Connetivity

Everything is connected. Everything. There is no escape. No avoidance. Your lumbar is connected to your piriformis like the wise words of an old friend are connected to your psyche and soul. Or the way the night sky is connected to a thinning sunset over the Pacific. If we are awake and aware, they fit. If not, it can get wildly chaotic, stressful, seemingly out of control.

Three independent (?) ideas came at me yesterday from three completely different directions. They just showed up at my front door like nomadic gypsies looking for respite, a fireside chat and a bowl of soup.

I invited them in, built a fire and they told me their stories.

The first is from somebody you know. He was one of a modern group of visionaries that have fundamentally changed the way we work, study, communicate and learn. He died while I was in Hawaii.

"I read a study that measured the efficiency of locomotion for

various species on the planet. The condor used the least energy to

move a kilometer. Humans came in with a rather unimpressive showing

about a third of the way down the list. ... then someone at

Scientific American had the insight to test the efficiency of

locomotion for a man on a bicycle, [who] blew the condor away.

That's what a computer is to me... the most remarkable tool that

we've ever come up with. It's the equivalent of a bicycle for our

minds."

--Steve Jobs, in a 1990 interview

My second guest is a surgeon and author. With eloquence, compassion and skill he told us of his understanding of the value of coaching. His words resonated in my heart, stirring emotions and deep empathy as I watched honey dissipate into steaming tea. His name is Atul Gawande and the complete transcription is here, compliments of The New Yorker. Here is an excerpt:

"The sort of coaching that fosters effective innovation and judgment, not merely the replication of technique, may not be so easy to cultivate. Yet modern society increasingly depends on ordinary people taking responsibility for doing extraordinary things: operating inside people’s bodies, teaching eighth graders algebraic concepts that Euclid would have struggled with, building a highway through a mountain, constructing a wireless computer network across a state, running a factory, reducing a city’s crime rate. In the absence of guidance, how many people can do such complex tasks at the level we require? With a diploma, a few will achieve sustained mastery; with a good coach, many could. We treat guidance for professionals as a luxury—you can guess what gets cut first when school-district budgets are slashed. But coaching may prove essential to the success of modern society."

It was time for a break, we were weary having kept our attention at max for every word and turn of phrase. But we were all eager for more, this one of these rare and magic moments that define. I put another maple branch on the embers as my final guest set his emptied bowl of chicken soup on the makeshift table. He described a healthy person as:

"An ideal scenario would be never having to take a single drug and never getting sick. An ideal scenario would be waking up in the morning full of energy and vitality, content, and feeling absolutely great. You go throughout your day with energy, a bounce in your step a smile on your face. You don't feel stressed, anxious or or depressed: you don't feel tired, you have no headaches or pain in your body: you are not overweight and don't get colds, flus or sickness. You don't get diseases, you have no pain, you're not ravenous with your appetite, you eat what you want and you are never that hungry. You don't deprive yourself of the foods you enjoy. You go to sleep at night and you sleep soundly and peacefully and get a wonderful whole night's sleep. Your sexual desires are healthy and strong, and you're capable of both giving and receiving sexual pleasure. Your skin, your hair and your nails look healthy and radiant. You have strength and tone on your muscles. Your body is fluid, graceful and flexible. Your are firm, strong, vibrant and feel great!"

Kevin Trudeau, Natural Cures "They" don't want you to know about.

We finished. I was full in every way important. I also felt somehow more connected, like maybe I had a part to play in all of this, like someone, somewhere might receive some small value from my tiny voice.

Bicycles and computers, surgeons and coaches, good health and optimal vitality all creating an ideal scenario.

It's all connected.