One of the first posts I wrote in this blog was “Tweeting for Spiritual Growth” – about how twitter can be used as a tool for personal growth. Fourteen months later I still get inspiration from twitter. Here are some people on twitter who influenced me the most in 2011:
Best Soul Sisters – Cheryl Richardson (@coachoncall) and Kerri Richardson (@kerricoach) Cheryl is a NY Times best selling author who really “gets” social media – she is very active on twitter, facebook, and now has a youtube channel. Her book she co-authored with Louise Hay, You Can Create an Exceptional Life, was one of the best I read and reviewed this past year. Cheryl’s sister Kerri, a spiritual life coach, is also very active on twitter and has offered some great teleclasses in the past. Kerri’s intro course on wordpress blogging got me started with this calmwithin blog a little over a year ago, and her classes on the writing process have also been valuable to me.
Best Coach for Women Who Inspires Old Guys Too – Tara Sophia Mohr (@tarasophia) Tara Sophia writes a blog and has a coaching practice directed at “brilliant women”. So what am I, a 55 year old male, following her for??? Though what Tara Sophia writes may be targeted towards the female audience, her teaching is universal that anyone (male or female) can benefit from. I found her “7 Ways To Discover Your Calling” article on Huffington Post one of the most inspiring pieces I read all year. I signed up for her free teleconference on blogging (undoubtedly I was the only man on the call). What she said that day motivated me to look for opportunities to write guest blog posts (which I ended up doing later on the Power of Introverts site). “Talk about your spiritual practice. you never know who you might inspire.” Tara Sophia tweeted once during 2011. She’s right – her material had a positive affect on this old guy in 2011.
Open Heart Award – Susan Piver (@spiver) Susan is a buddhist author who often opens her heart to share her wisdom to the masses out in cyberspace – for free! I found her conference calls on meditation and the enneagram very helpful, and she is good at answering questions from her followers. I had submitted a question prior to her meditation class. On the call she asked, “who submitted this question? Is this person on the call?” “um … it was me” I blurted out, not expecting to talk to the audience of 150. She proceeded to answer my inquiry about different meditation techniques with care, and that gave me guidance to enhance my own mediation practice.
Best Daily Blog – Lori Deschene (@tinybuddha) – Lori got her start on twitter much like I did – sharing quotes that inspired her. She now has over 240,000 twitter followers! While I first became aware of Lori through twitter, I get the most benefit from her daily blog posts. In her blog Lori shares stories of her everyday life, with a lesson learned from each one. A bevy of guest bloggers contribute similar material. I like to read Tiny Buddha for a dose of inspiration each day. Lori, like Susan Piver, is a buddhist. I’m not, but reading authors like Lori and Susan makes me wonder, “maybe these buddhists are on to something.”
Best Movie – I Am (@IAMthefilm) I notice there’s a philosophy out there among spiritual teachers that goes something like this: “we live in an abundant universe! Charge as much as you can for your services! You deserve it!” One author I admire charges over $10,000 for his workshops! While I don’t fault people, including those in the spirituality business, for making a living do they really need to charge that much? A different message comes from the movie I Am – a fun yet informative documentary which encourages people to take what they need, no more, and contribute the gifts they have to give to humanity. I wrote more about this film in one of my blog posts in April. How did I find out about “I Am”? Through twitter! One person I follow had positive comments about the movie, so I checked to see if it was playing in my area. It was, so the following week I attended a screening which included a personal appearance by director Tom Shadyac. “I Am” was one of the best movies my wife and I saw in 2011, and you can see it, too, on Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday (OWN Network) on New Year’s Day.
I’m hearing the voice of my first blogging teacher, Kerri Richardson, in my head saying “If a post gets to be over 700 words – divide it into two blog posts.” So I will stop for now. Look for more of my twitter awards soon in Part 2.
