In my meditation this morning I chose to listen to Tamara Levitt on my Calm App.  She let me through 10 minutes of quiet mediation and ended with some wise words on FOMO; the fear of missing out.  I found myself wanting to jump out of my chair with each point she raised.  “YES! YES! That’s so true!” I was thinking.  Over the past few weeks I have heard more and more of my friends and acquaintances sharing their dismay in the holidays.  Feeling lack, feeling lonely even depressed.  I hear them mentioning others in their conversations as if they wished they had those things the other had and not seeing their own blessings before them.

Social media can be a blessing and a curse.  If we choose to engage in this kind of interaction it can be a wonderful way of sharing happy moments with those who do not live near to us.  The problem comes when we view these “moments” and create a narrative or story around them.  We don’t stop to think is just a moment not the entire story of a day or a life.  The trap is easily set to walk into feelings of envy, loneliness, anxiety and depression.  It creates the opportunity to shift focus from what you have to what you don’t have.

Instead of allowing yourself to fall into the FOMO trap, before you open that social media page, why not stop and set an intention for yourself.  Why not view our own ordinary moments with appreciation and acceptance.  Perhaps we can look at those moments and delight in the moment of happiness for the person and follow it with that same delight for yourself.

So I challenge you to pause today before you check out of your life to place before you some things you are thankful for – it can be a person, an accomplishment, an object anything that gives you peace. For as Tamara said as she closed, “It’s in the absence of wanting that we find peace.”

Om Shanti! Peace be with you

Lea