The weather is filled with seasons.  There are hurricane seasons, tornado seasons, winter storm seasons, dry seasons, hot seasons, rainy seasons, cold seasons, just to name a few.

Mother Earth is one amazing gal – she masters them all!

I believe we are all connected to Mother Earth.  Science has revealed that our bodies are an integral part of nature.  Our bodies are made up of the same elements, minerals and energy that make up the planet.

For example the percentage of water on the planet reflects the same percentage of water in our bodies.  Coincidence?  I think not.

In my studies I have concluded connection is essential to our well-being on all levels.  That is connection to Earth, this Life, People, our Higher Power… connection to Ourselves, etc.  The importance of Connection cannot be stated strongly enough.  We are wired for it.

That is why we feel a connection to Mother Earth.  Don’t you love to get out and just “be” in nature?  To sit by a babbling brook and just take in the sounds, smells, and peace that comes your way?  Or perhaps to scale the side of a mountain and dig your hands into the rock and dirt?  What is it in nature that gets you going?  Makes you feel grounded and connected?

There is a new study out that shows, what most already know and feel, that spending time in nature dramatically reduces stress and is even anti-inflammatory!  That’s right, researchers found that positive emotions experienced through nature are linked to lower levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines (proteins that signal the immune system to work harder).

What does that mean?  Well, in energetic lingo, inflammation is the body’s first step in regenerating and rebuilding following the resolution of conflict.  Connecting with nature allows this process to happen more quickly and fluidly.  It’s like letting go with the power of 10 or maybe even more.  It is energetic healing on natural steroids.

That is the beauty of being connected.

But what about you and your day to day life?  We all have an intrinsic need to be connected to other people not just Mother Nature.

Do you ever feel all alone?  Even in a swarm of people?  Perhaps you are surrounded by people all day long, but you don’t feel a connection to any of them.  Or maybe you spend a lot of time alone and well, you feel lonely.

Whether in a crowd or all alone, loneliness feels the same.  There is a deep longing to belong, to be valued, validated, even to just be acknowledged.  All of these feelings stem from a lack of connection.

That’s interesting you say, but when I feel all alone, it is almost debilitating, how do I become connected?

Well, I’m so glad you asked 🙂

I believe finding a way to connect with others all starts with you.  I know, I say everything starts with you… well… I believe it does!

Rising above and conquering loneliness starts with a connection, and that connection is with your body and spirit/soul.  Connections with others will not last until you have learned to connect to and stay connected to YOU.

You may recall the words of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.”

That is why this connection can be challenging.  Oft times in my work I have found my client’s body and their spirit/soul are just hanging around each other.  They are not connected.  Their relationship is just like the individual in a swarm a people that feels all alone.  There is no connection, only physical proximity.

This disconnect could be envisioned with two horses pulling a carriage.  They are both connected to the carriage, but they are not connected to each other.  Each has his own mechanism through which he is able to pull the carriage and the two animals are side by side, heading to the same destination, but they are not able to work together.  They are not yoked.  Each is trying to do it on his own.

Imagine you are one of those horses.  What a burden.  How lonely and unappreciated you must feel.  What a struggle.

If only you could have the help of the horse right there beside you, but instead you feel you must drag him along as well.

That is what it is like when your body and spirit/soul are not connected.  It is very lonely.  It is hard to see the good in anything.  It is isolating.  I have been there!  I know the difference between being connected and disconnected from my spirit/soul.

When my body and spirit are connected, I can be all alone or in a swarm of people and feel happy and connected and hopeful and appreciated and valued and the list of wonderful things goes on and on.

It is now easy for me to detect when my body and spirit/soul are experiencing a disconnect.  I feel lonely, a lack of self-worth, unappreciated, unwanted, unimportant, sad, depressed and the list of crummy feelings goes on and on.

What did I do to get my body and spirit/soul connected and how do I keep it that way?  And how can you get and stay connected yourself?

It starts with recognition.  I had no idea that my body and spirit/soul could be disconnected while I was still living and breathing.  Once I started to entertain and explore that idea, it became very apparent that I was experiencing a disconnect in that way.

Then we move to feelings.

As I started to ponder on all the negative feelings I was experiencing I knew they were NOT what my Higher Power designed for me to wallow in.  I knew I was here to experience Joy and so are you.  All the “yuck” I was feeling was NOT Joy.

I also believe my spirit/soul is connected to my Higher Power in a way that I do not currently, fully understand.  It is the “spiritual” part of me.  So using my math and science skills I did some if/then evaluations and came up with…

IF my spirit/soul is connected to my Higher Power AND my Higher Power wants me to be happy and filled with Joy AND I am feeling the opposite of Joy and happiness THEN I must not be connected to my spirit/soul.

Now to solve the dilemma… How do I get connected?  How do I survive the hurricane season and thrive once again – just like Mother Earth?

You see, I believe my spirit/soul desperately desired to be connected, but my body, my “human experience” was not allowing it.  Perhaps it was fear.  I don’t really know.  I could do some journaling or meditation to find out, and so can you.  But I like things to be simple.  So I accepted the fact and chose to just invite.

I spent time every day inviting my spirit to connect.  I spent time talking to my body, asking it to allow the connection.  I envisioned my body allowing my spirit to enter it – kind of like you would see in a movie when they depict that someone has died and their spirit is hovering above the body but then they resuscitate the person and the spirit gets sucked back into the body.  I know it sounds kind of crazy, but it worked!

NO, I didn’t spend hours upon hours doing this.  It was mere minutes a day!  I also asked my Higher Power to help facilitate the connection (I think that is what really did the trick).

And I am here to tell you, I now KNOW when I am experiencing a body and spirit/soul disconnect!  It has become that obvious to me.  You can learn to recognize this as well and you can do just as I did to teach yourself how to reconnect and feel happy and whole again – even when you are alone in a swarm of people.

We are spiritual being having a human experience.  We will encounter some difficult seasons.  We are equipped to rise above them and experience peace, joy and happiness.  And we can do it by keeping our body and spirit/soul connected.