I had a chance to sit down with Carlos Whitaker after the ECHO Conference and to talk about the upcoming Cultivate Conference in Chicago, October 27.
Check out Carlos below as he talks about why you should attend.
We hope to see you there.
Archive - August, 2009
Interview with Clover
I’ve been really impressed with Clover and the beautiful websites they have developed, and especially the intuitive ease with which they are designed…especially for those of us who don’t know how to program or code. I recently sat down to interview them and to get a better sense of who they are as a company and what they are about.
Tell me a little about the history of Clover. How did is start? Who was involved? What was the impetus behind their decision to start Clover?
Clover was created out of a design firm called ‘The Regime’. Our developers, Ben and Jim, started ‘The Regime’ back in 2007 and primarily did custom, super-creative work for bands, companies, restaurants, and ministries. After their home church (Cornerstone
Church of Simi Valley, CA) began planting a bunch of churches throughout the country, it didn’t take them very long to see the greater need for websites in the church community. They realized that not every church could afford a $15,000-$20,000 dollar website, and this prompted the idea of ‘Clover’. Clover was launched on May 15, 2008. They figured if they could create sites that met churches’ needs,
and could offer it to many people (rather than a few), they could charge so much less for it. They would also make it to where ministries weren’t dependent on having a programmer on staff or a web company to update their site… This would allow the ministry to save a ton of time and money, both of which are hard to come by. The result was Clover.
What is the #1 reason do you think that people come to Clover for their website needs?
We have found that the main reason people come to Clover is because there is nothing else out there like it. If you have spent any time at all looking for a website for your ministry, you will find that Clover is the only solution that combines beautiful designs, reasonable pricing, and unbelievably easy site management.
What separates Clover from the other web developing companies out there that are aimed for churches and ministries?
I think the ease of use really sets us apart from every other offering out there. With our new Greenhouse 2.0 (coming soon!), our new features will spark even more interest, but our CMS (Content Management System) just trumps anything out there. Another really cool thing about Clover is that you can test out every single feature before ever buying a site. You can go our site (cloversites.com), click on any one of the designs, and actually edit our sample sites. You can put your own photos, your own audio or video sermons, your page
titles and content, all without ever spending a dime. It’s really the best way to see everything Clover has to offer.
You talk about the “ideal user” on your website, but I was wondering if you could answer that again for me. What is the ideal user…or who predominantly comes to Clover for their web development needs?
I would say our ‘ideal user’ is someone who values beauty and current-looking websites, but isn’t a programmer
What is the mission/vision behind Clover, and how does Clover strive to have “Kingdom impact.”
Definitely one of the missions behind Clover is to get the Word of God out. Now, every ministry can have an online presence to reach their community for Christ that is current, gripping, and clean. This is absolutely the most vital part of what we’re doing here at Clover.
Ministries can put their messages on their site to share the Gospel to anyone visiting them online. Clover wants to help equip ministries
to do the work God has called them to do.
If someone is reading this interview, and they are shopping around for a website, what would you say to them to convince them to come to Clover?
The beauty of Clover is that we really don’t have to do much convincing… All we really have to have people do is try everything out at www.cloversites.com.
Is Your Addiction to Technology Transforming Your Life
Do you remember what life was like before your cell phone, or before you had an internet connection in your house? It seems like such a long time ago. We even wonder at times how we could have lived life without them. The scary thing is that it wasn’t that long ago, yet in several short years these technological tools have rewired the way we interact, communicate and relate.
I sent my first email message in college, probably around January of 1994. It was so slow going through at the time that it didn’t even really seem worth sending another. I bought my first cell phone in 1998. I think it had only like 150 minutes per month on it which was enough because there were very few people I could call at that time who had a cell phone. In 2005 I put internet in our new house after we got married, which was really the first time I had had internet in my home before. Now I wonder how I got anything done. These personal discoveries encompass a time of around the last 4—15 years, yet at 34 I sometimes wonder how I lived without them.
What at one point were things that I felt like I could not live without, I’ve been contemplating if they are worth living with? Or if I even tried to live without them, would that even be possible. You see, I’m starting to wonder if I’m addicted to my technology. I’m not the first to wonder this question but I have been thinking about it a lot more this week as news on the opening of reSTART Internet Addiction Recovery Program near Seattle, WA has been widely discussed online. Ben Parr wrote an article on Mashable where he stated:
“It’s getting tougher and tougher to argue that there is no such thing as Internet Addiction Disorder, especially if you watched the CNN video above. The sad truth is that it’s possible to become addicted to just about anything, and that the web (and World of Warcraft) has sucked many people in so deep that they ignore social interactions and forget real-world obligations.
