As we move throughout Heaven, I continue to see the most glorious scenery. I guess the best way to describe it is to say it is like a highly enhanced version of Earth. There are tall, full trees; a beautiful, colorful sky; crystal clear water; and flowers filling the air with an aroma that generates a deep sense of peace. My Teacher fills me with a new stillness and a flood of unconditional love. He is preparing me for the first and most fundamental revelation—that everything, seen and unseen, is connected to everything else. What we think, do, say, and believe affects us, people in our lives, and the world around us.
There is a divine connection that exists among all things that God has ever made. This is because each of you is born from the same Divine Creational Template, making you and all living things inextricably and forever connected. There is no separation. I am connected to you; you are connected to me; and we are connected to everything and everyone else. Everything is one. You will feel this connection as we go forward.
I think about this for a moment. Aren’t we distinct beings? We all seem so different from each other.
My Teacher knows I’m a little confused. He answers me with an example.
Think of snowflakes. A snowflake starts out as a simple ice crystal. As it falls from the sky through freezing air, it begins to change form, gathering water molecules and blossoming into infinitely different configurations, all because of the constantly changing conditions in the atmosphere. You will never find two snowflakes that are exactly alike. Each snowflake contributes to the beauty of the whole.
Humans are like snowflakes in that way; they come from the same source, but are all different. God creates people using the same basic combination of blood, bone, form, and DNA, making you and all living things inextricably and forever connected. Yet He endows everyone with special God-given talents and gifts, theirs to discover and use for the greater good of all. So you see, you are just like a snowflake.
His example helps me understand that I’m part of the same whole and I come from the same stuff, but I have individual gifts that I should use for good.
That is right. To further understand how everything is connected, you must first understand that everyone is born with two most precious gifts: the Divine Spark and free will.
The Divine Spark is the aspect of God that lives within each living being and binds all living things together. It is your guidepost and your link to all things divine. The Divine Spark burns brightly when you think good thoughts; live a life that reflects truth, love, honor, modesty, joy; and give service to God and others. All of these emotions and acts create an inner glow that others can perceive. It is the flow of love and warmth that makes others connect to you because it fills them with happiness to be in your presence. You are a beacon of all that is light and right and true. Through acts of charity, mercy, and faith, you continuously ignite the Divine Spark so that it illuminates your life and connects you to all things.
Conversely, acts of ego, fear, control, anger, selfishness, and faithlessness will dim the Divine Spark and thus your positive impact on others. The Divine Spark is never extinguished, but it can be dimmed by dark thoughts and acts of negativity that block out God’s presence in a way that makes you feel that God is not there.
But God is always there.
I see that our goal in life is to let our Divine Spark influence us toward love, faith, giving, peace, and connection. But that this spark can go dim by bad actions, breaking our connections, and estranging ourselves from God. I feel comforted, knowing that while we may distance ourselves from God, God never distances Himself from us.
The second divine gift integral to the human experience is free will. Free will translates to the right to choose. God chose to make each individual unique, with their own special gifts. No two beings are precisely alike in that regard—like the snowflakes I talked about. Each person embodies a spiritual essence that is just theirs—specific and individual. And this spiritual essence or soul is always evolving toward its own divinity. Personal spiritual evolution, which each person directs, is based solely on one factor: choice.
Through the gift of free will, God bestows upon each of you the right to choose your own spiritual path so that you can live your life in a sacred way reflective of your truths and beliefs.
Each of you has the right to choose who you are in any given moment. Whether you choose divinely and use your life to most closely emulate God or whether you make choices that impede the growth of your soul is always up to you in every moment of your life. Who you become and how fast you get there are always up to you. You have been given everything you need to create your own unique, individualized reality. Through free will, you determine what you take from each experience in order to shape your life and guide your spiritual growth.
So you see, your choices affect you, other people, and circumstances. You must remember this, because everything is connected. You can see this in human history. There are many who stood for the right to choose, the right to decide. Wars were waged over the freedom to choose. Many were willing to lay down their lives to defend this right, this noble inalienable right.
It is helpful if people take one day of their lives and make mental notes about how they chose throughout the day. Some decisions are important and advance them spiritually, and some are just part of daily life. Once people see the many times they use the gift of free will for the good, they will feel gratitude.
But for many, the gift of free will has been abused, and this harms our divine connection. Prayers should be offered up for those who have used this gift neglectfully.
