Conscious connections

I crave deep connections.

I love being right in the middle of a delicious conversation where all parties involved are passionate, in their body and really listening to what the others have to say.

I love hanging with a mate on a park bench and feeling connected just through a few words but knowing that they are right there next to me, connected to the moment not only by the words but the space between them.

Confronting conversations really scare me sometimes, but I know that if I speak my truth and get my point across, while really listening to what the other person has to say, I will have grown just a little bit more by the end. I will have stepped out of my comfort zone and communicated from the heart. This too is a connection.

I love being there for a friend who has a broken heart: not intending to ‘fix’ things or make anything right, nor offer up advice to try to pull them out of their despair, but simply being there as a shoulder to cry on, truly listening.

These connections are soul expanding.

And when we think of conversations, we normally think of those with others, right? But the ones we have with ourselves, the inner dialogues, affect the ones we have with others. They can be critical to the health of our self-esteem and how we interact with the world around us.

I often encourage my students in class to explore their ‘inner landscape’. By that I mean all the layers that make up their current state, physically, mentally and emotionally. It’s about the overall tone of that inner space. When we stop talking and ‘doing’ for long enough, we can close our eyes and allow the inner gaze to light up. And if we look and listen for long enough, all kinds of thoughts, stories and narratives can come up – painful and beautiful alike. It’s important to make space for the full range of thoughts to arise, negative and positive, because often they just need to be recognised. What we do with them is always our choice and the more conscious we become (which, by the way, is a daily practice) the more we can choose the thoughts that serve.