Changes Around the Farm
Written on February 14, 2009 by Tom Stine
I live on a farm, believe it or not, the one that I grew-up on and the one that my dad grew-up on. My grandparents bought it in 1944, and it has been in the family ever since. No one in the family does any farming these days, certainly not me! My grandfather would laugh out loud if someone suggested that I was a farmer. He was, and so was my dad, but I’ve always been a bit too cosmopolitan for the farming gig. Nonetheless, I love hanging around the old farm.
When I say “changes around the farm,” that’s my way of saying there are some changes happening here on tomstine.com. I’ve been pondering various things for a bit, and recently have been making some changes. As this site is now just over 1 year old (and as yesterday was my birthday, I’m a bit older, too), I’m feeling like heading in a few new directions. So, here are some of the changes and some of the things I’m thinking of doing:
Taking a Break from Coaching
You may have noticed that the link to coaching has disappeared. That’s because I’ve decided to take a break from coaching at the end of this month. From March until at least September, I’m going to be on leave. Why, you ask? Because I’m not really sure where I’m going or what I’m doing with the coaching. Something has quit resonating about it, and so I’m taking some time away to explore it a bit.
Coaching, to me, is mostly about change, improvement, growth, no matter what it is you are focusing upon, whether it be career, personal issues, spirituality, you name it. And that’s the thing: I’m not so sure that change, improvement and growth mean a damn thing! I don’t mean that to sound apathetic; rather, it is a sense that I have that flowing with life is infinitely more important than our feeble attempts at manipulating life.
I am wondering more and more if a coach can teach others how to flow with life. I think it is possible, but I’m really not certain yet how to do so. So much has gone into my own evolution into flowing with life that I’m somewhat stumped as to how I got here. And how I got here may not even be relevant to how someone else will get there. I’ll just have to sit with this one and see what develops.
Saying Goodbye to Comments
I know I’m being a blogging heretic, but I’ve decided to turn off comments on most of my posts. Sacré bleu! I know, comments are one of the pillars of blogging, a way to create community and conversation. Comments that have been posted here have often been fantastic. I have met some fantastic people via comments, and I want to say up front that I value each and every one of you and your contribution. Thank you!
That said, as other bloggers will attest, commenting is a right royal pain in the ass. In many respects, it is a great idea, but in practical terms, it’s often a gigantic time waster. My readership has grown enough that I get lots of comments. While many of them are worth reading, many are not. Don’t worry, if you’ve left a comment, and it has appeared on this site, then you can be sure that I valued it. But I delete a number of comments, some outright spam, others just pure crap. It gets old after a while.
And, I have a funny feeling that it effects my writing. I’ve wondered if I hold back at times to avoid having to read the silly comments I will receive. I know of one blogger that consciously censors her writing to avoid the ridiculous comments she will get. I pretty much say whatever I want, but I wonder if my writing will change a bit with the comments turned off. We shall see.
At times, I will allow comments for a particular post if it is one where I want comments and feedback. At times, I really want my readers’ input, so turning comments on for those posts makes sense.
Furthermore, you can always create a trackback on your blog which I will be more than happy to allow it through if it isn’t spam. To me, that is the best way to create flow and conversation between blogs. If you agree or disagree with something I say, WRITE about it. Don’t have a blog? Wordpress.com or blogger.com will get you started in 5 minutes or less.
More Frequent Posts, Newsletters and Tweets
Quite simply, I want to write more often. I feel like using these posts to take a bit of a look at “me” and how awakening is happening here. I think it would be entertaining for you and possibly even “enlightening.” (Yes, pun intended.) If you are reading what I write, I suspect you must be curious about awakening, or quite likely experiencing some of it yourself. So, I think I’ll get a little more personal about my experience and what is going on within and without.
I Want to Write An Ebook and Create An Online Course
I’ve been threatening to write a book and/or an ebook for a while now. In the next year, I would like to actually do so. We shall see if that happens, but nonetheless, that’s what I would like to do. So, in the next year, maybe you will see something like that.
I also have a strong sense of moving in the direction of creating some sort of course, something educationally oriented for the spiritual seeker. Not sure what, but I can feel that one coming.
Well, that’s all for now. I hope you are having a great weekend! Namaste.
Seriously give Tina’s article a read. She’s done a very nice job.
