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I still remember that moment so clearly, that moment of awakening. I had my smart phone in my hands and was busy typing away, because I "just had to" answer this message, and this mail, and this message again...! My three year old son was tugging at my legs and I just said irritably "not now, mommy is busy." Just then I looked up from my phone and down at him. All I saw were his eyes staring at me. He stood perfectly still as he gazed up at me and suddenly I had this horrible feeling that my words and actions in that very moment, had just created some kind of memory bubble that was now sinking into his consciousness. I realized that I was giving him an unspoken message that whatever I was doing was more important than him. If it was just that one time I wouldn't have minded much. The thing is I started to notice that this was happening way too often. I had been stuck in my phone and ignoring my husband and kids for too long, I knew it, it bugged me, but I just couldn't seem to change it. I put my phone down, dropped down to my knees and gave him a great big long hug and both of us fell onto the floor laughing. His face was lit up with joy! Later on I decided to express my experience and own personal awakening by creating a post on my page "Discover-RE", which changed to "Cosmique Focus Creations" this year. It was just a page I used to express my thoughts and visions on life, and it only had about 200 likes, so I wasn't expecting anything from this post at all. I just felt like creating it. What happened next... was mind blowing beyond words! 
I have taken a photo of the post (can't print screen it anymore you will understand why soon...) so you can see for yourself what happened. This post has reached almost 28 million people, which could be possible seeing as though it has been shared about 560 thousand times. Isn't that insane? I was flabbergasted to be honest. This happened organically. No boosting of the post was involved. Some people thought I was spamming, but I really wasn't. Well, I suppose 95 spam reports out of all those people that were reached isn't that bad at all. :-) Since then I have had the time to calm down and reflect on it all, and I realized it is not that insane at all. What this really means is that there are a whole lot of people out there who are noticing the same kind of thing. They notice it when they look around at others, or they notice it within themselves. Some people were angered by it, some sad, some thought it was funny and there were quite a lot of people that wrote replies saying they were ready to make some changes themselves. All of this resulted in a little article in our local dutch newspaper, and the idea was not to be judgmental or point fingers, but just to put a message out there. The message is about awakening and making changes in our own behavior and lives... but is it really so easy to make these changes? 
Even after my very own awaking, it was harder than I thought to really unplug from the massive cloud of social media. I really tried to put my phone away at certain times, sit on the couch with the family and not have my phone in my hands, and go to the playground and leave my phone in my pocket. However, there was always a photo I wanted to take quickly... maybe also just quickly photo-shop it into a cute frame... and while I'm at it, just quickly check whats new on Facebook... oh and just reply to this post quick-quick. In the meantime my focus and attention is everywhere except for where I really am in that moment. This to me felt like such an annoying battle. Why did my phone feel like it was merged with my brain? I wanted to get it out!
...But it's not just the phone is it? It's all of these devices we have put bits of our lives into, and we use this technology to organize just about everything.  Social life, family life, work life, exercise, finances, health, food, cooking, shopping, education, studies, art, books, entertainment, photo albums, diaries, games ... You name it! We have managed to digitize it all.
So one day the most incredible thing happened! My phone started giving me issues and telling me every minute that my storage was full! I didn't get it! I kept deleting things and it still kept telling me "storage full". I began to wonder if my phone was giving me the message that my own brain was overfull and that I needed to start deleting the storage in my own head! ;-) (probably true, and I did get started on some of that actually...) After a while I found out about "the bug" and that it was a known problem. So what to do next? My "update" button wasn't working either (everything seemed be failing at proper functioning) so I decided to just delete it and reinstall the new and improved app! The problem is... my reinstall button wasn't working either... Now what? 
The funny thing is, having the Whatsapp deleted from my phone, I suddenly felt this immense feeling of freedom. This disconnection to all those chats and messages, it all being gone, really felt like unplugging. I was surprised at how good it felt! Facebook had also been acting up lately and I couldn't access my messenger, so guess what? I just decided to delete that whole lot too! I still had Skype, email, sms, and good old phone calls! More than enough of course, but things got pretty quiet! Did it stress me out that I was missing all the news and being harder to reach? Who would have believed it before hand, but seriously it felt really okay! 
The next 2,5 weeks that followed felt at least three times longer, but in a good way. Something I learnt from this unplugging was that it felt pretty good to be closer to myself again and to have space in my mind for other things. Another important thing I learnt was to "wait". I discovered that is really was okay if everything didn't happen RIGHT NOW. I could wait to check Facebook the next time I was behind the computer, and sometimes that would take 3 days. I no longer felt the need to capture every moment by taking a photo, and if I did I didn't feel the urge to post it on Facebook. I would have to first email it to myself and then post it via the computer, which was too much of a hassle, so never mind! If I did receive a message or a mail, unless it was urgent to reply to, I just waited for a later moment or the next day to reply, and that also felt totally fine. I spent less time with my face in my phone and more time taking in the real world around me... and it was more beautiful and awesome than ever before! 
When I got the pop-up that the latest phone update was available, I got it done. I finally reinstalled Whatsapp after those 2,5 quiet weeks, but I noticed that I was dealing with it differently now. I wasn't checking it every 5 mins, and if I did see I had messages I didn't feel the urge to check it straight away or reply immediately. I also decided to leave Facebook and Messenger off my phone, which is why I took a photo of that one post earlier. :-) Yes there are times that I am typing away enthusiastically on a whatsapp chat, or chatting on Skype, or typing in a note or email that feels important to do, or just because I feel like it. I am not anti-smart phone, I am not against social media, I think it is all great and it can be very purposeful. I just wanted to share this experience, because it feels so liberating to be the one who decides when and where there is a time and place for what. It feels good to believe that the priorities in life are in a better order and that I am giving positive messages to the people around me that they do have my time and my true attention. It feels good not to feel like a slave. Balance is good... and sometimes we just need to disconnect for a while to reconnect once again. See it as pushing a "reset" button, and making a fresh start. This is just an invitation to unplug from the things that are keeping you stuck, blind and asleep... and to plug into YOUR REAL LIFE. Love, Cosmique Focus Creations 
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