Just checking the line...how's that connection?

It was last summer that I became certified in hypnosis. This past weekend I had the pleasure of reconnecting with my teacher and two former classmates at a class we all attended together on pain management. What a pleasure it was to see them again. Even though I don't know them intimately, we all bonded quickly and deeply over our eight days together last June and July. And it was comforting and made me happy just to spend the day with them again. Sometimes you just make good connections with others.

Connections come in all types. They can be professional, cultural or event-specific. You certainly have family connections, and likely have friends from childhood, adolescence, school or the service. You may have romantic relationships that have come and gone or stayed. You've met so many people. As you live longer and longer, you may begin to cherish the depth over the breadth of these connections. Some of them are genuine and deep friendships. Others may be a profound, even spiritual, connection you feel even though you've not become friends the way you are with some others in your life. There are people we know and admire and to whom we feel a connection. And there are, always, people we love.

Certainly, the opposite is true. Sometimes we come across a person whose energy we just don't want to plug into. They may be the type of person that just saps us completely dry. Or they might be someone who makes us feel overloaded! I hope that we learn to avoid or at least manage people like that.

There are all kinds of ways to connect. Sometimes it's instantaneous and sometimes it takes time to grow. Some connections fit like a glove. Others spark.

Long before we became so tech-savvy -- even before electricity -- we understood connectivity. Take time to appreciate all the different ways you connect with people in your life -- the ones who provide a service, the ones you learn from, the ones who live in your neighborhood, the ones you admire, the ones you loved and the ones you love.