If there is one thing we need more of today, it is face-to-face connections.
Enough of the frantic smart phone texting, relying on your screen to grow your relationships and hanging on to dear life for communication from that little (or big) device!
Instead, let's get real!
Granted that technology often substitutes and compensates when we are far away from our loved ones..but,
Real togetherness is not a wi-fi connection.
Real togetherness is not just 4G speed
Real togetherness is not a video on a screen that just gives off static and leaves you just a little frustrated!
Real Togetherness is...
- Holding hands and feeling the warmth of touch
- Sitting at the table, laughing and eating together
- Sitting in a cafe, making eye-contact and sipping coffee (oh come on - you order what you want!)
- Hugging and feeling your heart go full
- Cuddling up together
- Getting emotional, crying and having someone wipe your tears and making you smile.
- Playing with children and laughing your guts out for no reason until you ache with happiness.
- Visiting friends and family and delighting in their expression when you hand over that gift
- Sending out real handmade greeting cards
- Going for walks together, enjoying nature.
- Organizing a picnic with family and friends, packing food and enjoying the outdoors
- A trip to the zoo, with your favorite kids, not necessarily your own.
- Visiting a bird sanctuary and trying to spot the species, appreciating the beauty of life
- Walking around your area, talking to people, connecting.
- Planting trees together, doing our bit to keep the ecosystem healthy.
- Working together to keep our surroundings clean.
The list goes on...and on.
What am I doing to practice togetherness?What better time to ask that question than during the festival season!
In our apartment complex with roughly 96 families, we're celebrating the nine-day Navratri which means, doll displays, games, group prayers, satsang in the evenings, rounded up by the distribution of " prasadam " - or goodies offered in prayer and enjoyed by us.
In the basement of our apartment complex, we have a huge doll display with dolls contributed by the residents. Each morning and evening, groups of residents come together to sing hymns. This is followed by " aarti " and offering goodies to the deities. Children then take the stage to perform and hone their talents.
The goodies are prepared by a group of residents for each of the nine days.
Tomorrow, the last day of Navratri, our celebrations will be extra-special with cultural programs and wrapped up with dinner together.
Organizing all this is the best example of togetherness I can think of - raising funds, arranging and scheduling the program for the day, getting everyone together and making sure it is a grand success...which it is!
As the collective festivities and celebrations are in progress, residents also visit each other's homes to enjoy their own doll displays, chat and present each other with gifts.
And of course, next on the "togetherness" agenda is exploring places to go for our annual picnic, usually in December or January - when we arrange a couple of buses and take off for the day!
How are you celebrating togetherness?Because, we want real emotions, feelings, thoughts and love. Not mirages and fantasies.
Watch this fabulous video from Kissan India about the real joy of togetherness