You know how invigorated you feel after reconnecting with an old friend, or networking with similar-minded colleagues, or spending quality time with someone you love?  That joy comes from connecting.  It probably fuels us better than caffeine or many other stimulants.  It’s so powerful because the moments spent connecting are resonating inside you and bringing you ‘home’ within you.  Closer to something you know or enjoy.  You are likely more confident, energized and your outlook is more positive.

Try it – see how you feel after a really good connecting session.

Now, take these results from your connection experience and try to connect with yourself.  Being aware each time you take a deep breath in and thinking about how that breath is filling your lungs with fresh oxygen and what that oxygen is doing to your blood, your cells that are mostly water (two oxygen molecules) and giving your brain energy to do its great work is exactly the practice of staying present.

Connecting with your breath is a way to stay close to you – your life-force – within.  Taking a moment to check on your breath – are you tense and therefore short-breathed?  What does that do to your cells, your brain, your chemical receptors?  What’s causing you to switch from the ‘flight’ mode into something more taxing in this moment?  Taking deep breaths and recognizing the nourishment happening is a great way to bring you back to your moment and place in the day you are living.

After trying this self connecting session, do you feel fueled, invigorated, and able to think clearly?  Welcome to mini meditation!  You’ve just taken a moment to be very self-aware and allow your life force to work within you.  Perhaps some clarity or creative ideas even came from this experiment.  Maybe simply a deeper love and appreciation for you.  Whatever surfaced, it’s a beautiful thing because you took the time for you to be aware of you.

Remember how you feel after you connect with yourself, just as how you are when you’ve connected with another.  It can be done in a car, on a boat, at the dentist or anywhere you feel yourself forgetting who or where you are.  Harmony is yours for the holding.