Big or Small, Connections Matter

Living gratefully today, I connect with the stillness within through meditation and the stillness of the early morning by pausing and observing my surroundings via my senses. This day and I begin our connections. 

As I came up the hill near our house last evening, returning from a bike ride, I exchanged friendly hellos and smiles with a young woman walking alone and with a small group walking further up the trail. I don't know anyone's name. I know the young woman lives up the street a few blocks. We see each other regularly. The other group included adults, kids, and a dog. 

I had just been thinking, as I biked, how much better this summer feels compared to last summer. COVID and other concerns remain, for sure. But there is freedom and a shared sense of fortitude that we made it through the last 17 months. We are connected by this experience, whether we personally know one another or not. 

When we couldn't connect in usual ways and with some of the people we know best, we were still connecting with fellow humans. In age-old ways and in new COVID-era ways. In big ways and small ways. Maybe just a friendly hello telegraphed by our eyes when our mouths were covered with masks. Maybe a thank you written on the to-go bag we picked up from a local restaurant. 

All these connections mattered at the height of the pandemic. They mattered before the pandemic and they matter now. Connections are our path to gratefulness and grace. 

This recent article, Love Connects Us: 7 Ways to Live in Love, Every Day! by Colette Lafia, on A Network for Grateful Living's website is a wonderful take on connections that matter and simple ways we can continue to bring them into our days, regardless of personal or global circumstances.

Here are the seven ways the author lists:

Find Quiet Moments. 

Practice Listening. 

Delight in the Joys of the Season. 

Be Kind to Yourself and Others. 

Cultivate Gratitude. 

Nurture Your Heart. 

Value Connection. 

Pick even one off the list to focus on today and you will be surprised. Pleasantly.

Thank you Colette Lafia. Thank you friendly neighbors.