Does a rehab center for extreme cases make sense? Yes, especially if reSTART can provide scientific proof of success in breaking the addictions of its patients. Still, rehab doesn’t work for all drug addicts, and it probably won’t work for all Internet addicts. And unlike drug addiction, you can’t simply avoid and abstain from using the web; it’s too central to our economy, our work, our education, and our lives to be ignored.”
In case you were curious, here are the “signs and symptoms” of technology addiction:
Here is what to look for (3-4 yes responses suggest abuse; 5 or more suggest addiction)
Increasing amounts of time spent on computer and internet activities
- Failed attempts to control behavior
- Heightened sense of euphoria while involved in computer and internet activities
- Craving more time on the computer and internet
- Neglecting friends and family
- Feeling restless when not engaged in the activity
- Being dishonest with others
- Computer use interfering with job/school performance
- Feeling guilty, ashamed, anxious, or depressed as a result of behavior
- Changes in sleep patterns
- Physical changes such as weight gain or loss, backaches, headaches, carpal tunnel syndrome
- Withdrawing from other pleasurable activities
And if you still aren’t sure, you can take the Are you addicted? survey.
Working With Addicts
For about a year in 2006 and 2007 I spent time working with addicts at a community mental health clinic in Los Angeles. The addictions were primarily related to substance abuse (drugs and alcohol) and I did everything that I could do to better understand the world of addictions. I took classes, I went to some Alcoholics Anonymous and Overeaters Anonymous groups, and I co-facilitated a 12 Steps group for 9 months a group that was mandatory for individuals if they wanted to stay out of jail. From that time a few of observations have really stuck out to me in regards to addiction:
- Compulsions
- Rationalizing behavior/choices
- Re-arranges, transforms relationships Continue Reading…
A Philosophy of Book Reading to Combat Social Media Saturation
[image by annais]
Throughout the years I have been presented with various philosophies (systems, ways of approaching it) of reading.
- When I was in grade school I remember the philosophy was basically quantity. The more books I read, especially in the summer time, the more ribbons the library gave me for my achievement.
- When I was in high school and college the philosophy seemed to be that one better read the material because it will probably be on the exam.
- When I was in seminary the philosophy was presented to me that my reading was analogous to filling up a reservoir of wisdom and knowledge that I would continually draw upon throughout my ministry.
All of these philosophies have been varied in their approach, but ultimately they have really led me to a love of reading. But there are so many, many books out there to read. I actually remember my dad at one point lamenting the fact that he would not be able to read all the books he desired to read before he died one day.
Bite Size Social Media
One of the reasons that I have tried to pull back on, and set better boundaries around my online-social media use, is because my discipline of reading was losing out to the number of hours I spent online. And in that process I had begun to notice that I was becoming more of a consumer of bite sized information. It was getting easier and easier to browse through hundreds of articles on a daily basis, and harder and harder to read through a book and let it saturate me. And in the end, very few (and I mean very few) social media avenues actually had the ability to bring about new awareness, insight, and ultimately transformation in my life. I had more and more information, but I wasn’t feeling more knowledgeable, especially in the sense of deep, life changing transformation.
In John Dyer’s post Dostoyevsky’s 1984 Saved Him from Our Brave New World, I came across the fascinating section where John, speaking about Dostoyevsky, says this:
During his exile, the only reading material that he had was a copy of the New Testament and Psalms. Though he was raised in the Orthodox church, he describes this as the time in which he came to know Jesus and experienced conversion. With no access to anything but the most significant literature ever written, he read the Scriptures over and over until it completely saturated him. And it formed his mind to create the highest of art.
Information Deprivation vs. Information Overload
Postman points out two major concerns:
1. The kind of information we intake is insignificant.
2. The amount of information we intake overshadows what little significant information we do intake.In other words, if you read a passage of Scripture in the morning, then later consume lots of TV shows, blogs, and advertisements, it doesn’t matter if the content is morally good or morally bad, the sheer volume of information will dilute anything truly great and tend you toward seeking more and more insignificant material.
Why Take In Books?
Whether the book comes in a hard copy or digital copy does not matter. The point is that a book requires something of you. It requires time and commitment. Browsing the web does not…at least for me. I’m not saying that one can’t form a discipline on browsing the web, but it’s rare, especially because the click of a button is so close.
