The Invisible Selfie

Uncategorized Aug 02, 2017

I am wearing designer sunglasses - snap SELFIE

See me in Abuja - snap
SELFIE

Just arrived Dubai - snap SELFIE

I am 'chopping' Shawarma - snap SELFIE

Welcome to the Selfie Generation 😊

Selfies in the car, selfies on foot; selfies at the airport, selfies at the motorpark (ok, I admit I've never seen one taken at a motorpark, but that doesn't mean it hasn't been done...); selfies in classy looking restaurants with exotic dishes in the foreground (for added effects 😀 ), selfies in foreign countries with some victim oyibos captured in the background (for the benefit of doubting thomases, who dare think otherwise 😏 ).

Selfies! Everywhere You Go or Not…

Have you ever stopped to think why people seem wantonly obsessed with taking selfies and posting same all over social media?

While I'm not a psychologist, I do think it has to do with a sense of longing.

From time immemorial, people have always craved to belong…

…to a community
…to a group (the more unique, the better)
…to a family
…to a class, status or clique, etc.

This longing seeks to show a sense of worth and importance to others but more importantly to prove a point to oneself that - I AM SIGNIFICANT!

Therefore the places you visit, the clothes you wear, the type of food you eat, the cars you drive (or hitch a ride in), the kind of friends you move with (preferably big shots, relatives of big shots or servants of relatives of neighbours of big shots😀 ), are all potential targets and opportunities for SELFIES in seeking relevance.

The Selfie Guru thinks and plans what to wear, where to go, who to hang out with, etc. The Selfie Guru also knows how to take advantage of sudden opportunities that occur. The Selfie Guru knows how to manipulate a camera, from the basic inexpensive android phones to the sophisticated iOS smartphones with double-sided cameras. The Selfie Guru can take fantastic pictures at angles that seem to defy elementary physics, thanks to the selfie stick. And finally the Selfie Guru can take expressive pictures with one of the most common features being a pout pose - yes, that one where they tighten their mouths and push their lips out creating a ridiculous appearance, all the more so due to our African heritage of thick lips.

It is apparent that the Selfie Guru can take all sorts of pictures. Yet despite all this expertise, the Selfie Guru can not take a picture of his/her thoughts.

The reason is simple. Selfies are pictures of a state of doing and not a state of being.

The instrument required for the former is an external one - a camera, a phone or both. While the equipment required for the latter i.e. to take pictures of our thoughts, is an internal one - the brain.

A selfie of your thoughts will enable you assess your current state, visualize your desired state and plan to bridge the gap between the two. This type of Selfie is the best kind because it provides a framework for setting objectives and a roadmap for achieving them.

A Mind Map is the best tool to do a selfie that is both a picture of our thoughts and a preliminary plan of action.

Let us endeavour to make more meaningful SELFIES!

Aha! I am writing on my iPad - snap SELFIE! 😜

Abdullahi

Global Accredited Mind Map Instructor

Founder, MindZone

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