When my phone doesn’t charge, there could be a number of places where there is a disconnect. The battery might not be holding a charge anymore. The charger might have an electrical short in it. The wall plug might not be working properly. It takes some investigation to uncover where the connection needs to be restored. We will do the work to find the place of disconnection because our phones are too important to us.
This past year I started working with a chiropractor due to pain in my right hip. After structural correction, muscles needed rehabilitation. Following months of forward movement, we discovered a muscle in my hip that was basically nonexistent. For all practical purposes, it had been turned “off.” Exercise to rebuild it began. Months later I could do lunges down the hall —a day of rejoicing. I had finally re-connected with my hip muscle. What’s shocking about this entire process was my awareness of the pain but my lack of awareness of the disconnection with that particular muscle. Walking away prematurely in the middle of the lengthy process of uncovering that disconnect would have been the easiest thing to do. I simply would have explained to you that it wan’t working; I couldn’t continue; I’d done all that was required. I’m so grateful that I chose to keep searching, keep working, keep hoping.
We feel the pain of our phone not working and immediately hunt down the disconnect. Yet other pain doesn’t necessarily send us looking for the disconnect. I can ignore my body in ways that leave me disabled — too long sitting on a leg that goes numb; sitting at the desk until my joints get stiff; working at the computer without taking a drink of water for half a day. The same thing happens in other areas of our world. We ignore our mental, emotional, relational, spiritual need for connection to the point that we become disabled.
Decades of research shows that being part of a supportive, inclusive, capable community ushers in health — mental, physical and social. Finding our tribe takes work. It requires us to keep showing up, meet new people, reach out to them, get vulnerable, and try again. When we settle for disconnection, we don’t realize we are on our way to being disabled.
Maybe your disconnect is not physical or community, instead it’s spiritual or emotional. Identify your pain and follow it in order to uncover the place of disconnect. It’s a process. Don’t give up on the process. This particular process is best done with the partnership and collaboration of others. If you could do it alone, you’d already have found your needed connection.
Today, I never miss an opportunity to do lunges down the hall — because I can! Re-connection brings with it fresh revelation that causes you to treasure, nurture and protect your connection. Get connected.