When I read a book I have to set-time aside to do it. Usually that means something else is getting put on hold. I’m not on the computer. I’m not watching TV. I’m not at my desk working. I’m not in conversation at coffee with someone. Reading a book requires me to carve out time for it, and it requires a level of commitment if I want to read through it. Reading books also takes a lot of work, and if we don’t exercise that muscle it is bound to atrophy. I’ve begun to notice that several things have begun to atrophy when I was spending inordinate amounts of time online. Writing by hand has become more difficult. Patience has become more difficult. Imagination was lacking because the computer did the imagining for me. My intellectual skills were dulling because I was jumping from bite size to bite size pieces of data.
My Philosophy of Reading
I’ve always been an avid reader and usually have a number of books on my desk or bedside table at once. I’m not good at reading one book and moving onto the next. I like a handful at once, and then another handful after those are read. In order to keep a balance in my reading and to make sure I’m hitting on all cylinders I’ve developed a little philosophy of reading for myself.
These are the four types of books I’m looking to read at one time:
Intellectual Rigor…
In my rotation at all times is a book that I deem to be of great intellectual rigor. This is usually a book that is slow going and may require me to keep a dictionary or thesaurus handy as I read. It often requires me to re-read sentences and paragraphs a number of times before I can move on. These are books that may only allow me to read 3-10 pages at a time because I need to process what has been written. Sometimes I will set the book aside for days or even a few weeks before I return to it. They are ultimately books that help one establish, and undergird their philosophies in life. Think of them as cornerstones or anchors.
- For example, right now I’m reading Rollo May’s, The Meaning of Anxiety
Vocationally Practical…
This is not to say that that books above are not vocationally practical, but that these books are more accessible and sometimes requires less intellectual rigor in reading them. They are often designed specifically for certain topics that allow fairly easy consumption. These are the books in the area of business, therapy, ministry, design, etc. that one finds helpful tips in them, but they aren’t necessarily saying anything groundbreaking or new. They may bring new focus to the topic, but they are often built upon the philosophies/theologies of many, many writers before them. I would say that these are the most commonly read non-fiction books.
- For example, right now I’m reading Parenting with Love and Logic by Jim Fay and Foster Cline, and Abused Boys: The Neglected Victims of Sexual Abuse by Mic Hunter
Fiction/Novel…
I find it a requirement for myself that I always have one book of fiction in the rotation. Without fiction I find that my imagination begins to atrophy. I also find that characters and narrative provide amazing insight into life, work and play that “practical non-fiction” books do not. I also know it’s a tendency, especially for those involved in ministry and other work settings to find themselves only reading “practical non-fiction” books relating to their profession.
- For example, right now I’m re-reading Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Hobbies…
I usually have one book that I’m reading that pertains to one of my hobbies. This is a great way to learn more about what I enjoy doing, provide insight, helpful tips, and help me delve deeper into my passion.
- For example, right now I’m reading Sports Nutrition for Endurance Athletes by Monique Ryan
There is not a time limit on when these books have to be read by, but I do my best to keep them in a rotation each day/week. Sometimes it takes several weeks. Sometimes a few month or two.
What Say You?
Do you have a philosophy of reading?
What works best for you?
Saying NO, So We Can Say YES to Solitude, Silence and Prayer
“I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society.” Henry David Thoreau
My father shared that quote with me in mid-July when he was visiting and we had found ourselves on the topics of social media, writing, ministry, solitude, etc. Since then that image of the three chairs has been seared in my mind.
We are quite good at friendship and society, yet I think most of us are quite terrible at solitude and silence. What often leads people into my therapy office is their inability to sit with what bubbles up inside when they are still, so they fill their life with noise. I think if we are not careful, we can allow social media to fill our lives with so much noise that we lose the ability to be thoughtful, reflective people. We forfeit the opportunity to grow. It was Blaise Pascal who said, “I have discovered that all human evil comes from this, man’s being unable to sit still in a room.”
Choices
They have not come easy, but I am slowly making some choices in my life in regards to my social media use that I hope will help me not lose the ability for silence and reflection. And I’m not alone in this. It seems that everyone is trimming back to some degree, whether it be deleting their Facebook, cutting back Twitter followers, or by changing their blogging platform. Kem Meyer had a post, Information Obesity, with great insight into why I think people are choosing to cut back. In doing these things people are hoping to find less noise, and hopefully more time for reflection and silence.
