"A Private View," by Irene Mayer Selznick.
                                                                                                             New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1983
                                                                                                             Photographed on a child's school chair

In 1904, Irene's father (Louis B. Mayer, born Lazar Meir) was nineteen and moved to Boston where he worked in the scrap metal businesss and got married.  In 1904, Irene's future husband, David O. Selznick (the "O" stood for nothing) was two years old and living in Pittsburgh.

Starting a blog these days is like joining facebook.  Fewer people are doing it, and if you think of yourself as especially cutting edge or terribly avant garde you won't.  But as I was telling a nice young person the other day who happened to ask my advice, what draws you in is obvious: the urge to say something (anything), to express yourself, to connect, to reach out is (more or less) universal.  Joy and Loving Kindness and (at the other end of the spectrum) Loneliness and Ego surely play a part as well.   
 
The challenge is to stay on course, to trust your higher self, to listen to the encouragement of the people you know really care and remember that, unlike you, not everyone does care or has good intentions either, even if they say they do.  Blogging, like commenting, and all the social networking that goes on out there is disembodied.  No, Virginia, not everyone looks like their picture and they aren't all what they say they are.  I'm not even sure that just because someone looks human means they really are, which it took me a while to figure out but which should come as no surprise to anyone who's been paying attention.  Still, it's worth reminding yourself the next time someone tells you that what they have to say is for your own good.  Especially when what follows is something that feels a little mean-spirited. 

Of course we all know everyone's doing the best they can, but sometimes the best you can do is ignore them.  Louis B. had plenty of critics, and David O. did too.  It didn't stop those two, as Irene can tell you.  They were tough guys.  You might not be as tough as they were, but that's fine.  You might even get constructive criticism, or good advice, but if it's unsolicited and you don't want to hear it, ignore it.   

You will know what you need to know when you need to know it.  You are always surrendering to what is, in the moment right here right now, even if you think you aren't.  The question of whether you are is rhetorical.  Even if someone tells you differently.  And if they tell you you're just being silly or unreasonable or anxious or selfish or wasting your time, ignore them.  Eventually they'll go away.