a couple of hours after writing this, an attempt to load my Facebook app succeeded, because I had “logged into Messenger.” I still can’t log in on my browser, but the lesson remains: an angel with their arms crossed and a stern face asking me, “are you sure you want to approach that portal in this way right now?!” The lesson from the Divine Intervention remains: have I learnt it? I will observe myself and practice this…
I’m differentiating “prayer requests” to our Higher Powers from “prayers.” I see the core difference between these two as being that while “prayer requests” are when we ask High Powers (Angels, or God(dess(es)) for something, while “prayers” are when we are communing with High Powers in a way that doesn’t ask for anything: we could be expressing gratitude, or offering ourselves in service. Often our prayers include both of these things.
Recently I have been asking my High Powers for assistance with some of my addictive behaviors, particularly “internet scrolling.” I consider my substance abuse addictions beat (it’s been years and years since I’ve had a taste for alcohol, I haven’t had a cigarette in two and a half years, or cannabis for one whole year, and feel very comfortable with abstaining), but my craving for distraction and dopamine that has been transferred to the internet drugs that are so poignantly designed to hook into us has been presenting a battle.
One of the things that has been making this so challenging is that there really are amazing bits of content that I have found through this that have educated or lifted me, and so that has kept me in it, almost like a gambler knowing that the next pull could be a win. It s a bit different, of course, because with content it’s not a binary win/lose, but each video is its own different offering. Sometimes it’s a gem, sometimes not, but it always is input of some kind.
I admit that many times I have let the “infinite scroll” take me over, and bombard myself with random content at ADHD-aggravating and way overstimulating speeds and effects. What makes this even worse is that the energies, both subtle and overt, of the videos, enters my own energy field, basically splashing paint on my aura and frequency of so many different colors in a way where my own energy is no longer able to shine. Besides, of course, it takes my focus away from my work, my creativity, my health… my purpose.
And so, over the past recent (a bit longer than I care to admit freely), I have been asking for Divine Intervention to help me beat this addiction. I’ve asked for help in increasing my willpower, re-orienting my focus, supporting my presence and awareness of my own actions so I can really consciously pause and take a different action. I’ve asked for support in removing the temptations while still allowing me to share my work with others and access what I need for my highest good. I’ve outright asked for things to happen that prevent me from falling into “the rabbit hole.” And I have acknowledged my own part in it, my own responsibility to make my choices for myself, which is really the core of the lesson and challenge, and what ensures my growth.
And as with many “prayer requests,” we don’t know when the request is going to be granted, or how. And so my battle continued, and is still continuing now as well, but today I received a little help.
I was scrolling through Reels on Facebook, which were becoming increasingly “not helpful” and “inane” with the “wholesome” sprinkled in between. Clips from TV shows I liked to watch when I was a teenager were especially tempting (and I am sure the algorithm calculates what I would have watched based on my age and my years of web activity). And suddenly, I got automatically logged out of Facebook. If you’re familiar with how being logged into that app or website works, you stay logged in unless you log out, which could be a long time, even years, theoretically. And there, seemingly randomly, mid-action, I get logged out. My first reaction was, to Higher Powers, “okay! I get it! Thanks!”
I checked my email to see if there had been any outside attempts at logging in that would have kicked me off, and no. I also tried, shortly after, logging in by Google integration on my web browser (where I was also kicked off), and that didn’t work either; a notice appeared saying “Something isn’t working. Try again later.”
And so, the message could not be any more clear. This random experience of being cut off from one of my “app addictions” just-like-that has made me, even in the past couple of hours, hyper-aware of how I’ve over time trained my neurons to “reach for the media scroll,” and although I could theoretically open up another app and do it, there’s a sensation of being “scared straight”: I am being given an opportunity to focus, focus, focus on what I really want to be doing, which is that which betters myself.
It could be argued that what has happened with my account is merely a technical snafu. Perhaps others are experiencing it too. And even if that is true, it doesn’t change the higher reason why it has happened: to redirect my energy. Whoever is up there pulling the strings, I thank them! It’s as though water was re-routed even just a little bit… maybe even 1 degree of the 360 degrees of a circle. That tiny shift has supported my re-alignment.
The Facebook Log-Out actually is a sort of Prayer Request Response that I really love, because while it legitimately aided me by changing the circumstance by Divine Intervention, it also inspired me to lean into my Free Will and build my own willpower, so I can grow as a person and conquer the inner demon that has been leading me astray into the temptation of Social Media Addiction.
The question of how I’ll be able to continue sharing my content and participating in the groups I’m in on Facebook has come up, but one of the lessons I have learned about Divine Intervention is not to question it, especially if I have been asking for it. Clearly I am not supposed to be doing those things now. They are not necessary. I can only focus on a certain number of outlets and networks, and in any given moment, only one of those things at a time. And so, I choose to focus on where the water is flowing to, easily, where there are no encumberments, and where I am actively and specifically being invited and called to contribute. I notice the thought that tells me that this is part of my process of re-organizing my brain, habits, and work, and that if I can accept this support and meet the challenge, that more of what I have been asking for will have the way cleared for it.
I hope that my story here inspires you to invite Divine Intervention for your self-betterment into your life. We are posed with a question when something like this happens: is it important enough to dive into it and battle for what’s been taken to be returned, even if that fails? Or do we accept the re-direct and give thanks for the answer to our prayers for our dreams to come true?
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