Yes, I see. Wow. We are given these gifts, and we can use them to bring wonderful things to all the situations and elements of life.
Yes. Because of the way God created the universe, each person has the potential to influence or change the course of history through the power of thought and action. Each person can create peace and tranquility within themselves and therefore touch another life—or even influence the collective consciousness of all. When one person is uplifted, others are uplifted.
Conversely, each person can also create negative, dark thoughts and actions that negatively influence the energy of others. When someone is negative, frustrated, defensive, or angry, everyone they meet will feel that energy as well. This is because thoughts, feelings, words, and actions are all forms of energy—positive or negative—and there is a universal energy connection among all things.
I see what he means. In my own life, positive people have inspired me, but negative ones have discouraged me. When I’m around people who are always complaining, criticizing, or causing trouble, I feel down. It’s the opposite with positive people: I feel happy and peaceful.
You are called to love each other, because each life is valuable and cherished by God. Love is the highest form of connection. Everything that God has ever made is connected through Divine Unconditional Love. It is this love that enables you to love yourself and one another. Only by pulling each other closer and opening your hearts can you ensure complete well-being for yourself and the world in which you live. When you increase love, caring, and connection in your life, you also increase the health, joy, and meaning in your life—and this can spread to others.
His words instantly bring to mind a memory, before the accident, of the time I met a rabbi at a Marriott and we started chatting. From the corner of my eye, I saw his child about to slip into the hotel pool, and I grabbed him just in time to prevent him from falling in. The rabbi was overcome with gratitude that his son had been saved and was unharmed. In appreciation, he invited me to be a guest on his weekly radio show, Religion on the Line, hosted in rotation by leaders of different faiths: a priest, a Protestant minister, and the rabbi. I was familiar with the show because I used to listen to it.
The rabbi said I could speak about anything I wished, so I talked about ways people could volunteer in the community. I created a flyer listing 10 different charities in New York City that needed volunteers. Listeners could send the radio station self-addressed stamped envelopes, and the station would send them the flyers. People responded. We got a few responses the first week, more the next week. Before long, we were getting 15 to 20 requests a week for flyers. That may not sound like a big number, but imagine the contributions those people created by connecting with others each week.
When we bring good into the lives of people we encounter—whether loved ones, casual acquaintances, or strangers we meet for the first time—our vibration increases, and that higher vibration helps raise theirs. They can then create change in the lives of those they encounter, and that love and goodness will continue to spread. I saw and experienced the power of vibrations in Heaven, and I know that this power is possible on Earth through positive connections and contributions. It’s the ripple effect—a vibrational field, really. You throw a flat stone across the calm water of a pond and the ripples caused by the stone’s impact continue out in ever-widening circles that touch a much larger area. And so it is with the connections we make in life.
Realizing that we are all connected—and that we are connected to God—makes me naturally want to relate to others in a kinder, more caring way. Maybe this is how we all need to approach the world we live in. It would be wonderful for the human race if we all understood and applied this revelation.
I know I can’t save the whole world at once. But there are many areas in which I can do some good—or maybe a lot of good—just by caring and connecting with others. I can create ripples that might turn into huge waves. All I have to do is pick up a stone and toss it in the water. That’s something any of us can do.
When Tommy told me about this revelation, I was moved and inspired. I knew from my 40 years of practicing medicine that the need for connection lies at the very heart of human existence. Our ability to connect with ourselves and others is central to what makes us ill and what makes us healthy, what brings us sadness and what brings us joy, what makes us hurt and what helps us heal.
I’ve long known, too, that there is the connection between the healer and the patient. I feel that more than half of the healing takes place before a patient even leaves the room or takes the prescribed medicine. It is human connection—the opportunity for someone to tell their story, be listened to, and feel “seen” by another—that begins the healing process.
The most vital part of healing is that the healer fully comprehend the suffering and feelings that the patient reveals. When the patient “gets” that he or she is understood, a deeper, more profound connection is established, which in turn facilitates the healing process.
When I was a young intern on a cancer ward, I received a call at 4:00 a.m. from the nurses’ station to restart an intravenous line. I had been up all night and was exhausted. Fueled by sheer adrenaline, I rushed to the patient, an elderly man who could not speak. His larynx had been removed due to throat cancer. I approached his bedside with an IV tray in hand. The man waved me off with both hands, signaling me not to proceed. He didn’t want what I had to offer. I didn’t fully realize it then, but all he desired was to be left alone. As I took his hand to start the IV, his profound weakness allowed me to perform the unwanted task.
