While spending a few days in France and meeting with some old friends I was reminded of how essential connections are in the fabric of our lives.
Research has shown clearly that the more we feel connected, the more we thrive.
We would be a mere shadow of ourselves without the connections we weave endlessly with other beings… Happiness, health, sense of self, social skills, emotional stability, are all proportionally linked to our connectedness.
It does not really matter if it’s a chat with the mailman, light gossip around the coffee machine, long conversations with close friends or phone calls with family members. Casual or deeply involved, amorous or brotherly, neighborly or continental, connections are the blood of our existences. As we get more aware of that fact we can deliberately nurture, reinforce, develop and appreciate every one of them.
Babies need connection as much as body nourishment to develop in a healthy way.
Our very sense of self depends on it.
It is through connections that we reach out to the world. It is also through them that the world gives us feed back as well.
Jobs, promotions, rewards, travels, love stories, came to us by the magic of connections and created new ones.
Lately, my friend writer Patricia Corrigan (fun and life loving woman all around) talked about the way we met when she first arrived in San Francisco, in one of her articles on Next Avenue (http://www.nextavenue.org/blog/7-ways-make-friends-new-city) thus giving me national exposure in a casual way! Pat is the queen of connectivity! Her blog is laced with websites URLs, street addresses and people’s names, as she shares with the world what her curious and joyful nature pushes her to discover. Praise and tips, stories and glimpses, she is the epitome of networking, and in the best way.
Of course not everyone is actively developing that many threads between the virtual dots of life, but unless we are gravely impaired or inhibited, we all look for connection in some way. When we do not connect we shrink.
It is fun to observe for a week or so, how many connections we get involved with and how much it impacts our life and our mood on many levels… We can acknowledge the most meaningful ones with praise or a kind word as we are reminded of their preciousness but also realize that the same recognition can be brought to everyone we interact with, everywhere and at any time…
In fact it makes people feel wonderful and it boosts our own happiness to do so.
Keep in mind that you don’t know what opportunity can show up…!
Handling all encounters as if they were truly meaningful is a great way to live richer and larger lives, because in fact without them, we disappear…
To our connection…
More later…