For better or worse, the internet has forever changed society. One challenge you might be navigating is protecting your peace while on social media.
Comments Sections
There are many ways the internet can disrupt our sense of centeredness and peace. So today, I want to zoom in and focus on the comments sections.
Love them or hate them, they are everywhere!
Comments can rally people together in unity as well as tear communities apart. It gives voice to those that don’t feel heard, while also providing a platform for deepening societal schisms.
Protecting Your Peace on Social Media
So how does one protect their peace when it comes to comments?
What if you can hold onto your sense of peace and centeredness by removing “you” from the equation?
By “you”, I mean the egoic structure that you identify with.
What if we saw comments sections as a mirror?
A mirror to reflect back your own insecurities, fears, anger and judgment of yourself and others. Beliefs that aren’t actually “you”, but have taken hold of who you believe yourself to be.
“I’m shy.”
“I’m too much.”
“I’ll never be enough.”
What if this mirror also reflected back other people’s insecurities, fears, anger and judgments? Offering insight into the pain someone is experiencing.
When we can see it in ourselves and in another, we begin to bridge the illusionary gap of separation that keeps us in competition, comparison and division from one another.
How I Protect My Peace on Social Media
Ironically, it was getting off of social media that allowed me to see how much it was impacting me. Stepping away allowed the mirror to present itself and helped protect my inner peace, which I share more about here.
Yet, like all journeys…there is no finish line.
And it’s pretty impossible to be “off social media” as the internet has ultimately become a global hub for sharing.
That leads me to the point of this piece, the comments section.
Rather than theorize, let me take you on my own journey with the comments sections.
Yahoo News as my Mirror
A while back, I noticed how often I would read the comments sections in news articles.
I use Yahoo news often. I can’t quite tell you why, I don’t even have a yahoo email anymore.
The only sense I can make of it is that it gives me a wide sampling from world news to pop culture.
And…
It became an unconscious habit as a form of distraction, which I’m consciously working on.
Using it as a mirror, I am at the stage of awareness where I notice how it is impacting me and go elsewhere relatively quickly.
But some days, I go right back minutes later. It’s my cue to take a pause, ground and check in.
To be fair, some days I find myself getting lost in various stories and I just let it be.
I try not to be rigid or forceful in changing the behavior. I observe my relationship to it on a day to day basis and use it as a gauge for how I’m feeling and how using it makes me feel.
Because when I’m present to how I’m feeling, especially while in distraction mode, it automatically becomes a mirror to my state of being and brings immediate awareness to any shifts that occur.
This is one way it can be used as a mirror for self-growth. It’s been my new process for understanding why I continue to do things that no longer serve me. Like Yahoo news and Reality TV.
Through this process of conscious awareness and compassionate curiosity I can organically shift out of a behavior as an act of self love.
It’s a 180 from how I used to operate. Binge on it, cut it out of my life…only to binge on it again. It was an energy and cycle I embodied deeply through an eating disorder and substance abuse.
To be clear, this process is not meant for any behavior that is life threatening. But if you’re biting your nails or doomscrolling, this process might be useful…if it resonates.
And here is the true gift of this approach.
Through this process of observing my relationship with Yahoo news, I discovered something I was not aware of about myself.
The mirror in full effect.
The Mirror Effect
I started noticing that I was reading the comments section more and more.
Slowly I started noticing that I got equally excited as worried when I would go to look at the comments.
They would impact me emotionally when I read them in the same way I would read comments for years on social media.
For example, I would instantly disagree with someone with an opposing view and giggle when someone makes a joke aligned with my perspective.
I began to notice how I was engaging in divisive energy without even realizing it.
So then I intentionally tried to be more aware of how I was/am contributing to divisiveness simply by reading comments.
Moment of Realization
And I distinctly remember the article where something shifted in me.
It was about an influencer that had taken their life. From what I read, the main comments were questioning this person’s status as an influencer and how people feel about influencer culture.
Very few people commented on the fact that someone took their life.
Yes, I saw compassionate comments and I imagine there were many others. But in that moment, I saw exactly what I needed to help me shift.
Full transparency, I paused for some time after writing this next sentence.
I saw and experienced exactly what was needed to help me shift.