Most likely, he knew that he was going to a place where IVs didn’t matter. As I worked, I noticed his knuckles and saw the letters L-O-V-E tattooed across the base of his fingers. The sight made me pause. I suddenly realized that here was a human being whose condition and desire were not in accord with my duty at hand. I hesitated, stopped what I’d set out to do, and sat down on the side of his bed. There was another reason for me to be there—a more important reason, it turned out.
In that moment, this gentle man rested his head on my chest. I held him and rocked him. I felt his tenderness and vulnerability. He fell asleep on me. I, too, drifted momentarily into an exhausted “nap.” I came back into the awareness that in order to be a good doctor in this situation, I needed to simply sit with this man. His primary human need was love, connection, and caring, not the contents of the IV. For the first time in my training, I understood that being is much more important than doing. I experienced and learned the lesson that compassionate connection is medicine in and of itself.
Connection can even extend life. This fact has been substantiated many times by scientific research. A good example is a study done on 1,400 people with coronary artery disease. Researchers at Duke University discovered that patients with a spouse or close confidant died at one-third the rate of people who were socially alone.
However self-reliant or independent an individual may be, left alone, he or she will not endure. Whether ill or healthy or very young or very old, people need other people. It is like the Dalai Lama once said: “We can live without religion and meditation, but we cannot survive without human affection.”
Globally, our connectedness is never more evident than when the world suffers a tragedy and we all mourn and pray together, regardless of how near or far we are from each other.
A good example is 9/11. Many of us recall being glued to the television and radio reports, horrified by the scenes and stories as we watched the rescue work unfold, and praying for survivors. My own connection to this event was deeply personal and frightening at the same time. I had two grown children, a son and daughter, living in New York City, close to Ground Zero. I was terrified for their safety. Thankfully, they were fine. I remember, too, after 9/11, how our human connection nationally was strengthened so enormously in spiritual and patriotic ways. People went back to church in droves and flew American flags from their homes for months. We were all connected by that singular event, both as it happened and afterward.
About 10 years later, another event—a miracle, really—connected us globally again: the 2010 rescue of 33 miners in Chile, trapped for more than two months following a shaft collapse in a gold and copper mine. The rescue operation was broadcast around the world. People everywhere prayed, captivated by the story of endurance and survival against the odds. And people everywhere cried for joy after all the miners were brought to the surface alive.
Boundaries and ideological differences melt away in those rare moments when we are all just human together. These events help us remember that we’re all involved in this life together; that our connection is real and forever and precious. Just imagine what would happen if everyone around the world performed only acts of goodness and kindness. Think of the positive ripple effect this would have on our lives!
That ripple effect is produced by our own unique vibrational energy and the vibrational energy emitted by the world around us—people, relationships, nature, global events, and so forth. There is a cumulative energetic effect on our own energy patterns.
Everything in the body vibrates to its own natural rhythm. In the medical field, we refer to vibration as pulsation. The heart pulsates, red blood cells pulsate. Even our emotions and our thoughts have a vibrating or pulsating capacity. The essence of life is pulsation.
This vibrational energy can be expressed in our “aura,” which is the energy field outside the body. Most people cannot see auras, but they exist around all living things. Some gifted practitioners of healing-touch therapies, such as Reiki, or the laying on of hands, claim to be able to see illnesses in the aura before they lodge themselves in the body. These healers then strive to correct the flow of energy so that disease does not enter the body.
There is simply no question that vibrational energy connects us all. We feel it every day when we meet people or encounter situations that give us good vibes or bad vibes, as Tommy mentioned earlier. We feel it in those to whom we are attracted and those from whom we pull away. We often feel that people or situations energize us or drain us. Sometimes we can even sense another person’s frustration or happiness or even anger. Their emotions can enter our own energy field because we are designed energetically to absorb them. Simply stated, we are all connected—and in many, many ways.
Among the strongest proofs of human connection is that which exists between twins. I once had a patient named Jim who had a twin brother, John. During World War II, both brothers were deployed to France. Jim was safe, stationed far from enemy territory. John, on the other hand, was on the front line. But as it turned out, they were really only a heartbeat away.
One day, suddenly and without warning, Jim felt a stabbing pain that left him clutching his chest and gasping for air. He dropped the tin cup of beef broth he was holding and collapsed under an olive tree. A lifetime of thoughts flashed through his mind—the faces of loved ones and momentous events of his life.
