Post by Pollyanna on Jun 3, 2005 6:13:10 GMT -5
Oprah recently put out a little book as an add on to her magazine that was a best of her editorials. I really liked this one. It made me think, so I thought I'd share it in case some of you haven't seen it
The whole idea of connection fascinates me. No doubt we're all more digitally and fiber-optically linked than ever before, but we're apparently losing our real connections.
I've seen it coming for a while - Haven't you? You can't get through dinner or walk down the street without someone pulling out a cellphone. I often wonder, "Who in the world is everyone talking to?"
Just recently, going through the turnstiles in Borders, I watched a mother talking and laughing with her cell phone in one hand - and with the other, dragging her crying 3-year-old, whose coat had gotten stuck in the door. She was too busy chatting it up to notice. Major disconnect.
As hard as I've tried not to fall prey to cellular mania (I still don't carry a phone around), I have succumbed to the life-changing advantages of the BlackBerry. I'm not a "crackberrian" yet, but I could use some withdrawal therapy. I first noticed this when someone snapped a picture and showed it to me in living color: My friends Gayle and Andre and I were sitting in a store in Rome waiting for Gayle's daughter, kirby, to try on a pair of jeans. We weren't talking to one another-we were all on our BlackBerries. "Oh no, I've become one of those people", I thought. Those people who are in a conversation with you but, as you're obviously not holding their interest, take the call from the phone that's ringing Beethoven's Fifth at 78 rpm and continue to talk to whoever's on the other end. Those people who are sitting in a restaurant and checking voice mail every 15 minutes. Those people who are not in the moment but always looking to see, What's next? What else should I be doing?
Notice the next time you're giving your friend, mate, child or co-worker less than your full self. I'll bet it happens more often than you're aware. With to-do lists a mile long and constant deadlines, it's no surprise that most of us feel cut off not only from our partners and loved ones but also from ourselves. Our lives are busier, faster-and we're moving further away from our center.
I know for sure that the way to feel connected in all relationships is to stay attuned to the Source, which I believe is the energy that vibrates through all life. You can never stray too far from what is really meaningful before losing connection with yourself and everybody else. And when you've lost that, neither AT&T nor the best Verizon hookup can bring it back.
Meditate. Breathe consciously. Listen. Pay attention. Treasure every moment.
Make the connection.
I've seen it coming for a while - Haven't you? You can't get through dinner or walk down the street without someone pulling out a cellphone. I often wonder, "Who in the world is everyone talking to?"
Just recently, going through the turnstiles in Borders, I watched a mother talking and laughing with her cell phone in one hand - and with the other, dragging her crying 3-year-old, whose coat had gotten stuck in the door. She was too busy chatting it up to notice. Major disconnect.
As hard as I've tried not to fall prey to cellular mania (I still don't carry a phone around), I have succumbed to the life-changing advantages of the BlackBerry. I'm not a "crackberrian" yet, but I could use some withdrawal therapy. I first noticed this when someone snapped a picture and showed it to me in living color: My friends Gayle and Andre and I were sitting in a store in Rome waiting for Gayle's daughter, kirby, to try on a pair of jeans. We weren't talking to one another-we were all on our BlackBerries. "Oh no, I've become one of those people", I thought. Those people who are in a conversation with you but, as you're obviously not holding their interest, take the call from the phone that's ringing Beethoven's Fifth at 78 rpm and continue to talk to whoever's on the other end. Those people who are sitting in a restaurant and checking voice mail every 15 minutes. Those people who are not in the moment but always looking to see, What's next? What else should I be doing?
Notice the next time you're giving your friend, mate, child or co-worker less than your full self. I'll bet it happens more often than you're aware. With to-do lists a mile long and constant deadlines, it's no surprise that most of us feel cut off not only from our partners and loved ones but also from ourselves. Our lives are busier, faster-and we're moving further away from our center.
I know for sure that the way to feel connected in all relationships is to stay attuned to the Source, which I believe is the energy that vibrates through all life. You can never stray too far from what is really meaningful before losing connection with yourself and everybody else. And when you've lost that, neither AT&T nor the best Verizon hookup can bring it back.
Meditate. Breathe consciously. Listen. Pay attention. Treasure every moment.
Make the connection.