Making Connections

Dear Reader,

So many ways to make connections.

Pay attention to what happens when your elbow moves your hand. The boney part of the elbow pushes toward the wrist and the hand moves. Or move the fingers in any particular way, and chances are that will connect up with the elbow, the upper arm bone and the shoulder. Maybe even the ribs.

We can connect with other humans—virtually, in person, or even through touch. And those connections change us. In countless tiny ways—for better or worse. Perhaps we feel it immediately. Sometimes it takes longer.

Recall a recent conversation with a friend. Did you feel different by the end of the conversation? Maybe a little better, maybe not. Maybe it felt the same as usual, so only a tiny change.

The more I connect with people—and I’ve been doing that for quite a few years now—the more I realize that no one else thinks or feels exactly the way I do. I used to have the idea that if I liked someone—really, really liked them—we’d agree on just about everything. Nope. It hasn’t worked out that way.

The longer I live, the more I see that no matter how much I like someone, we’ll surely disagree on something. Maybe it’s insignificant. Maybe it’s which way you hang the shirts on a hanger. Although, I can tell you that my mother taught me what is surely the right way.

Maybe it’s about which music is better for the moment.

Maybe it’s about what movie to watch.

Maybe it’s about how to vote.

Maybe it’s about what we believe to be true and important.

It’s getting to be more and more clear to me that none of us has the one, true handle on truth. As Polly Young-Eisendrath likes to say, we’re each in our own private snow globe. And that’s how we see the world.

As we become more and more mindful of our individual limitations, we can be more accepting of others and their opinions, even when we completely disagree. We can become more mindful of others’ humanity, allowing them to just be—maybe right, maybe wrong, maybe just different.

May we each find kinder, gentler ways to connect with our fellow humans. From my snow globe to yours, I strongly recommend giving it a try.

And if you’d like to explore some body connections, please join our weekly online Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement lessons It’s still Free/Pay as You Wish.

If you’re interested in working with me privately—through Feldenkrais, coaching or felt-making—you can Make an Appointment or reply to this email and let me know what you’re interested in exploring.

Whatever connections you’re making, have all the fun you can!