What was happening to Jim? A heart attack? A blackout of some sort?
None of these. At the very instant Jim was struck with that stabbing pain, his brother, John, was shot with a bullet that ripped into his chest, causing white-hot pain.
Jim experienced the intense pain that was as real as the bullet wound that felled his brother.
Amazing, isn’t it?
Both Jim and John survived their wartime experiences but were forever changed. They would never again take the bond of brotherhood for granted.
Reports like theirs suggest that connection can operate over long distances and is, in some individuals, highly developed. In other words, one person can sense a life-altering event that is affecting a loved one who may be very far away.
By contrast, many people are reluctant to connect or recognize and honor the connections in their lives. When I was in my early thirties, I attended a training session for psychotherapists. The instructor asked us all to take the hand of the person on either side of us. So we had to reach out—yet people were tentative, despite the fact that we were all psychotherapists in that room! We were afraid of reaching out and intermingling our personal energy with others’.
Why does this happen? I believe the answer is simple: fear of rejection. That is why so many people avoid close relationships. But people need other people. When we become isolated and lonely, the energy of depression can steal away our aliveness and connectedness to one another. It’s all about energy gain versus energy drain. And when we stay disconnected, our vibration can get so low that we no longer have the energy to connect.
This fear of rejection is understandable. You’ve had your heart broken probably more than once, and every time, it’s harder to reconnect. You’ll argue with your best friend. You lose someone you love. And often, after these situations, you simply don’t want to get back in the human game. It’s exhausting.
But you must, or else loneliness can set in and exact a heavy toll. The loss of vital connections can injure the heart, literally. I learned this as I trained as a psychotherapist. I began to realize that there are many missing links in health and healing—namely, emotional and psychological issues such as suppressed anger. As I probed more deeply, I saw that not just anger but the loss of love—what I call heartbreak—a lack of intimacy with other people, and emotional isolation all contribute to heart disease as strongly as smoking, diet, inactivity, and other physical risk factors.
A number of studies have suggested a link between chronic loneliness and physical conditions such as insomnia, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, digestive upset, breathing problems, poor immunity, migraines, and back pain. One intriguing study, published in the January 15, 2008, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, showed that chronic, ongoing anxiety significantly increases the odds of heart attack, over and beyond what can be explained by physical factors such as hypertension, obesity, abnormal cholesterol, age, cigarette smoking, out-of-control blood sugar, and other bodily cardiovascular risk factors.
What did the researchers mean by “anxiety”? They defined it by a collection of behaviors: irrational worry and obsessive thoughts; discomfort in interpersonal and social situations; phobias about animals, situations, or objects; and the tendency to easily experience tension under stressful conditions. So if you experience constant nervousness and social withdrawal, you may have good reason to worry about your heart health.
Throughout life, we are constantly making connections—all important and vital, even though they may have variable levels of feeling. For example, a warm personal relationship may have more depth of feeling than a connection to a job. The love for a child may have a different meaning than the love for a spouse. All of these examples represent connection, and they affect your core energy. Loving, vital connections even induce the expansion and enhance the natural ebb and flow, or rhythm, of the heart.
The loss of a vital connection can bring on heartbreak and thereby affect the natural pulsation of the heart by causing chest pain or erratic contractions due to the shock of the loss. Many of us have had the painful experience of deep hurt and anguish expressing itself in our hearts and chests.
I saw this scenario in the case of Lawrence, a 55-year-old man who came to see me. He noticed the portrait of my great-grandfather hanging in my office and told me the picture reminded him of his own father. As he spoke, Lawrence began to feel very sad and shared his life story with me. He had been born in Hungary, and after he was three years old, he never saw his father again. His father had been drafted into Hitler’s army and was stationed far from home during World War II. He was captured by the Russians and died in Siberia. Throughout his entire life, Lawrence suffered a deep, unfulfilled longing for his father.
When Lawrence suffered heart disease in his late forties and needed a triple coronary bypass at age 50, he was shocked, because he had none of the traditional risk factors for heart disease. Little did he realize that his longing for his father could have damaged his heart. Over the decades, Lawrence’s body had responded to his heartbreak by distorting its musculature, freezing his chest wall and making his breathing more shallow, thereby impeding circulation through his heart and lungs. The end result was heart disease. This is a form of heartbreak. Even though Lawrence had pushed aside his yearning, the physical components of this emotional wound were damaging his body.
