Lately, I have watched so many people around me struggle with the intensity of division. Maybe you have felt it too. Conversations feel sharper, headlines more volatile, and even small interactions can carry an edge of suspicion. It is tempting to slip into defensiveness—creating enemies out of strangers online or the person who dropped the ball when you were counting on them.
When I find myself there, I re-ground in one of my core values: We Are Connected. Relationships, human connection, and community are necessary for growth. We do not evolve and expand in isolation.
The Cost of Division
When I forget this value, I suffer. And so does everyone around me.
Division robs us of collaboration. It narrows our vision. It drains our creativity. It keeps us locked in cycles of fear and defensiveness. You know the feeling—your chest tightens, your mind races, and you brace for conflict, even in ordinary spaces like a staff meeting, a family gathering, or standing in line for coffee.
The cultural myth of “I am on my own” may give us a fleeting rush of self-importance and safety—I built this, I did this, look at me—but the cost is high. Isolation breeds burnout. Suspicion breeds loneliness. And enemy-making breeds despair.
When we walk through life perceiving constant threat, all bets are off. Very little becomes possible.
What Connection Makes Possible
Connection does not erase difference. It does not mean conflict disappears. What it does is anchor us in something deeper—our shared humanity.
When I enter a hard conversation with the assumption that we are connected, I can breathe more easily. My body relaxes, my mind opens, and suddenly collaboration becomes possible. When I lead from connection, I invite creativity instead of fear. When I remember that nothing happens in isolation—not in nature, not in the economy, not in my own body—I find both humility and relief.
There is a humility in admitting: I did not do this alone. I could not do this alone. And there is a deep breath in realizing: I do not have to carry this alone.
Living from connection opens the door to resilience, collaboration, and healing. It reminds us that the challenges before us—personal or global—are not ours to shoulder in isolation. They are ours to meet together.
Practicing Connection in a Divided World
Here are five ways I return to this value, especially when division feels loudest:
- Pause before making enemies. Notice when your mind casts someone as a threat—whether it is the stranger in traffic, the neighbor with a different yard sign, or the person who disappointed you. Ask: What else could be true here?
- Reach across one divide. Choose one relationship or conversation this week where you stay curious instead of defensive. Listen for what is underneath the words.
- Ground in bigger systems. Step outside. Notice the trees exchanging oxygen, the soil network communicating through roots and fungi. Remember that life itself is a web. You are part of it, whether you acknowledge it or not.
- Ask for help. Resist the myth that you must do it alone. Let someone in. Invite collaboration, even in the small things. Connection grows through practice.
- Practice humility. Shift from “I did this” to “We are creating this.” Success is never a solo act—it is the fruit of countless seen and unseen contributions. Honor that truth.
The Sacred Work of Staying Connected
We do not evolve and expand in isolation. We are connected.
To embody this value in divided times is not easy work. But it is sacred work. Every moment you choose curiosity over contempt, collaboration over isolation, humility over ego, you become part of the healing that is so desperately needed.
Do not go it alone. Do not buy the lie that you are separate. Every breath you take is a reminder—you are part of a larger body, a greater whole.
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