Lately I have been contemplating the idea of interconnectedness. It has been presented to me in many ways in the last few weeks, and honestly before then, I had never really given the term a second thought. However, this concept is one of the biggest and greatest that one could grasp.
I had always believed that each person was an individual, each defined with a unique sense of self. I still believe that we are all unique, but I have been presented with this idea that we are all interconnected, and I can’t help but to start to see it that way. Hear me out. Every decision or action I make affects me, but it also affects those in relation with me. So if we are all interconnected… how is there so much hate and violence? Shouldn’t we all be trying to make ourselves better by making good decisions that we can all benefit from? To me, it seems like the logical decision, but not everyone sees it this way.
I want to take a minute to help, to put my ideas out there about how understanding this idea of interconnectedness can truly benefit all of us as human beings.
Reach out. Help someone. Be kind. We all have bad days; we all feel lonely at times, but we can help each other during those hard times. You are not alone; you are not the only one out there that feels the way you do! We are all fighting our own battles, and they are all equally as tough. So be kind to everyone you meet. Remember karma.
Become at peace. In Buddhist teachings, it is known that all humans will always be faced with suffering. Buddhists alleviate this suffering by practicing compassion for all living things. Now, I’m not saying that we should all adopt Buddhism, but we can all learn from its teachings. Compassion is a concept that is very lacking in the Western world. If we adopted the term more openly, I think that we may be a little better off. If we are compassionate about others when making decisions, we can begin to start making changes in the right direction. We need to learn to work with each other instead of against each other, unifying a common objective.
Stop. Breathe. Take five minutes each day or an hour each week to just stop. Just think. Contemplate on the last week. Think about your relationships, experiences and endeavors. Use your imagination. Get your mind off of the materialistic society we live in and delve into the parts of your life that cannot be paid for or accomplished. Consider how and who you have connected with.
Step into Nature. Because of our society’s unconditional craving for perpetual progress, our towns and cities have become considerably devoid of nature. So take a second to step off the manmade roadway. Visit a park; go to the beach; take a walk in your backyard. Find some way to associate yourself with all of the organisms living around us that we so hastily walk past or step on daily. Remember that we are just a small part of beautiful scene that surrounds us.
And with that said, I will conclude with a video that I discovered during the last week. It is part of the T-Mobile “Life’s for Sharing” campaign. Enjoy :)
