What Is “Goovil” to You?

I have invented a new word: “Goovil.”

It refers to anything that can be either good or evil, depending on how you use it or your attitude toward it.

It is something that is Good in your life if you are its master . . . and Evil if it has mastered you.

It’s also something that you can’t get away from. Something you have to deal with somehow in your everyday life.

Such as eating. Spending money. And, for most of us, dealing with technology.

In fact, I invented the word as I thought about my relationship to technology.

Technology can be very Good. I could not do the work I do without technology. It allows me to meet with clients from all over the world (36 countries to date, including China!)–right from my own home. How cool is that?

Without technology, I could not run my business, since it’s largely Internet based. I’m switching to an amazing platform (Kartra) that does things that make my head spin.

Most jobs nowadays depend heavily on technology.

So technology can be very Good.

When might turn it to the (E)vil part of Goovil?

When IT masters ME.

Below are some examples of how I try to take back control when technology has mastered me.

MASTERED: When I check my email first thing in the morning, before I set up the day the way I WANT, so that “other people’s issues” take over.

MASTERING: Check my email after I have done my “morning routine” which includes setting my daily intention, reading Scripture, doing Halo and my healing work, and taking my prayer walk.

MASTERED: When my meditation time is interrupted and essentially wrecked by text messages I’ve allowed to distract me.

MASTERING: Keep phone off during morning routine and other key times.

MASTERED: When I hit a technological snag and keep trying to solve it to the point of wanting to throw a rock through my computer monitor.

MASTERING: Walk away for 10 minutes, pray for a solution and do some mindless task. Usually by the time I get back to it, I’ve figured out a solution. (My husband calls me “the queen of workaround” because usually I do figure out a solution. I look at these frustrations as God’s way of keeping my brain healthy by allowing all these novel problems to come up!)

MASTERED: Checking my phone while eating dinner with the family.

MASTERING: No cell phones at the table! And they are on airplane or silent mode even when in the next room so as not to distract.

MASTERED: Getting a poor night’s sleep because I’ve been staring at a screen before bedtime. (The blue light blocks melatonin production.)

MASTERING: No screens two hours before bedtime, or if necessary to look, I use blue-blocking glasses.

MASTERED: Frittering away my most focused work time by having to deal with some technological issue (often an update that I have to do before I can proceed to do what I was trying to do).

MASTERING: If possible, I make a note to myself to get back to that or, if it’s necessary to do it right then to get on with what I need to do, I do my breathing exercise to keep my nervous system balanced despite the frustration.

Notice how much self-discipline it takes to master technology? I don’t say that I master all these things perfectly myself. It’s a constant challenge. I look at it as another opportunity to grow stronger self-discipline muscles.

Which makes even the “-vil” part of Goovil more good than evil!

What is “Goovil” in your life? How can you turn the “evil” aspects to “good” by mastering it? Comment below and share!

If you would like help with some “goovil” aspect of your life, check out my coaching at HealingCodesCoaching.com.