I think this will be a continual process as we all continue to filter out how to be effective online without losing ourselves in the process. If we don’t work at this process I think we may find ourselves sometime in the near future with some regrets about how much of ourselves we gave away to others, and how little we have for ourselves, especially our interior lives. I have decided that I’m only going to blog a maximum of one time a week at this blog, and my therapy blog. The rest of the time you can find me somewhere else online, whether it be Twitter, Friendfeed, posterous, Facebook, or something else. I’m sure I will be cutting back and simplifying these things as well.
What We Are After
In his phenomenal book, The Way of the Heart: Connecting with God Through Prayer, Wisdom, and Silence, Henri Nouwen makes the case that solitude, silence and prayer are necessary for our lives. He says:
“It is not difficult to see that in this fearful and painful period of our history we who minister in parishes, schools, universities, hospitals, and prisons are having a difficult time fulfilling our task of making the light of Christ shine into the darkness. Many of us have adapted ourselves too well to the general mood of lethargy. Others among us have become tired, exhausted, disappointed, bitter, resentful, or simply bored. Still others have remained active and involved–but have ended up living more in their own name than in the Name of Jesus Christ. This is not so strange. The pressures in the ministry are enormous, the demands are increasing, and the satisfaction diminishing. How can we expect to remain full of creative vitality, of zeal for the Word of God, of desire to serve, and of motivation to inspire our often numbed congregations? Where are we supposed to find nurture and strength? How can we alleviate our own spiritual hunger and thirst?” (pp. 2-3).
Solitude…
“Solitude is the furnace of transformation. Without solitude we remain victims of our society and continue to be entangled in the illusions of the false self.
Jesus himself entered into this furnace. There he was tempted with the three compulsions of the world: to be relevant (“turn stones into loaves”), to be spectacular (“throw yourself down”), and to be powerful (“I will give you all these kingdoms”). There he affirmed God as the only source of his identity (“You must worship the Lord your God and serve him alone”). Solitude is the place of great struggle and the great encounter–the struggle against the compulsions of the false self, and the encounter with the loving God who offers himself as the substance of the new self.” (pp. 15-16)
Silence…
Silence is the way to make solitude a reality…
Over the last few decades we have been inundated by a torrent of words. Wherever we go we are surrounded by words: words softly whispered, loudly proclaimed, or angrily screamed; words spoken, recited, or sung; words on records, in books, on walls, or in the sky; words in many sounds, many colors, or many forms; words to be heard, read, seen, or glanced at; words which flicker off and on, move slowly, dance, jump, or wiggle. Words, words, words! They form the floor, the walls, and the ceiling of our existence.
It has not always been this way. There was a time not too long ago without radios and televisions, stop signs, yield signs, merge signs, bumper stickers, and the ever-present announcements indicating price increases or special sales. There was a time without the advertisements which now cover whole cities with words.
Recently I was driving through Los Angeles, and suddenly I had the strange sensation of driving through a huge dictionary. Wherever I looked there were words trying to take my eyes from the road. They said, ‘Use me, take me, buy me, drink me, smell me, touch me, kiss me, sleep with me.’ In such a world who can maintain respect for words?
All this is to suggest that words, my own included, have lost their creative power. Their limitless multiplication has made us lose confidence in words and caused us to think, more often than not, ‘They are just words.’” (pp. 37-38)
Prayer…
“Solitude and silence can never be separated from the call to unceasing prayer. If solitude were primarily an escape from a busy job, and silence primarily an escape from a noise milieu, they could easily become very self-centered forms of asceticism. But solitude and silence are for prayer. The Desert Fathers did not think of solitude as being alone, but as being alone with God. They did not think of silence as not speaking, but as listening to God. Solitude and silence are the context within which prayer is practiced.
The literal translation of the words ‘pray always’ is ‘come to rest.’ The Greek word for rest is hesychia, and hesychasm is the term which refers to the spirituality of the desert. A hesychast is a man or a woman who seeks solitude and silence as a the ways to unceasing prayer. The prayer of the hesychasts is a prayer of rest. This rest, however, has little to do with the absence of conflict or pain. It is a rest in God in the midst of a very intense daily struggle.” (pp. 63-64)
Anxiety
Kierkegaard and Anxiety
“But attempts to evade anxiety are not only doomed to failure. In running from anxiety you lose your most precious opportunities for the emergence of yourself, and for your education as a human being. ‘If a man were a beast or an angel, he would not be able to be in anxiety. Since he is a synthesis he can be in anxiety, and the greater the anxiety the greater the man. This, however is not affirmed in the sense in which men commonly understand anxiety, as related to something outside a man, but in the sense that man himself produces anxiety.’
