Connection Not Detected

As I prepare to get back into my fun-filled blogging life,  I’ve thought a lot about the direction I want my blog to go.  I want my little space to be a place where I can use my silly voice to help me grow as a human being.  When you get to be my age,somewhere between changing dirty diapers and mastering a walking cane, you begin to realize that your days might really be numbered and you want to spend the next fifty odd years (I’m always optimistic) making a difference.  I would love to save the environment for future generations or bring about world peace, but I can’t.  What I can do is be kind and work a little harder at connecting with other people.

Like my computer, I have many options to connect.

Now don’t get me wrong,  I’m not out there beating up kids for their lunch money or terrorizing the minimum wage employee because my hamburger has mayonnaise instead of mustard on it.  I try to be fair with all the people I meet.   What I don’t do is always take the time to really connect with people.  Much of my time is spent half-listening and half- thinking about the next thing I can tick off my to-do list.

I’ve recently read a lot about the Dalai Lama because, hey, if you’re going to aspire to be kind, go big.  He talks about how he values the opinions of all those around him, even the man sweeping the floors.  He sees the interconnectedness in all of us.  Instead of just putting on his maroon robe each day, he thinks about the people involved in the creation of his robe.  He thinks about all the connections involved.  After I finished thinking about how great it would be to not worry about what to wear each day or what haircut to get, I realized, when we do think of our interconnectedness, it becomes easier to be kind to all those around us.

Yes, I hear the snickers of those who know me.  She yelled at the FedEx man because her son’s shoes didn’t get delivered when they were suppose to be delivered.  (I still can’t look that poor guiltless man in the face)  She’s giving advice on connecting to others.  Then I remember, this blog is to help me.  It’s far from a self-help guide.  It’s my effort to connect with others.  As I said in my caption above, there are lots of ways to connect.  So my simple plan is to try to relate my posts to connecting with others.  Some days, like today, it will be blatantly obvious.  Others days it will be hilariously (she said with fingers crossed) enjoyable.

I know I’ll never be the Dalai Lama. I’m not even a Buddhist.  But I will open myself up more freely to people.  I’ll quit trying to find perfectly matched people to be in my life.  If I only look for befuddled and somewhat prudish middle-aged women to come over to my house so we can braid each others hair as we discuss who really was the greatest Impressionist artist, I may be spending a lot of time alone.  I need to accept people for whom they are and embrace our differences.  I need to step outside my sanctimonious box and detect the connection.

Tenzin Gyatso, the fourteenth and current Dalai Lama