Connections we make with others is the balm that heals the planet. . .

I have been receiving so many comments from readers like you and I can’t express adequately what it means to me.  I love my work, both the writing and the workshops, but much of it is solitary.  When readers comment, whether in the affirmative or taking exception to what I have said or written, I at least know we have “touched” each other.  Our connectedness is the pathway to healing and wholeness.  No one “gets well” from any malady in isolation.

I was thinking about the topic of connection this morning when I went to see an eye doctor.  I had never met her before and went in wanting only a refill on a prescription.  That wasn’t how she operated.  And rightly so.  Fortunately, before getting up on my haunches, I listened to her justification for a more complete exam.  I am so glad I did.  I have glaucoma, which I knew, but I also need cataract surgery, which I didn’t know.  I was so impressed with her skills, her kindness and her thoroughness.   We made “a connection” and it will lead to better eye care.  I left knowing that I will always seek out her care for any thing to do with my eyes, and it was because I allowed a shift in my attitude and she was kind and thoughtful.

Shifting our attitude in the midst of any experience is always an option, of course, but too often we wait for the other person to change.  In this case, there was nothing the doctor needed to change but even if she had started out on “the wrong foot,” like I almost did, the only person that needed to change for a meaningful connection to be made was me.  That’s the fortunate thing, in fact. Each day’s experiences are as good as we want to make them because of the person we carry into them.  Ourselves.  That’s an empowering idea, isn’t it.

Now back to connectedness as a healing balm.  We have to be willing to see the opportunity for a better world in every encounter we experience.  We have an assignment every day, I think.  And it’s to see our fellow travelers in a loving way, helping them when they are suffering and remembering always that they are gifts from God for our growth, as much as their own.  In hundreds of places I have made the point that no one presents himself on our path “unbidden.” And God has prepared us for every encounter already.  Trust that it is so and your world will look very different.

Are you ready to greet every person and every experience as a gift from God? Doing so will make every day an adventure.  I promise you.