Kierkegaard writes in his most engaging vein about anxiety as a ‘school.’ Anxiety is an even better teacher than reality, for one can temporarily evade reality by avoiding the distasteful situation; but anxiety is a source of education always present because one carries it within.”
Pushing Beyond the Limits of Your Pie
[image by net_efekt's]
Marathon Training
In the Spring of 2006 I had this deep yearning to run a marathon, something I had never done before, yet something I always wanted to do. Training for this marathon was going to require some shifting of things in my schedule, because 3 days a week of running, over a 16 week time frame didn’t fit into my schedule too easily. I was a full-time college pastor, a graduate student, newly married, and I had lots of interests. So I made the decision that some things in my life had to go if I wanted to add that much running to it. So what eventually went was teaching myself guitar, extra tv watching, as well as fast food and late, late nights.
Now don’t get me wrong, I actually tried to add that much running to my life without getting rid of anything else, but I kept coming up against my personal limitations as well as natural limitations. Primarily, energy and time. I didn’t have the energy to do everything I wanted to do, and the days were created in such a way that I could not add more time to them than God had already allotted. I pushed and pushed, but I couldn’t make it all fit.
Looking at our Limitations
I think we often do this in our lives. If you can imagine your day in terms of a pie graph, how do you visually break up the different elements of your day? Work, sleep, eating, relaxation, relationships, etc. The pie graph has limits because you can’t add something to that graph without shrinking one of the other elements, or all of the elements, or eliminating one or some of them. It is impossible. Yet, we try to hard to add things to our lives without acknowledging our limitations. We think we are super human and can do it all. But really, that just leads us to exhaustion and poor boundaries eventually.
For example, when I work with clients there are 3 things that I tell them they must have in their pie graph if they are going to maintain some proper mental health. Exercise, Diet, Sleep. When a client can have healthy habits in those three areas it’s actually quite amazing how that can enhance one’s life. And then we add things like relationships (time with wife, kids, family, etc.). And work of course. What about play? Hobbies?
I ended up running two marathons in 6 months (Chicago in October of 2006 and Los Angeles in March of 2007), but I had to make sacrifices and put some things in my life on hold as I mentioned above. I signed up for other marathons in 2007 and 2008, but we had our first baby that summer. I tried to go out and run, but the combination of late, late nights, and no sleep just took their toll and I ran into my limits again. Marathons could not fit into my life. Now it’s 2009 and my daughter sleeps well and I have once again decided to run a marathon this December but I have had to make some choices because I’ve learned that God has created me to live within certain limits. Limits that cannot be overcome…even with the latest technology.
So as I enter into a new season of marathon training I have decided that certain pieces of my pie are going to have to shrink if I am going to add the marathon training to it. I’m definitely not decreasing family relationships, or work, so I have decided that I have to shrink my technology use if I’m going to make room in that pie for more running, as well as more sleep to run well.
“Everything in the universe has a nature, which means limits as well as potentials, a truth well known by people who work daily with the things of the world. Making pottery, for example, involves more than telling the clay what to become. The clay presses back on the potter’s hands, telling her what it can and cannot do–and if she fails to listen, the outcome will be both frail and ungainly. Engineering involves more than telling materials what they must do. If the engineer does not honor the nature of the steel or the wood or the stone, his failure will go beyond aesthetics: the bridge or the building will collapse and put human life in peril.
The human self also has a nature, limits as well as potentials. If you seek vocation without understanding the material you are working with, what you build with your life will be ungainly and may well put lives in peril, your own and some of those around you. “Faking it” in the service of high values is no virtue and has nothing to do with vocation. It is an ignorant, sometimes arrogant, attempt to override one’s nature, and it will always fail.
Our deepest calling is to grow into our own authentic selfhood, whether or not it conforms to some image of who we ought to be. As we do so, we will not only find the joy that every human being seeks–we will also find our path of authentic service in the world. True vocation joins self and service, as Frederick Buechner asserts when he defines vocation as ‘the place where your deep gladness meets the world’s deep need.’” (Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation by Parker Palmer, pp. 15-16)
Social Media and the Running of the Salmon
The Running of the Salmon
When I was in high school my family and I went on an Alaskan cruise, and along the way we stopped at one of the islands to get a tour of where the salmon swim upstream during the spawning season. I don’t remember a lot of details about what I learned on that day, but I do remember some of the images. They can best be described as sea of confusion and chaos, where the salmon swam furiously upstream, looking nothing like themselves in the process.
