Connecting dots with The Idea Dude

Being asked to be a guest blogger for Liz Strauss is akin to being asked to be the opening act for The Rolling Stones. There’s an expectation to be “knock your socks off” great. Of course, this is all in my head, because Liz, in her sublime way, would say, “be yourself.”

It is inevitable that Liz and I would cross paths one day, we were both on similar quests… “to celebrate good blogs.” So this spot in particular is devoted to connecting the dots. Dots being blogs from Liz’s list and mine at TheGoodBlogs. Perhaps the best way to describe this is to show you. . . .

All blogs don’t start off as conversations, they start because something tugs at you enough to want to share. Blogs have made the Internet personal and it is the personal nature that brings me back to visit your blog again and again. Take Liz’s post about the word can’t for example, she made it personal because at the end, she says It seems to make me smaller. When you read that, you know something happened that day that may have seemed impossible but she found a way to overcome that sense of helplessness. It got me thinking of how impossibility would make me feel small too.

Being personal is infectious.

I headed over to Sean and he asked the question Can it be that all our choices are dominated by fear? So is can’t a reflection of reality or a reflection of our fear? Hmmm… Food for thought. Sean made his fear personal. He said, So I want to tell you a story. About me. Having followed his blog, I can tell you his entries that resonate the most with me are the ones that grab him in his gut so much he needs to share, the ones that stop him dead in his tracks and makes him think. It makes me think too.

My good friend, Ben, talks about whether bloggers always follow their own advice. His fear or concern? His blog may cease to be a mirror of him. He tells us, he doesn’t want to speak for the sake of speaking, to walk the walk and don’t just talk the talk. My interpretation is that it is really a reminder to himself to keep his terrific blog real and not post merely to feed the Google juice. Ben says his blog is a reminder to him of what he should be doing. In doing so, he becomes our mentor of what we should be doing too. Ben is being personal.

And sometimes being personal and sharing doesn’t have to have a lesson. Amy shared her Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad Day. It would be hard for any parent not to empathize with her. Wikipedia calls empathy a kind of emotional resonance… that’s deep. I concur. Judging from the comments to that post, Amy’s sharing resonated. I’m sure a few moms who read that felt a little better on Friday to know they weren’t alone.

Although none of the bloggers contrived to participate in a conversation, they succeeded in creating one in my head. Many of the bloggers above may or may not know each other…yet. But they were unknowingly bound together by their ideas, thoughts and emotions. They provided the dots. Liz gave me the crayon to connect them. The way I connected them was personal. It made me feel richer and some kind of wonderful.

Have an awesome week!

Vern, The Idea Dude
Connecting dots at TheGoodBlogs