Everything’s Connected-- Looking Outside the Well!

One spring evening when I was a freshman in college hanging out on campus, I met a stranger from another country who told me there were four phrases that were indispensable for getting you through life.  Occasionally several of them float through my mind, but one is always there-- “Everything’s connected.”  

            It’s a universal spiritual principle that all of life is connected-- and you can easily notice it in the realm of the physical world of the planet, as well.  For one thing, all of us living and non-living aspects of the world are connected in our dependence on the earth and the air and the sun for our existence.  For another, when we come together to work in a common cause or to celebrate, we can feel the energy that connects us all.  And yet, so many of us cut off our awareness of this connection, often because it seems easier simply to see things from a smaller perspective. 

            There’s a story about a frog at the bottom of a well always looking up at the small circle of sky at the top of the well.  A toad at the top of the well urges the frog to come up outside the well and see the grandeur and the bounty of the world.  But the frog refuses, not wishing to change her mind about what she already knows is there. 

            The people I see for coaching usually come with a particular goal-- for example, a career change.  I ask them to write down three goals, which surprises them when there was only one thing they wanted to change.  Often, they find their other goals have more to do with increasing their sense of well-being, having more quality time with their families, or committing to completing a creative project.  They’re often amazed that these different change areas are really connected-- that if they’re looking for work they love, they might as well also make sure they’re building in time to play with their children each evening or swim daily or write a chapter a week in their new book.  

            Everything’s really connected!  Just climb up out of your well and see all the possibilities around you.  Create your dance that touches everything you want to do and become!  Feel the all the possibilities that weave into your expanded reality. 

               Join in the Discussion! 

  • What was an experience you’ve had where you felt in connection-- with your deeper self, with others in a shared experience, with the world around you? 
  • What is the value of feeling that everything’s connected?
  • What is the risk in feeling unconnected?