Sometimes I feel that way when it comes to my social media/technological life. It can be confusing, chaotic, and I often feel like I’m swimming upstream in a sea of confusion. Ultimately that leaves me feeling “other” than myself, and my identity looking nothing like I hope or want. I feel like in the process I become less of who I am in order to keep up with who everyone else is…or projects themselves to be.
How Does Social Media/Technology Fit Into My Life
I have been thinking about how social media/technology fits into my life for a long time, and it wasn’t really until I attended John Dyer’s workshop, Using Technology, Without Technology Using You at the ECHO Conference, that I really got a better sense of what I want out of it.
One: I don’t want to feel a sense of obligation to post blogs I don’t want to write, or use tools that I don’t want to use. This obligation comes from me, inwardly, not cause someone is holding me to it. And that’s a much deeper issue than I can begin to explore in this post.
Two: I don’t want just a breadth of content, but a depth of content. I don’t want content that is just cursory. I have concluded that I would rather post one very meaningful blog every week or two, then a short, cursory post every day. I’m starting to realize personally, how attracted I am to the sites that plumb the depths, rather than skim the surface.
Three: I don’t want social media/technology to overrun the boundaries I’m trying to set. If it’s getting in the way of spending time with family, going to bed at a decent time at night, or keeping me from hobbies like running and reading, then I need to put it back within its proper boundaries.
Four: I don’t want my identity to be based on the projection of external images I put out online, and the affirmation I receive back from them. I want it to come within, from a strong, core sense of identity. An identity that is placed in Christ, and not the number of Twitter followers or retweets I have, or the amount of traffic my blog has, or the supposed sphere of influence I have online. At the end of the day, those things just fade away.
This is what I want…for me. I’m not telling anyone else what they should do, or that this is the way everyone should do it. Some people work online all day, and social media is even more a part of their lives than mine. But even they tell me they have to set boundaries away from that work as well. One of the things I really appreciate about Tony Steward is how he continually experiments with social media to figure out how it can best serve him, not how he can serve it. Tony knows what’s in his “wheelhouse” (@mediapeople pointed this out to me in a conversation at ECHO), and doesn’t seem concerned about his stats, and whether or not he has a new post out every day. This is nowhere better exemplified than Tony ditching his personal WordPress blog, and going with Posterous because it better fit his life/work/time, etc.
What Will Change For Me
One: I hate to do it, but I’m no longer going to feel rushed to post my 100 blogs in 100 days on my therapy site. I could do it. But I started looking at my posts and realizing that it was more about surface content, than it was about really writing something of value for people. That’s not what you want as/for a therapist. Or pastor…or anyone really.
Two: I’m going to really strive to only post stuff on both rhettsmith.com and rhettsmith.com/therapy when I feel like it brings value to the readers, rather than just posting to post. Not give in to the pressure of traffic, stats, etc.
Three: I’m not going to sacrifice my family or hobbies in order to pick up the computer to post that obligatory post, or tweet that random tweet. Just isn’t worth it for me.
Four: I’m going to focus more on what is in my “wheelhouse.” It’s too easy to get caught up in random discussion, or arguments and debates online, and really lose focus of the specific skills or purpose I need to be about.
Conclusion
At this point, this blog is all talk unless I really start to practice what I am preaching. But I hope with some new focus, and some accountability from my wife and friends like you, I can achieve these things.
Can you relate to this struggle with social media/technology in your own life?
Is there anything you want to change about your social media/technology use?
Does social media/technology serve you, or do you serve it?
By the way, did you know salmon only spawn once in their lifetime and then they die? Don’t be a salmon when it comes to your social media use.
Online Therapy: What Do You Think About It?
It is often said that online therapy eliminates face-to-face contact, which is said to hinder the therapy process. Should this be the case, efficacy of treatment could be negatively impacted. There are two points to consider in this argument. This first is that with video-conferencing face-to-face contact is restored. The second point, looking back at Sigmund Freud, he did not sit with the client face-to-face–he sat behind the client, so as to minimize the potential of projection. There are some therapists who believe that physical contact or presence is necessary in some cases, and certainly in those cases the therapist should consider and act upon what is consistent with the best interests of the client. (The AAMFT, Family Therapy Magazine, pp. 25-26)
Would you consider receiving therapy online? Why or why not?
I'm a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (MDiv, MSMFT, LMFT), and co-facilitate marriage intensives. I also love to write, speak, and run.
Author of The Anxious Christian which is tentatively slated to be published by Moody Publishers on March 1, 2012.
To schedule a counseling appointment contact Auxano Counseling at 972-312-8893.
