Me & My Quite Contrary Life

Connecting with other people requires deliberate effort and vulnerability, but is worth the sacrifice. Connecting with myself requires complete honesty and acceptance, as does connecting with my Creator. Connecting is often messy, disruptive and unpredictable, but the rewards are amazing. That is what I have discovered so far in this year’s theme of “connect”. I realized that connecting takes effort on my part. Big surprise, huh?! It means when talking to people I need to be fully present in the moment and listening to them, and not thinking about the last food I ate. (Sidepoint: if I have a REALLY good meal, I tend to think about it for awhile after. Is that weird?!).   Listening and really connecting means asking questions about the other person and finding out what is happening in their life. It means offering insight and possibly relating a personal story. It means being open about my life too. This is a struggle for me but I am working on it! I found out a few weeks ago ...

Winter marches on here and I am enjoying all the warm things during these cold days. My favorites include hot chocolate, a little space heater under my desk at work, and an electric blanket at home. The snow looks really beautiful when it is falling and you can stay home and be warm. It loses its appeal pretty quickly when you are forced to go out in it!   My year’s theme of connecting is always in the back of my mind. It takes on many forms, from connecting with friends and strangers, to connecting with my inner most self, and even connecting with any heat sources too. I stumbled across a website that encourages participants to write a letter and mail/hand deliver it each day in February. I was intrigued by this idea initially and thought seriously about participating. It would be a good way to connect with different people daily, and incorporates my love of written words. I ultimately decided against participating as I don’t want the pressure on myself to write each day, a...