We can choose to see the world as “us vs. them” and create different classifications and silos among all the people in the world. But that’s not the truth. As humans, we discriminate and exclude those who are different from us.

Focus a moment on your own life. Who are you connected to? Family, friends, coworkers, neighbors?

We tend to see the world in a way that’s convenient for us.

Yes, people, you are on an elevator with might all be strangers, but what if the elevator got stuck and you were there with them for 8 hours. The experience and how you interacted with the people in the elevator would be different.

Our perceptions of what we know and don’t know are often prejudiced with incomplete information.

For me, I blamed my father for all that he did in abandoning us after my mom, and he divorced. He withdrew financially, physically, and emotionally.

When I reconnected with him nearly twenty years later, I learned a bit more about what he had experienced during those years. His choice to not contact us or try to help us financially could not be explained away, but I had a better understanding of him.

Even his lack of a presence in my life had a negative influence on me. Though I didn’t see it at the time, we were still connected, and many of my relationship decisions (how I interacted with people) were directly influenced by being abandoned by my father as a kid.

We are all connected.

We might not want to face that and understand it, but the threads that hold us to someone who’s passed on or left us has an impact on how we live in the present.

If we can stop and take stock on our relationships and how we work with others, can help us better understand how to live a happy and healthy life.

Our being connected to others is a strength if we choose to embrace it.

Like what you’ve read? Be sure to check out my other posts in my Let Go and Be Free blog.