UT Health Science Center found me on Twitter (how ironic) and asked me to write an article for their graduate students about professional social media and self-branding.  I didn't know much about social media before I self-branded, but I threw myself in and have learned a lot by doing so.  

I knew that to connect with my community and build professional relationships I needed to utilize several platforms of social media.  If you don't have a Facebook page, you almost don't exist, and Twitter is a great way to find out who is talking about your interests.  Despite all my hours distributing paper flyers throughout my community, Meetup.com and Craigslist (and some word-of-mouth) are still the outlets that bring people to my meditation groups.  

As soon as I self-branded and dove into social media, things began to happen and they happened quickly.  I'm not gloating here, nor am I claiming to know a lot!  In reality, I feel like the more I learn about social media, the less I know...I'm still extremely small in the social media world and business-wise, but I have seen benefits quickly, and my purpose is to highlight and discuss the power that professional social media can have.  In fact, I'd like this to be an open and ongoing discussion so that we can learn from each other -- who will be the first to comment on this post??!  I digress...

Through my Twitter activity, I was found and featured on UTHSCSA's Standout (see this article at Dr. Lindsay Bira's UTHSCSA Spotlight), I was retweeted by some big organizations (e.g., Wounded Warriers, American Psychological Association, Psychology Today, KSAT, Military Officer Magazine), and my following grew accordingly.  I was picked up and featured by Humans of San Antonio (see my thoughts on that here:  HOSA Dr. Lindsay Bira overcoming barriers), which was unexpected and fun, increasing my exposure in San Antonio. Simultaneously, I was working in the background on my blog and other content that I was actively promoting on my platforms.  [[Side note:  self-promotion feels weird -- some people may read it as self-absorption (if they don't understand professional social media), but I simply remind myself of my professional goals and reasons for doing so and that's really all that matters.]]  

As time went on, I found and connected with other professionals in my field on the same path, which helped align my vision.  Most recently, as mentioned, UTHSCSA invited me to be a featured writer for a piece on professional social media tips for graduate students (see below for infographic), which was a great opportunity.  I hope that my social media presence will continue to grow and offer more surprising connections and opportunities, as I'm sure it will.  The possibilities with social media are endless, and ceilings do not exist.  You create your content based on your interests and goals, and make connections that wouldn't have been possible otherwise.  

In sum, social media provides effective space for creativity and personal expression within your profession (if used correctly), and can help you connect with people you may not have come across otherwise.  My passion is related to distributing psychology-related information in a digestible and inspiring way to those who may not normally access it. I've discovered ways in which to do so effectively while trying to walk the line between professional and personal disclosures (a hard line to walk).  I will continue to learn how to become more effective, as social media is an evolving world and our interactions with it evolve as well.  

Now, in 2015, social media is a powerful and necessary business tool, regardless of your career path or stage of training.  It's interesting that we don't get more training about how to use it well, professionally, as the world depends on it.  There's often fear related to social media exposure, but that fear (like all fear) is focused on extreme negative outcomes and failing to face it may keep us from growing in important ways.  

Read more in my Professional Social Media & Self-Branding Tips article, leave comments about your thoughts, and share my infographic, below:

Shannon Garcia of Lone Star Nutrition (an expert registered dietitian and a good friend of mine) is a great example of successful professional social media and has been an inspiration for me along my path.  She's used social media to build her business and get sponsors for her now-regular segments on the news!  

So, how might you use social media help your professional goals come together or simply build credibility in an area of interest?

CONFESSION:   I do not spend time every single day in quiet room with a perfect meditation pose and a lit candle.  I do not have a go-to mantra.  Although I consider myself an always-learning-meditator, I don't fit neatly inside the box of what some people consider to be 'meditation.'  Test yourself:

           Mindfulness.  Meditation.  When you hear these buzz words, what comes to mind?  You may                envision something similar to the photo above:  A specific meditation stance, possibly with a                    mantra, probably from a Buddhist perspective, that opens the door to mind expansion beyond the            realms of our small imaginations.  I'm here to challenge that... Meditation and mindfulness are                skills that anyone can do in almost any kind of way, with unlimited possibilities.  And I think a              good way to approach meditation is through MINDFULNESS.  