My first and most important step was to make Lawrence aware that this heartbreak and his rigid chest were contributing factors to heart disease. He readily accepted this, which is important, because awareness is critical to healing. Next I encouraged and taught him to breathe more deeply to free up his chest and reduce its rigidity.
I also asked Lawrence to talk more with me about his sadness, thereby establishing a connection between the two of us. Once he began these simple actions, he began to heal.
I gave him permission to cry. Tears discharge toxins, so it is good for us to cry. Tears are full of stress hormones, including adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), which signals the adrenals to produce cortisol, a major stress hormone that reflects the vigilance and uneasiness of uncertainty, or “waiting for the other shoe to drop.” So when you cry, you release cortisol and reduce stress. A good cry literally lightens your heart by discharging sadness, anger, and other trapped emotions from your body. It’s like releasing hot air from a pressure cooker. Crying often leaves us sleepy because of the loss of all that cortisol.
It is also important to express grief. What exactly is grief? I see it as the experience of loss, separation, and change—any point of ending in life: the end of a school year or a graduation, a relocation to a new city, the loss of a job, a divorce, a breakup, the empty nest, or the death of a loved one. Grief is a universal human experience; it can be painful, but it’s critically important that we process our grief rather than bury it.
A study some years ago at Harvard Medical School showed a twenty-one-fold increase in heart attacks within the first 24 hours of bereavement than at other times. The researchers also noted that those at the highest cardiovascular risk were the most vulnerable to profound grief. This study confirmed earlier research that identified a heightened risk of mortality—with cardiovascular disease as the prime culprit—in the days, months, and years after the loss of a loved one. In fact, heart issues were responsible for a 20 to 53 percent increased risk in mortality after the loss of a spouse.
Unexpressed grief can become a serious risk factor for heart disease. In the grieving process, you make a connection with yourself, first and foremost. Grieving should be shared, too, not done in isolation, or you might heighten your loneliness.
There is a story told about Buddha and a mother grieving because her son had died. When the mother asks Buddha to heal her dead son, he advises her to go out into the village and gather mustard seeds from every family who has never lost a child, parent, or friend. If she finds such a household, Buddha will bring her child back to life. How many mustard seeds does she gather during her search? None—not a one. Although the mother comes back empty-handed, she returns with a deeper understanding that she is not alone in her grieving and suffering. The moral of the story is that others have had similar experiences, and we can lean on these people in our own times of need—and, in doing so, express our grief and ultimately move forward.
Through connection, we can support one another in our darkest times. We can encourage each other to know that life is more than suffering; that with hope and love, there is a way through whatever we are facing.
If you’re grieving the death of someone you loved, realize, too, that there is no disconnection spiritually. In time, you’ll be reunited with your loved one, as Tommy learned in Heaven. But first you have a life to live here on Earth. And that life must be lived fully.
How can you discover a sense of connection or belonging in your personal life and no longer feel separate and alone? There’s no easy solution for this. It’s not like you can give someone a drug or some vitamins for loneliness. I’ve always urged people I knew to be at risk of loneliness to get involved in something outside themselves. This could be as simple as getting a pet (for people who don’t have one). A pet offers unconditional love if you’re withdrawn, lonely, or grief stricken. I’ve sent many patients to shelters to adopt animals, and they told me afterward that it was a very heartwarming and uplifting experience. Studies show that pet owners have a fourfold better one-year survival rate after a heart attack.
If you’re feeling disconnected, try giving of yourself, maybe by volunteering. You’ll feel better, and so will those you help. You’ll create that loving ripple effect that Tommy talked about.
Sure, I realize that sometimes it’s easier to think someone else will handle a situation or take the initiative to implement positive change in the world—someone with more money, more time, more resources, more strength, more knowledge, or more ability than you. But remember, too, as Tommy’s Teacher said, that we are like snowflakes, each with different gifts to create the beauty and goodness of the entire planet. Once you start sharing your gift, in cooperation with and in service to others, you’ll begin to appreciate how everyone’s gifts mesh perfectly for the good of the whole.
Open your heart to someone and share life experiences, emotions, and other innermost feelings. You may make a lifelong friend, as I did with Tommy. When I look back at my own childhood, it amuses me to think of how similar it was to Tommy’s formative years. We were both born in New York City to Italian fathers, had paper routes as young boys, paid cash for our first cars at a young age, and were raised in the Catholic faith. Both of us even aspired to join the priesthood when we were boys.