If it’s landing in a unique way for you in this moment, I invite you to pause and sit with it as well.
Seeing Through New Eyes
After this experience, I started looking at the comments section with new eyes, which helped to protect my sense of peace while reading.
I was developing my confidence in reading the energy and so that’s how I started to read the comments.
Rather than read the words, I read the energy that wrote the words and I started feeling more and more compassion as I read.
I also want to be transparent, I still shift into judgment often when I do this.
What’s different is that I notice it with curiosity.
And if I get stuck in judgment, I know it’s time to stop looking because I’m clearly not in a place to be a neutral observer.
In that way, I can utilize the judgment as my teacher and not as something to judge myself for.
Free Speech as a Mirror
I’ve been doing this now for a few months and then it hit me this morning.
What if we could individually and collectively shift our experience with the comments section?
Firstly, the comments section reminds us that everyone is entitled to their own viewpoint.
When we can acknowledge that, it can help to create less emotional attachment to what is being said.
You begin to see it as someone having an experience that is unique and purposeful for them. You can also begin to see their wounding that might have been the motivation to make the comment.
We may have an experience through it as well, especially if it is directed towards us.
And…
It gives us valuable information when seen through the lens of the observer.
“Oh interesting, I am judging this person for saying that. I wonder why it is impacting me in this way?”
And if and when possible, get curious.
For many people, myself included, simply noting the judgment is the first step. You might rest there for quite some time before you dive deeper.
Why? Because you’re bringing awareness to a pattern that might not have been conscious. That in and of itself is powerful and takes time.
There is no need to rush through the process. Let it unfold naturally for you. You’ll know when you’re ready to go deeper.
Shifting into Unity Consciousness
It is through this lens that we can experience the idea of separation through the lens of unity consciousness. Over time, people might stop reacting and projecting their experience onto others and see it as something to move through for their own personal growth.
A revolution of people turning inward.
It also reflects back your state of consciousness as an individual and within a collective.
What you say, how you say it and if you say it, is not for anyone else, but is for your own reflection.
It can be your mirror.
- Am I seeing this through a narrow lens?
- Do I need validation?
- Do I want to be seen in a certain way?
- Is this empowering or disempowering?
- Am I in judgment?
- Am I saying this only because I believe it is what they want to hear?
As you see other’s comments through the neutral lens of observation, begin to see your own drive to comment or not comment through that same lens.
This also helps shift out of me and into we or as Daniel Seigel so cleverly says, MWE (Me + We).
MWE
As we cultivate this through the comments section, we can then translate this to all areas of life. We can protect our peace, not just on social media, but in every moment.
AI as a Mirror
I want to address the elephant in the room.
Because if you’re on comments sections frequently, you also know that it’s not just humans utilizing it.
AI is getting more and more advanced by the day, and soon it will be very hard to tell the difference between organic human made content and inorganic AI content. Feeling into the energy now to discern the difference will help in that process.
And as people start shifting their relationship with comments and we shift as a collective into a more heart centered existence, I think the difference will be easier to discern.
Lastly, as AI is a reflection of the individual using it and thus the society using it, the bots will cease to be utilized or at the very least will shift in tone as the revolution inward begins to shift the collective consciousness.
Friends, I ask again… what if the comments section were a mirror?
If someone says something negative about you, can you see it as a mirror into that individual’s state of being rather than a reflection of you?
Can you also take a step back and see what they might be reflecting back for you to see within yourself?
Mirror mirror on the internet….
And until next time friends, stay curious!
You Might Enjoy
- What I Learned Stepping Away from Social Media
- Transmuting Judgment: From Expectation to Compassion
- Seeing Through New Eyes: The Energy of Rejection as a Spiritual Invitation
- Cancel Culture to Compassion Culture
Creative Offering:
If these words serve you, let them fly.
If you teach from them, may they bloom again.
Credit is kind. Integrity is everything.
Blair is a registered dietitian, certified intuitive eating counselor, E-500 RYT and Reiki Master. She integrates spirituality with modern day science to help people heal and reclaim their relationship with their body and food.
Disclaimer:
These are my current musings. This content is intended for informational and inspirational purposes only and does not constitute medical, psychological, or therapeutic advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the support of a qualified healthcare provider or mental health professional regarding any concerns or conditions.