Why is it we have more ability to connect to people, yet feel less connected?We can talk or text with anyone in the world.We can meet people online with the exact same interests.And we are still more isolated and feel less a part of a community than ever before.Could it be we are less connected with ourselves?Perhaps we are so distracted we can't feel our own emotions?Why is it we feel more comfortable texting with someone far away than someone in the same room?Is it fear?Is it lack of presence?Or is it something else?Something more subtle at work?Maybe it is more about not wanting to be vulnerable.Or about what feels safe and easy to do.It can be scary to expose ourselves to the people right in front of us.It takes some courage to open up and talk to the person in the room who could challenge you.We like to avoid confrontation.Confrontation feels uncomfortable.So we lean towards comfort than challenge.We take the path of least resistance when it comes to connection.So we text someone we don't really know that well rather than talk to someone who sees us everyday.Yet that really doesn't serve us.For community is far more important than most of us realize.Community nurtures us.Community supports us.Community holds us in a way that raises us up energetically.So we can contribute more.So we can create more.So we can cry and laugh and feel more.So we can be safe and be heard and be who we are.The person in front of us sees us far more than anyone on the other side of a phone or a computer.The can feel us as we can feel them.And that presence is much more valuable than any of us realize.So let us lean into community.Lean into presence.Lean into connection.And let's see what unfolds for us as we feel that we are more a part of the human race.

~ Sam Liebowitz, The Conscious Consultant