The Choice For Connection

We are hard-wired for both protection and connection.

Reread that. Or allow me: we are hard-wired for both protection and connection.

The relationship between those two hardwired systems is what could be termed awakening.

I write these words as a category four hurricane is moving toward where I live here in south Florida. I am riding the waves between protecting myself and those I love from what could be catastrophic effects of an enormous storm, and the moment by moment choice to connect to what is true, authentic, and constant within me. The former feels contracting, and the latter expanding. There is a definite rhythm. There is a birthing happening within me. I have worked far too long at authenticity to claim there is no fear. I am grateful to no longer shut that system down. Fear is a natural and healthy response to what is aiming its force at an area and at people I have grown to love these twenty-one years here. I have felt the force of multiple hurricanes during that time, and I remember well the force, the fury, and the unpredictability.

I also remember and have witnessed already this storm cycle the way in which people can show up at their best during these times. There is an underlying vulnerability and powerlessness when facing these events. We come together to protect ourselves in ways that prudent, wise, and discerning. The beauty for me is that as opposed to what so often happens in day to day living is that these protective activities are done with a broader sense of connection. We help each other. We check on each other. We pray with each other. We know at a deeper level that we are truly in this together. There is only so much we can do when faced with 140 mile per hour winds. But the force of our caring, connection, and compassion is unstoppable. The sense of being vulnerable actually moves us from protection to connection. It is a bridge. Our armor is melted by the natural impulse to care about something greater than ourselves. If we do not shut down in the intensity of fear we are opened into an intimacy of love. Of belonging. Of connection.

I have received and I have made multiple calls simply for the sake of conscious connection. I am beaming my energy to all those who have been and are likely to be affected by this storm. I have taken the precautions I needed to take in the name of protection. And now my attention is zeroed in on connection. My attention is on being completely and authentically connected and embracing of everything that is arising in me. My attention is on embracing all those that I know I love, and all those I love by virtue of our shared humanity. I am committed to being a category five force of love, connection, and belonging. As the storm gets louder I will feel the instinctual protective reaction, and I will meet it with a loving response.

I am hardwired for both protection and connection. I am a moment by moment choice for connection.