WHAT IS MINDFULNESS?
Mindfulness is a skill that you can practice while not even "meditating."  It can literally change the way you view the world.  You may have heard about it on NPR or ABC, and whether you're familiar with the term or it's brand new to you, one thing is clear:  mindfulness is a hot topic right now.  There are very good reasons as to why.  I won't go into the abundance of research on the health benefits of mindfulness here (take a look at this, this & this) but I will explain the practice of mindfulness.  

Present Moment...
Mindfulness is about creating more awareness of the present moment while letting go of judgments, rather than getting entangled in the ups and downs of life.  It's about slowing things down to get to know yourself, others and the world in a deeper, more meaningful way.  We often live life on autopilot, zipping around to our next responsibility and doing it all over again the next day.  Sure, it would be nice to drop it all and move to Hawaii, but that's most likely not going to happen (and our problems would still find us, even there), so we have to figure out how to live well, HERE and NOW.  

Tap in...
There's an easy way to understand mindfulness...think of a time where you were consumed in an activity you enjoy (e.g., art, music, sports, another hobby, watching a child, etc.).  During this activity, it's likely that you lost sense of time, were intensely aware of the present moment, and experienced a sense of restorative energy.  Some might call this being in a state of "flow" but what you are also experiencing is a naturally-driven mindfulness.  Now the challenge is this:  How can you create that same feeling while doing something you don't enjoy?  How can you take it to the moments where you are overburdened at work, to waiting in a line when you don't have time, to dealing with someone difficult or to moments of boredom???  

Train Your Brain...
Our brains are hard-wired to spend time 1) regretting the past & 2) worrying about the future.  The act of being in the present moment and not regretting or worrying goes against our very nature (read more in my blog about the amygdala response) and that's why we so much enjoy activities that force us to be in the moment (e.g., hobbies, sports, social time).  It feels good, and is hard to re-create ourselves.  However, we can do it if we attempt to re-train our brain by slowing down and practicing the mindful approach to life.  When we're mindful, we awaken to experience (good AND bad) with a new point of view.  Mindfulness increases our capacity for feeling fulfilled, experiencing gratitude, compassion, and more.  This new perspective changes the way we feel, which changes the way we behave, which changes how others behave toward us, which further changes our perspective, and so on and so on.  

So, how do you begin to do this?  Start with your breath.  Then you can focus on sound.  You might scan your body to notice all present sensations that come and go.  You may even begin to create distance between yourself and your thoughts/emotions, just observing them (this takes more work & practice). Whatever you choose to do, take time and space to slow down, anchor yourself in the moment, and challenge yourself to stay there.  

What I Do...
I work hard to make mindfulness a part of my daily life.  How?  While driving, I try to notice the trees.  While walking, I try to notice what's in the sky and how my feet feel each time they land firmly on the ground.  While doing work, I often take breaks to check in on my stress level and body tension, listen to the noises around me and practice deep breathing to let go of judgment.  While I'm eating my macaroni-and-cheese, I really try to take it slow to savor every single dollop of goo and contemplate how it came to be.  Every time I lead my community meditation group or write something about mindfulness, I become more mindful. AND I do personal meditation, by taking quiet time for myself with no distractions to clear my head.  It's a skill that requires practice -- I've gotten a lot better at it over the past 6 years, and will continue to grow into it.  I define my meditative practice and my life with mindfulness.  I have shaped my personal meditations into what I feel best suits me, and I truly enjoy helping others find their own approach through individual sessions and through Meditation @ Pearl.  

Now You...
Mindfulness is not just a meditation or a practice, it's a way of being...a way of living.  It can lead to limitless growth if we allow ourselves time to explore it, and a good way to get started is by joining a group or a program with someone who will lead you through it.  Sticking with that program can keep you on track, and will show you ways of thinking and being that you haven't even considered yet.  

Rarely do we give ourselves time and space to examine our existences.  We tend to spend our time passively living with lack-of-attention, rather than actively living with intention, regardless of what we're doing.  It's the way the world pushes us.  But.....we can push back.  So, how can you get started?  

