Google's Gopi Kallayil: Friend Yourself and Listen to the Tweet of your Heartbeat • We Blog The World

Google’s Gopi Kallayil says in his TEDxBerkeley talk this past weekend, we all need to slow down. Rather than talk about Google Adwords and search advertising which is a hat he wears by day, he talks about another one of his life commitments: mindfulness.

Here are a few strategies he lives by and suggests:

1. Focus on the essential. (today, we seem to think everything is essential)
Do one thing at a time. (it keeps you focused and more productive.
Do 1 minute of mindfulness every day and have integrity while you do it. What is the rush? What am I going towards? What am I running from?
Make appointments for mindfulness in your calendar and make them non-negotiable. Find one anchor in your life that you’ll totally commit to no matter what happens. Gopi says he has three anchors he will not miss, one of which is leading yoga for the Googlers in a class he calls Yoglers.
Friend yourself. (all of us are proud that we have thousands of followers/friends on Twitter and Facebook, but he asserts, the most important relationship we can have is the one with ourselves.

He says, “how about listening to the tweet of your heartbeart?” You have to unplug from the Internet to plug into the Innernet. How will you do this for yourself?

Renee Blodgett

Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.

She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.

Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.

Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.