Connect with your own family as much as possible. In 1995, I went fishing in Alaska with my brother and two sons. I discovered that hiking in the forest, fishing in the streams, watching the eagles in the sky, and sharing the habitat with bears and wolves helped me reconnect with my own body and feelings. After hours of fishing to the rhythmic motion of casting, I occasionally found myself praying to a higher power. I thanked God for giving me the opportunity to spend such precious time with my family.
Many of us feel happiness in the presence of people with whom we really wish to spend time. Interacting with loved ones creates a positive energy that springs from feelings of love. These feelings originate deep inside of us and are a tremendous source of nurturance, peace, and tranquility.
Make time to engage with the people you love, whether it’s planning an activity together, talking on the phone, or even writing meaningful letters to each other. These connections will create powerful bonds that will enrich the lives of those you love.
You may also want to reconnect with the faith of your upbringing. Return to a house of worship, or quiet yourself in prayer and meditation in order to get closer to God or a higher power of your choice. Look at your own life and think about which things make you feel connected to others and to the rest of the world. Write them down and plan to do them more often. They will put you on the path to healing your body and your life.
Connection, however, should not rely so heavily on our modern technology, such as the Internet, e-mail, social media, or texting. I remember a time when I was dining at a restaurant. I noticed a father texting on his cell phone for 20 minutes while he and his little boy waited for their table. The boy kept trying to talk to his dad and engage him. But the father just ignored him and kept texting away. He was disconnected from his son’s emotional needs. He didn’t even look up to see that his son was crying in his aloneness, despite being in a noisy place so full of humanity. A seemingly minor drama played out in front of me, but it was an example of early childhood heartbreak and abandonment—which can contribute to heart disease in adult life.
This is what is happening in our society at large. Too often, we communicate with typed words, without the resonance of the voice emanating from our heart. There is no eye-to-eye contact or human touch. It isolates us. Typing “I love you” in an e-mail or “ILU” in a text message is no substitute for saying it with your voice or in person.
God gives us opportunities all the time to honor our divine connections with each other, so actively apply this revelation to your everyday life. If you know someone else who needs a connection, the most precious thing you can do is offer your time. Share an activity, such as a meal or a movie. The one-on-one interaction is a clear signal that you care, that the person is valued. You may save someone who is hanging in the balance. In doing so, you’ll expedite your own spiritual growth and raise your vibration.
As you go through your life, think about actively making as many memories as possible. Take pictures of moments with friends and family. Laugh as much as you can. Cry when you need to. Seek experiences that will bring you joy so that your cells will “dance” and vibrate with the energy of happiness, vibrancy, aliveness, and health. When we are joyful and happy, we are less vulnerable to illness. Love like you’ve never been hurt, because every moment you spend lonely, unhappy, and disconnected might be a moment of health and happiness you’ve lost and may never get back.
There is no insignificant encounter in our passage through life. As human beings, God designed us to need and care for each other. It is part of the divine nature—that Divine Spark—that is always within us.
CONNECTION
Use your God-given free will to put this revelation into action in your own life. We have some steps for you—“commitment steps”—and they will help you apply this revelation and make it real for you. As you read through them, visualize yourself making a commitment to these life-changing actions. You can do them daily or weekly and, in some cases, use them in prayer or as affirmations that you can repeat to yourself and imprint on your own psyche.
◼I will reach out to more people and be kinder to others with my thoughts, words, and actions. I will share a meal or a conversation. I will make a point to visit my family and enjoy experiences with them. I will give my friends and family something each time we connect. It doesn’t have to be a material object. It can be a compliment, encouragement, my time, a smile, a hug, a blessing, a prayer, or any gift of attention, gratitude, caring, or love. And I will give it unconditionally, without expecting anything in return.
◼I will telephone or meet in person when reaching out to someone and hope that my voice and my energy will be uplifting and healing. I realize that there’s a significant difference between contact and meaningful connection, so I will not text or e-mail when I want to express love, affection, or concern. I have the power right now to produce great miracles in my life and the lives of others simply by reaching out in a positive way.
◼I will give myself permission to cry or grieve. My emotions need release and should not be stuffed inside. If I need to “let things out,” I will find a friend with a listening heart or seek professional or spiritual counseling if necessary. When I connect with people in difficult times, I know my soul is smiling—and so is God.