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Matt Hogan's Blog Posts

Social Media Mindfulness

Published on March 22, 2022

To be mindful is to observe and label thoughts, feelings, and sensations in the body in an objective manner.

When we subject ourselves to the firehose of information that is social media, we lose touch with our objective understandings and become distracted and manipulated.

…We’d be naive to think our current state(s) isn’t being affected by our digital environments.

And regardless of the type of information (not all media is created equal), the real problem is in the wildly disproportionate amount of time people spend consuming vs digesting.

The reality in today’s world is that people’s appetites to consume is ever growing and the time they’re allotting for digestion (of said information) is ever shrinking.

And without digestion, consumption can have harmful, toxic, dire effects—which is precisely what many of us are experiencing.

If we’re going to use social media mindfully, we need to establish boundaries from the consumption and make more space for digestion.

This means space minus the phones. Conversation minus the screen(s). Walks minus the ear buds. Showers minus the Siri and Alexas. Waiting minus the feed-refreshing. Driving minus the podcasts. Experiences minus the highlight reeling…

…Life without the penetrating influences of everybody else’s life experiences.

Time to just settle and be.

Missed [Poem]

Published on March 21, 2022 
Be someone who’s missed
They said

So I spent my life
Collecting notifications
From distant platforms
To prove to myself
That people think of me

I thought
But something was missed

Little Wins

Published on March 20, 2022

Little wins I’m proud of today:

  • When in a hurry, I stopped and hugged a dear friend (vs waving while rushing).
  • I practiced 3 minutes of stillness while microwaving (vs practicing 3 minutes of media consuming).
  • I said “no” to the cake.

Little wins matter, too.

When Help Hurts [Poem]

Published on March 19, 2022 
When someone needs help
But, they aren't asking
For the help they need

Because they need help
Asking for that kind of help
I can't help but to hurt

How to make sense
Of what's helping too much
And what's only going to hurt

When hurt is what helps
And help is what hurts
It has to come from them

But, what if it can't?

Why So Serious?

Published on March 18, 2022

I like nonfiction.

I like self-improvement podcasts.

Heck, I like all things personal growth related.

But, sometimes…

I like blasting good music, thumb drumming, air guitaring, and forgetting about all of that.

It’s called balance.

When Authenticity Is Hard And When It’s Easy

Published on March 17, 2022

Authenticity is about congruence between our deeper values and beliefs (i.e., a “true self”) and our actions.

via Chris Do, Twitter

Being authentic is hard when:

  • We let other people dictate our actions.
  • We let media consume all of our downtime.
  • We let our ego control the thought processes of our minds.

Because we live in a world that is constantly pushing its influence on us from every angle, it can be hard to figure out what it is that we actually think.

And without that clarity of thought, of course our actions are going to be misaligned.

Being authentic is easier when:

  • We reflect deeply on and identify our values and beliefs.
  • We make space to process, organize, and remix the information we consume.
  • We control our ego and use it mindfully to serve us (rather than the other way around).

Until we choose to put up boundaries to block outside influences, we will continue to get pushed around and act in ways that are misaligned, unnatural, and confusing even to ourselves.

Boundaries to the outside world are precisely what’s needed to process, organize, and remix. It’s precisely how we settle our mudded minds. It’s precisely how we quiet the ego so we can hear the whisper of our Self.

In short: being authentic is hard when you let the world tell you who you are. Being authentic is easier when you listen to your Self, decide who you want to be, and tell the world who you are.

And while the latter can challenging in its own respect, it will always be exponentially easier than living an inauthentic life.

Personal Growth > Vanity Growth

Published on March 16, 2022

In today’s media driven world, there’s a ton of pressure to grow personal media accounts.

Which isn’t surprising because if what everybody is talking about is their favorite influencers, viral content, and follower counts—then, of course that’s what’s going to be at the top of everybody’s minds.

But, never let vanity growth take priority over interpersonal growth.

Like, when you feel obligated to consume all of your favorite creators new content, to post x new items to your socials, and to get that big project done for more revenue—but haven’t done anything for yourself…

…That’s a problem.

Maybe not immediately because maybe you can pull it off.

But, long-term? It will be. Because an absence of personal growth indicates a presence of personal atrophy.

And personal atrophy can only be hidden behind creative marketing for so long.

Eventually, people see through the shiny packaging and absorb the raw content for what it is.

And if what it is is regressing, then it won’t be long before they move to a different place where there is growth.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to influence more people or make more money.

There is something wrong with prioritizing those things at the expense of your interpersonal needs.

And not just because, you know, mental health, but because interpersonal growth IS the means to any worthwhile/ meaningful vanity growth.

So, remember, when you only have time to do one or the other, doing something for yourself should always get the priority.

Even when vanity growth seems to be the only thing everybody else is concerned about.

**Especially when.