Compassion
Mini Connection Journey

Mini Connection Journey

This year, I have been connecting with people all around the world – we have been coming together with a common interest in helping people and planet. It has made me realise the importance of having these interactions, as well as other types of connection. I have made a short introduction video here.

Connection with the Earth

For the first part of the journey, I always like to connect with the Earth – I have a sense of pausing for a moment, really gathering myself into the present moment and feeling myself not as an isolated individual, but as part of something bigger. I feel the support and grounding from the Earth. From this place I can take a step forward (or not), with a sense of acting in alignment with this “bigger something,” as part of a community of connections – a real sense of interbeing, where everything I do impacts on and can be in service to this community. Most importantly, I am choosing my next step consciously. At any point I can come back to this connection with the Earth. I made a video here. It includes and introduction and a description of how to do a quick check-in as well as a longer guided practice. The guided practice starts at 5 minutes in, in case you want to skip straight to that.

Connection with our Bodies

Very often we wander around lost in thought – more like a brain with a pair of eyes. So it is good to reconnect with our bodies. One way to do this is through a body scan meditation, which is a great introduction to mindfulness too. This meditation invites us to pay attention to the physical sensations in the body. I recorded a body scan meditation for this journey but it can be used at any time.

Values

Values are a little different from core beliefs – a core belief is more like a story about the world – “the world is unfair” or “people are inherently good.” A value is really about the things that truly matter to you – perhaps your family, social justice, taking care of the planet, making a difference, achieving goals and ambitions, being recognised or respected, being financially secure etc. These values provide us with a compass when it comes to making decisions. They can help us to decide what connections to make and also in how to conduct ourselves within those connections.

Acts of Kindness

The invitation for this day is to perform an act of kindness. It can be something seemingly small, like smiling at the people you meet or picking up a piece of litter. Acts of kindness can connect us with our values and with other people. It turns out that performing acts of kindness can be good for our own mental health! There are some great ideas here for things that you could try.

What a River Told Me about Connection

I was sitting by the river today with a bit of a heavy heart. Weighing on my mind were thoughts about people with conflicting views – views that I saw as harmful and unkind. As I sat there, watching the leaves dancing in eddies on the surface of the river, it came to me: “Don’t engage with people on the surface – with the labels and the egos. Engage with them beneath this, where there is a caring human being – a father, brother, uncle, son.” 

Connecting with Family

This does not have to apply to your blood relatives – family here means anyone for whom you have some kind of affection – it could be your global family or the people who share your life in some way directly. 

We may spend so much of our time working, on screens, rushing around. The invitation is to just take a little time to switch off from all the distractions and devote some time to the people you care about.

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