Have you heard about this?!  Artist Nelson Shanks, who painted Bill Clinton's official presidential portrait in 2005, just confessed:  He painted a shadow to the left of the portrait that represents Monica Lewinsky (he actually had a mannequin in a blue dress when painting alone) and also purposefully did not paint on Clinton's wedding ring.  Ha!  

Now, I had a lot of different thoughts when I first read this article in People Magazine and then in CNN this morning:
      1) How can a presidential artist get away with that?!  
      2) That is wrong...his client trusted him...  
      3) What an interesting way to represent real life events and freeze a bit of history...   
      4) Nelson Shanks has guts!  

...How many times since then do you think Mr. Shanks drank wine and laughed hysterically about his secret?! 

And as I arrived at the last couple of thoughts, something else struck me.  I began thinking about the career of a presidential artist and how boring that must be at times.  Making someone stand still in front of stiff decor, painting for hours....?  I mean, of course there is passion behind the painting but let's face it:  All jobs become mundane regardless of the passion that got you there. 
  
This all led me to one simple conclusion:  Nelson Shank's portrait of Clinton should be a metaphor for our lives.  Now just follow me here.....

You have a painter, an artist, who has found his niche painting prominent societal figures over and over and over in stuffy rooms while dealing with even stuffier personalities, I'm sure.  This artist has a choice:  Stay inside the box by conforming to the structure of "presidential painting," follow the path carved by all presidential artists before him, and let the idea of acting like a "proper" professional dictate exactly what he does; OR, let his personality and interests bleed into his work, shape his own path and give himself something meaningful and true to himself by which to feel fulfilled, while also not giving a significant thought about what others may or may not think.  This is a delicate balance and something we all have to make decisions about from time to time...How do we even walk that line effectively???

There is a meditation I often do called the "deathbed meditation."  This sounds very depressing but it's actually quite uplifting and helps you get in touch with the values that should be dictating your actions here and now.  It's a process, but basically you envision yourself at the end of your life, and look back over all your life chapters, seeing everything you did or didn't do, and taking note of things you regret, things you long for, and things you would have handled differently.  Do you think Nelson Shanks will be on his deathbed, regretting that he took artistic license/risk to secretly add something controversial but representative of the reality he viewed into his work?  This is a quote from Nelson Shanks himself, so I'll let you decide:

My answer is NO!  He will not regret it.  Rather, he will feel accomplished and whole in that he stayed true to himself, mixing his values, personality, and brand into his career as a political painter.  

Now, I am absolutely NOT condoning the act of hiding things that may hurt other people or generally being sneaky.  I highly value and promote transparency in myself and others, especially when working with other people in any capacity.  But, there's a stronger message here...a message we can all learn from and apply to every role we fill.

My point in this post is simple:  In order to live happy fulfilled lives, we need to make whatever we do in life OUR OWN.  Society's structure will constantly funnel us into a mold, and on some level, we must conform to that mold in order to fit in, make a living, and get by.  It is easy to lose yourself in this process.  We too often settle into the mundane, and accept the unenjoyable, because it's safe and predictable.  But, we do have some control over how much of this we sit with and we ARE allowed to break the mold....because when we do break it, the ceiling of possibilities just gets higher and higher.  There are risks in breaking the mold, of course, and that is scary, but isn't the biggest risk taken when you don't create and live a life that is true to yourself and your values?

Ivanka Trump is currently leading an initiative focused on cherishing your career without being defined by it. It's about having courage to break the molds of whatever you are doing especially when you don't have a role model that has paved the path for you.  It's about finding yourself, staying true to yourself (regardless of the perception of others), and using this vision to forge your own path, exploring possibilities once viewed as impossible and achieving fulfillment with no regrets.  

And so, I ask:  What risks are you not taking?  How is this keeping you from living a fulfilling life?  How are you allowing yourself to be pigeon-holed in a stale structure formed by someone else?  

The ball is in your court.  Catch it, and a challenge yourself to make a riskier next-move.  And, feel free to contact me for brainstorming.  :)