Week 13 - Connection

​It’s time to disconnect so that we can re-connect!
Disconnect from our devices, and connect, first with ourselves – our true selves, and then with our loved ones, our friends and our community.
 
It’s time to risk being vulnerable, walking, living and speaking our truth.
 
Brené Brown speaks of this as one of the core truths and elements of a civil society – this belonging, this connection between people.
“That connection – the spirit that flows between us and every other human in the world – is not something that can be broken; however, our belief in the connection is constantly tested and repeatedly severed.  When our belief that there’s something greater than us, something rooted in love and compassion, breaks, we are more likely to retreat to our bunkers, to hate from afar, to tolerate bullshit, to dehumanise others, and, ironically, to stay out of the wilderness. It’s counterintuitive, but our belief in inextricable human connection is one of our most renewable sources of courage in the wilderness.”
 
I write this post not long after my Dad has passed,  having the privilege to witness his passing, slowly, gradually over a period of years as the Alzheimer’s disease took hold, ultimately it seemed that the connection to us his family was what kept him here, and it was perhaps his fear of losing that connection that seemed to linger until the end, almost beyond what his body could endure until those final moments when he surrendered.
 
It is this human connection, this belonging we are all hungry for, and yet I see us substituting it for lower vibrational forms like social media and addictions like shopping, alcohol and gaming.
 
Brené Brown invites us to Show up for collective moments of joy and pain so we can actually bear witness to inextricable human connection. Sharing the roller coaster of life with others is what glues humanity together – not just sharing the highs, but the lows as well…
 
My wish is that we take the time and the risk to re-connect, remembering what it is to feel truly connected to one ourselves, and to each other as members of this amazing planetary community. This is imperative.
 
For a spine-tingling, goose-bump invoking moment of connection you may wish to view this you-tube clip of You’ll Never Walk Alone! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go-jJlGd1so
 
Yours, Gab
 
Reference:
Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging & the Courage to Stand Alone ~ Brené Brown