My cousin Jamie, who has been blogging for about the same period of time that I’ve been writing this column (check him out at Thingelstad.com), recently posted a blog regarding his hosting of an “IndieWeb Carnival”. My first thought was, “What’s an IndieWeb Carnival?” followed closely by my second thought, “What does IndieWeb mean?”

Google informed me that IndieWeb is “a community and movement that focuses on empowering individuals to control their online presence and data by building and maintaining their own websites, rather than relying on large, centralized social networks. It emphasizes open standards and protocols for social interaction, allowing users to interact with others on their own sites.”

Google also informed me that an IndieWeb Carnival is “a monthly, hosted blogging event where participants write and share their thoughts on a chosen topic or theme on their own blogs.”

Jamie, the host of this particular blogging event, chose “Renewal” as the topic or theme for his carnival and the questions he posed to his carnival goers were, “Do you have a story of renewal to share? Is there a need for renewal that you see and a way to make that happen? How do you approach renewal?”

While contemplating the theme of renewal, the story of Sisyphus, a figure of Greek mythology who was condemned to repeat forever the same meaningless task of pushing a boulder up a mountain, only to see it roll down again just as it nears the top, came to mind.

What does the myth of Sisyphus have to do with renewal?

Each time Sisyphus neared the top and felt the boulder start to slip from it’s upward progress, I see him giving into the inevitable, stepping aside, watching with amusement as the boulder rocked, rolled and bounced back down the hill, looking around at the world from his vantage point on the high ground, filling his lungs, and exhaling with purpose and renewal as he heads back down the hill through the settling dust the descending boulder has kicked up to begin again…and again…and again…

It is what we all do in some way, shape, or form most every day of the days we get. We get to push our various boulders up our various hills, we get to watch them roll back down, we get to move, we get to ponder, we get to love, we get to laugh, we get to live, we get to lose…we get to do it all until we are at a loss. At a loss of mind, at a loss of body, at a loss of spirit, at a loss of life. So it goes.

Renewal of mind, renewal of body, renewal of spirit…before all is lost. “Pneuma”, the ancient Greek word for “spirit”, can be translated as “wind” or “breath”, and just as we cannot see the wind that moves the trees, others often cannot see the spirit, the meaning, the purpose that moves us. Our “why” may appear to be meaningless toil to others, but if it moves you, it moves you. Afterall, how much choice do we have in what it is that moves us?

To move and to be moved effectively, we must allow for sufficient renewal. We must take a moment to look around at the world we get to be in. We must breathe in and out with purpose and renewal of mind, body, and spirit and then lean into our boulder yet again, because it is our boulder and it is ours to move for as long we can move it. Sometimes we get a little flat. Sometimes that old guitar just needs a new set of strings to renew an old song.

“Do you have a story of renewal to share? Is there a need for renewal that you see and a way to make that happen? How do you approach renewal?”

Enjoy the carnival.