3 Ways You Can Learn To Express Deeply On Social Media

We don’t live in a creator economy, we live in an attention economy unaware of what we express and consume.

Do we have time for perception?

At one moment, we are mindlessly scrolling through social media, another moment checking email in haste and the next answering an urgent call.

We’re always in a rush — and this way we merely skim the surface of life.

We’re just superficially interacting with the world, and there’s no real depth in our perception.

With this kind of perception, we’re just keeping ourselves busy with a shallow expression.

No wonder we see a flood of such shallow expressions on the internet all day.

On social media, people share whatever comes to their mind that doesn’t really have depth or any solid consideration behind it.

Even kids and teenagers are all the time impulsively sharing what they think, how they feel, and what they are doing.

The problem is not in sharing.

The problem is in mindless expression without any depth of perception.

If you’re a creator, you’re just running behind that short-term dopamine shot that you’re looking forward to getting with that snappy one-liner.

And if you’re a reader, you’re looking for that snappy one-liner that you can read on the internet and say it in front of your friends to get that much-needed social acceptance.

With Great Patience Comes Great Perception

Most people misconstrue their judgment to be their perception.

If you want to understand real perception, you need to pause and allow it to come to you.

Perception is perceived through five senses — what you see, hear, taste, smell, and touch.

A deeper sense of perception comes when I don’t give too much heed to my early judgment.

In the movies, when we tell a story about an anti-hero (someone who does questionable things, but we still support him/ her), our perception is being calibrated in order for us to follow that story.

People won’t be interested in following a character who’s constantly doing bad things without any solid reason.

But once we get a sense of why this person is doing those things, when we spend some time with that person and get a visceral experience of their circumstances, that’s when we begin to root for them — even when we don’t necessarily agree with their actions.

It’s true in our lives too. Although, it might not always be possible for us to go deep into someone’s life and understand what their circumstances are, the least we could do to improve our perception is to quit judging too quickly and give ourselves enough time to understand them.

“Profound living comes from deliberate inner work on enhancing the depth of our perception.”

And this depth comes to you when you cultivate inner stillness and keen attention.

Experience is Empty Without Its Inherent Feeling

Have you ever experienced a memorable day?

I’m sure you have.

Not every day is memorable, but we all have experienced days that we can remember as memorable.

What makes it memorable?

It’s about how it made us feel. That’s what we remember.

We say, “Do you know what happened today!?”

And we want to share that feeling with others. And we expect them to feel the same way. That’s how we build relationships. It’s important for our survival.

An experience enters into our inner world through the five senses — see, hear, taste, smell, and touch.

We feel things through these five senses.

And the more conscious we are about these senses, the richer our experiences are.

The most profound experiences are lived in, and if you have lived them — you can make someone else live through them by expressing them.

The problem is that 20-year-olds on the internet talk about 5 ways you can live a fulfilling life and 100 ways you can find your purpose.

Every word that has a deeper connotation is being thrown around with the utmost casualty and the worst part, they’re getting the attention.

It’s saddening!

For sure, if they talk about peer pressure, their first break up, friendships, or their “perception” of passion — I would love to read it.

But some things come to us only after living a bit.

After realizing that the most bitter lemonades are made when we buy the lemons from life; after all the plans that we made in our 20s go in vain, and we realize that maybe life was always about living through stuff we could never plan.

The best way to make a point is to make someone feel something. And you can’t make someone feel something if you have not had the experience that made you feel something.

“You don’t remember the details of the experiences, you remember how it made you feel.”

Had you waited long enough, even algebra would have made you feel something in the school. But maybe, that’s a conversation for another time.

Expression is a Valuable Currency, Use It Wisely

Have you seen tourists at a scenic spot, just fidgeting to get a good picture or selfie?

They are just eager to express themselves (sharing their selfies on social media) instead of really perceiving or imbibing the beauty of that place.

And therefore the quality of their expression also won’t have any significance.

Instead, if you take time and pause to perceive the majestic beauty and grandeur of the place, your experience will become profound.

“When your experience is profound (filled with feelings), your expression is inevitably valuable.”

Now, there’s a flip side to it — when someone’s just starting out as a creative individual, I’d suggest they express as much as possible and get the fear of expressing out of their system.

Here the point is not about the quality of their expressions, but that they learn to express first.

So, context matters.

But, it’s important that they (20-year-olds) don’t get in over their heads by telling the world how to live a happily retired life (unless they have experienced it first-hand somehow).

LAST

A poet expresses how he/ she is feeling and thinking but that has a certain profoundness and beauty to it.

Why? Because of the depth of their perception.

Instead of racing through life, slow down. There’s beauty in depth, not just breadth.

Genuine experiences come from deep perception, not just quick shares. Dive deeper.

Your words carry more weight when they’re born from understanding. Seek to perceive, then express.

Quality over quantity: a moment truly lived beats a hundred mindlessly scrolled.

Before the urge to share hits, pause. Let the moment sink in; let its essence guide your words.

If you’re not happy with the world you live in, be the change you want to see in the world.

Until next time,

Ciao!

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