in this technological realm, experiencing almost constant tension over the time that could be (and was) wasted on Facebook, Tumblr, Flickr, etc., and really, the futility of it all. These tensions usually led me to the point of feeling the only answer was to erase my identity and flee to a barren existence of life in the woods. Seriously, though. I once had a public meltdown while sitting at a coffee shop because of how many people around me were on their iPhones. Hysterical tears, crying for the loss of humanity! 

OK, so I used to be a little dramatic. Alright, a lot dramatic. Needless to say, my ideas have grown up a lot since that time. (Proud iPhone owner, what-what!) However, I do still see what potential there can be for negative/destructive habits to form around our technological devices. For me, I've found peace in this area through continually keeping in check the key-factor that is BALANCE. I've learned that it's all about keeping the pendulum centered, never swinging too far into reclusiveness or over-sharing. It's about balancing where and when and how to share, and with whom. But even more powerful than what I choose to share, I found it's what I choose to consume that holds the most weight. 

So without getting too preachy, or going into too much detail, (let's face it, we all know our own "weaknesses") I encourage everyone (myself included!) to consistently examine what we are allowing ourselves to consume, through media of all forms. Are healthy habits being created that will lead to positive mental wellbeing? If not, think of one small discipline you can practice that will take you a step in the right direction. Maybe this means limiting computer time or not allowing yourself to look at certain websites. Whatever it may be, I think Rob Bell advises beautifully in his book SEX GOD when he says, 

"It’s not about getting rid of desire. It’s about giving ourselves to bigger and better and more powerful desires. What are you channeling your energies into? Because they will go somewhere. If they don’t go into a few, select, disciplined pursuits that you are passionate about and are willing to give your life to, then they’ll dissipate into all sorts of urges and cravings that won’t even begin to bring the joy that the “one thing” could. You are crammed full of the “madness of the gods.” And you will end up giving the force of your being to something."

Knowing that we are full of the "madness of the gods" (love that!), that our energies must go somewhere, and that honestly, running away to the woods doesn't work for most people, our desire is for HOME IN THE HIVE to be a safe haven of resource and information that would benefit both the mind and spirit. That being said, every week or so we plan to highlight our "favorite" blogs, videos, recipes, tutorials, etc. that have been getting recent love from us around the interweb. I'll be calling these posts "Handpicked", and please! If you have great sites you follow or information to share, please feel free to leave them in the comments section! Our goal is to create a shared space with trustworthy links to reliably positive sources and material. 

Stay tuned for my first "Handpicked" post, coming later today or early tomorrow! Make it a great Wednesday, friends! And special thanks to The Beatles for all their love-spiration!