4 Simple Practices to Increase Awareness of Interconnection

Source: Josh Bartok / Used with permission

The World Health Organization highlights the ways that social connection is tied to health and well-being. However, in the midst of our busy lives, it is easy for us to feel disconnected, isolated, and lonely. Making time to connect with people in our lives, or finding ways to add new connections, can be effective ways to counter loneliness and isolation, of course, but in addition to these more time-consuming behavioral changes, adding some simple, quick micro-practices into our busy daily lives can also have beneficial effects. In fact, awareness of the ways humans are broadly connected to one another has been found to relate to decreased stress, anxiety, and depression—as well as increased well-being and peace of mind (Yu, Mak, & Chio, 2020).

Here are four brief practices to try:

1. A Mindful Breath

No matter what we are doing, we can always take a moment to notice that when we inhale and exhale, we are breathing in air that others have exhaled and breathing out air that others will inhale. This air is a thread that connects us to other humans at all times but is often outside our awareness. During the height of the COVID pandemic, we all became somewhat more aware of this connection, which led to anxiety—-and to a clarified and concretized sense of connectedness. See if you can notice your breath from time to time during the day and think of the invisible thread that interweaves you with others.

2. Mindful Eating

Often we consume food without even noticing we are eating—which makes it a perfect place to bring intentional practice. We can develop a practice of noticing the experience of eating: what does our food look like, smell like, taste like? What sensations, tastes, and sounds do we notice in our mouths as we chew? Before we put the food in our mouth, we can also reflect on a different level of interconnection, considering how it came to us. Who grew it? Picked it? Moved it from one place to another? Prepared it? Served or delivered it? Considering these questions for one meal or snack a day will enhance a sense of how the smallest action in our lives is interconnected with so many other lives.

3. Casual Encounters

Our lives naturally intersect with others in ways that often go unnoticed. A simple act like crossing the street, pulling out of our driveway, or merging into traffic requires us to gauge the actions of other people in order to safely move through the space we share with others. As we take these actions, we can briefly expand our awareness to recognize that the cars or buses we are observing have people inside them—and that each of these people has their own life experiences, their own stresses, worries, hopes, and dreams, and their own loved ones. Similarly, while waiting in line or interacting with someone working in the service industry, we can remind ourselves of the humanity of the people around us and notice how that shifts our mood and our actions.

4. Direct Encounters

Often when speaking directly to others one-on-one or in a group, we focus our attention on what we are saying, or what we want to say, or what we hope to accomplish in the interaction. In any moment, we can instead shift our awareness to look into the eyes of another person and truly listen to what they’re saying and wonder what they might want or need in the interaction. Developing a habit of making this shift can deepen interactions and make them more satisfying for everyone involved.

Try these simple practices (and others you may come up with on your own) and see how it affects your well-being!

And read this and this if you want to work on cultivating compassion for others, and this to deepen a practice of humanizing others.

With gratitude to Josh Bartok for editing assistance.