For Love of People

The world today’s children live in is not the same one we were born into years ago. Something, we sense, has changed.

Maybe it’s the rise of big box stores or the loss of front porch America. Maybe it’s the slow-extinction of elevator small talk as people ritually check their phones between floors.

Life seems so rushed; so riddled with opportunities for multi-tasking. We can’t even enjoy a good stoplight, what with all those emails screaming to be answered.

Connectedness is slipping through our texting, tweeting fingers.

But even though we’re perhaps proudly efficient and oh-so-happily chained to our gadgets, we’re secretly not 100% comfortable with how things are changing.

We have a sneaking suspicion that we were intended to experience life more slowly… to take the time to love bigger, to cherish the people around us, to relate to others more deeply.

We’re afraid we’re missing something.

That we’re short-changing our lives.

That one day we’ll have regrets.

But we feel a little bit trapped by our surroundings, like the planet is speeding away from the way things were with no ability to change course.

But I don’t buy that we’re destined to be distracted, disconnected prisoners in our own futures. And neither should you.

Humans are designed for connection. We are programmed to reach toward others, to grab on, to slip, fall short and reach again.

No matter how the world evolves, this will still be true.

Over the past few years, I’ve become a bit a relationship enthusiast. I’m not a prodigy–one of those people who naturally attracts crowds to their side. But I’ve learned enough while immersing myself in the subject to want to take a stand.

To assert that each of us is free to move toward a more connected way of living. That we can choose to invest in the quality of our relationships; to intentionally nurture community for ourselves and our families.

To refuse to sell ourselves and our world short.

To insist on living vividly aware of the value we bring to each other.

This blog is built on the belief that…

• Relationships are vital for well-being.
• Our lives lose quality in disconnectedness.
• We become stronger when we live and act together.
• We cannot make a move without affecting each other.
• When we take care of our communities, we take care of our world.

I also believe that…

• No one should be excluded.
• No one should be oppressed.
• No one should feel alone.
• Having 4,000 Facebook friends is not the same thing as being known by one face-to-face person. =)

I want to spend the next million blog posts convincing you that…

• Although we’re all uniquely ourselves, the principles of friendship are roughly the same for all of us.
• We can grow our people skills.
• We can learn to practice connectedness and develop better relational habits.
• We can replace detachment with attachment.
• We can simplify our lives and make space for people.
• We can band together to make our world, and the part of the world we share with others, a richer and more connected place.

Posts along these lines are now being safely stored in the For Love of People category. I hope you’ll come back and visit often. Or, if you’d like to get these 30-to-60 second insights in your email, you can sign up below.