There is a sense of relationship, connectedness and nurturing within ourselves.  Do you know it?  It occurs within us in how we move and exist moment to moment.  It arises out of our interactions with others both consciously and unconsciously.  It emerges out of our reflection upon the world around and within us.  Although our minds differentiate between this and that, there is an underlying experience of how everything is interrelated and interdependent.  Nothing exists in isolation.

There are three capabilities that directly relate to finding our connections.  First we need to look at the elements in our lives as a interconnected system.  To understand our inner relationships and  connectedness, we need to assemble the different aspects of ourselves and observe the patterns of interaction.  To understand our outer relationships we need to convene with others and initiate open and honest dialog.  Second, we have to listen with more than our ears.  Using all of our senses we can begin to recognize the various interdependent aspects of our inner and outer lives.  Third, we have to nurture our commitment to ourselves and our shared commitment to something greater than ourselves.  Using these three capabilities we can collaborate across boundaries which creates and improves our relationships with our world.

When we collaborate across boundaries the division between opposing ideas and forces fade away.  We realize we all have something in common.   We come to understand one part of our life affects others.  We’re human and it’s easy to get stuck in the division of this and that.  Separating things is less demanding than looking past differences.  It’s what our industrial society prefers us to do as it promotes profit.  It stimulates short-term solutions to issues and problems.   We are supposed to buy this to become happy or do this one thing and life is better.  This focus on the short-term creates long-term issues and problems affecting the larger systems we are integrated with.  Finding connections between the elements in our individual universe minimizes the potential stress and strain occurring when approaching life form a singular perspective.  When we fuse disparate elements and reconnect to the world around and within us, experience and wisdom emerges.  This fusion creates a refuge within us we can call our center.  Finding connections allows us to nurture the long-term visions we create for ourselves and the systems we are a part of.   As Rumi said, “Remember the entrance door to the sanctuary is inside you.”