Connection Challenge

Here are five ways you can connect to the present moment:

1. Meditate
2. Notice Your Body
3. Take a Sensory Walk
4. Cuddle Your Pet
5. Make Art

We try to do so much alone. Yet there is little that we, as humans, have accomplished without others. So this month, reach out with a phone call, meeting, coffee, or lunch. What you do this month will enrich your life and ripple though the lives of others. It all starts by reaching out.

The beautiful places and things in this world are maintained and cared for by so many people: librarians, museum guards, gardeners, janitors, mechanics. The next time you’re around someone who does this kind of work, ask them for information they’d like to share: a piece of history, a favorite fact, something most visitors don’t know. What do you learn? How does it change this place for you?

Better Together.

Out of the blue, send someone a favorite picture of the two of you—by mail, text, or email. Before you send the photo, look at it closely. Remember how the day felt and how it felt to be together. Then send along a little note sharing a memory you have of that time, and tell them why you’re so glad to have them in your life.

Find a place where you can wave at people passing by–a park bench by a busy bike path, a grassy patch near a train track, a river bank where boaters pass. Seek out people who are riding
by, and smile and wave at them. Who notices you? Who waves back right away? Who’s shy at first but willing to connect?

Offer a friend a small gift, a good-luck token, or a beautiful object from a place that you love. Tell them that it’s your intention that this be in their life for as long as it needs to be, but that in the end, they should pass it along to someone else when the time is right, and that this next person should do the same.

Make a point to find out and remember the favorite things of people you love…ice cream flavors, coffee drinks, colors, or authors. Think of this like a little mental file you get to keep, just in case you ever want to offer them a perfect surprise, an unexpected pick-me-up, or a treat that makes them say, “How did you know?”

Place a small gift in a space where people will find it—pennies at a fountain, balloons at a park, sidewalk chalk at a playground. Write a little note so people know your gift is there to be taken or used, and then leave it there knowing that you are about to make the day for someone—or several someones—whom you may never even meet.

Give a compliment to a total stranger–someone you don’t know, someone you may never see again. Wait until you feel truly compelled to say something–someone’s glasses are perfect, their haircut is incredible, or the kindness toward a stranger is inspiring. Offer them your compliment, genuinely and openly, without needing to say anything further. Let your simple kind words be enough.

The next time you’re together with family, coworkers, or a group of friends, spend a few minutes going around and exchanging compliments. Shine a light on one person at a time, offering a single word that best describes them or a memory that matters to you, and continue until everyone has had a chance to be on the receiving end of all these good feelings.

Instead of going to the store or the supply closet, seize the next chance you have to ask a friend, neighbor, or coworker if you can borrow something you need: a stapler, a hammer, a quarter, a cup of sugar.