I’ve over a thousand Facebook friends. It’s impossible to have that many friends, so to be honest, most of them are just acquaintances, or more like acquaintances of acquaintances.

Say what you may about Facebook, but once in a while it does teach you a lesson that’s way deeper than ‘7 Ways to Cut a Watermelon.’

A month ago one of those acquaintances of acquaintances posted a meme on a topic of politics and religion.  

I disagreed with it – the general nature of it, the language used, the intentions applied.

So I thought it wise to express my opinion. Oh yeah, I went there!

This now turned into a full-on conversation, argumentative in nature, that lasted for several days.

I didn’t like the meme in the first place. And I definitely did not enjoy the following argument – it brought no value or joy to my life. I wasn’t looking to change anyone’s opinion, my own included. Yet I ended up arguing about opinions for days.

Facebook, however, has to manage my 1000+ friends for me – there’s not enough space on the feed to show me everyone’s posts, so it chooses for me.

The posts Facebook chooses for me are based on my past behavior. If I stay on a post, or even better, engage in a post, it thinks that’s what I like. Facebook always takes my engagement for enjoyment.

Keeping that in mind, over the next few days, I began seeing all of this person’s posts. They began dominating my Facebook feed. I got into another argument. Huh.

Facebook, in the background analyzing my behavior based on how I chose to spend my time, decided I must really like posts like this. As a result, I began to see similar posts from other people. Before I knew it, I was involved in yet another argument. 

It got to the point where all I saw on my Facebook feed were posts that annoyed and irritated me, without bringing any value or joy to my life.

Yet being irritated and annoyed is not the point of life. Not mine, not yours, not anyone’s.

But just as it is on Facebook, so it is in life.

Where we place our focus is where our intention is. Where we place our intention is where we place our energy. Our energy determines our reality.

The law of attraction

What we focus on, expands – it’s one of the natural laws that govern us.

You’re not convinced? Here’s how it looks like in everyday life.

15 years ago a boy began to deeply focus on a girl. Over a period of time, he placed all his focus, intention, and energy on her. Today, this focus has expanded into a house, a mortgage, and two kids. It totally works! And yes, that’s my story:)

All joking aside, the Universe, the natural world, the infinite source, is just like that Facebook algorithm – it assumes that we always choose to focus our energy on what we love and what brings us joy.

WHY ELSE WOULD WE DO IT?!?

Thus, it doesn’t matter whether you engage in activities and thought processes that bring you joy, or the ones that bring you misery, if you focus on them, you will get more of them.

Joy is a choice, so choose wisely. Why else would you do anything, if not for joy?

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash. Thank you!