Last week I shared a wonderful conversation with our older son, Jorin, about why soooo many people are head down, typing away on their cell phones, whilst in a crowd or by themselves.  We talked about how people have umpteen contacts and yet don’t feel connected.  So, why is that?  One of the main reasons people have all these contacts is so they can…well…connect.

So what is the difference?

Contact: (social), a person who can offer help in achieving goals.

Connection: Social connectedness is also a psychological term used to describe the quality and number of connections we have with other people in our social circle of family, friends and acquaintances.

We’re talking about the ‘quality’ of interactions between two or more beings right?  Last I counted there were 7,000,000,000 people on the planet so there is no lack of folks to contact or to connect with. And yet, an astonishing number of people are lonely.

Quality…hmmm… (philosophy), an attribute or a property.

I could keep using Wikipedia to help us along here and the bottom line is this:  Quality, for me, means meaningful.  Connection is the same as feeling like I belong, that there is something in it for me to experience worthy of my time, and contacts refers to people or places I have met or been to.

The person who I really want to connect with is myself, first and foremost, so that when I contact others…I am coming from a sense of who I am and what I’m about.  I didn’t know this little tidbit until relatively recently. I was convinced that the more I contacted others, the more I would feel connected when in fact all I felt was lonely.

The invitation is for us all to connect with ourselves first,in meaningful and purposeful ways, so that we can be fully  present to others.  I used to feel proud at how many ‘knives I could juggle at once” until I realized the uselessness of it all. So what, I’m a multi-tasker…and how many precious connections did I miss because I couldn’t see for looking?

So what did I learn at ‘school’ today?

~Spend some quality time with yourself and connect

~Keep your head up and be present

~Contacts can turn into connections through meaningful experiences…that’s a goal worthy of my time

~Loneliness is a choice

~Time is precious…and I’m not willing to waste a drop of it.

Thanks Jorin for connecting with me. Thanks for being willing to connect with others simply by showing up as you. I choose to turn off my cell phone and to witness and experience each precious moment on my own and in your company.

How will each of us decide to connect with ourselves and others?  How will we make meaning of each and every day to honour the gift of life that we share? How will everyone of us become that agent of conscious change the world craves so profoundly? I know, I know…one person at a time…and I’ll start with ME!