We Need Each Other

Scientists estimate we notice about 100 ads per dayEven though we are exposed to between 4,000 and 10,000And that’s not even counting the newsThe average human takes 16,000 to 22,000 breaths per daySo, somewhere between every other breath and every four breathsWe’re receiving a message our culture has conspicuously placed in our pathUsually inviting us to buy something, or want something, or be mad about somethingMessages jabbing at our attention, trying every emotional keycode until money falls outThat’s just the environment in our culture at the momentGiven all those messages, each with an agendaHow important is kind, specific, relational conversation?Words said just to you, by someone appreciating you and who you are?Offering an insight that arrived right in this moment directly related to your life?I don’t think we can overestimate how important it isTo talk to each otherTo remind each other about life and breath and presence and compassionThat the heart’s native language is loveAnd that love flourishesIn a heart at home with itselfWhile 10,000 messages per day invite us to not feel at home until/unless [x]One message from a friend, a teacher, a colleagueLetting us know we are home and they see the lights onCan bring us home to ourselvesEven if maybe we were floating offBelieving we needed to be just a little better to be OKWe need reminders.It’s not us. It’s the water we swim inThere is a tidal wave of branded interests vying for our attentionScripting our inner criticStage-directing our sense of isolationWe’re no match for it on our own, it’s just too bigI believe our fastest way to the life boats (and our joy once we’re in them)Is each otherA smile, a word, a story, a touch—these are the subtle medicines that return us to ourselvesThat remind us we’re not just a numberWe are an infinite dance of molecules and relationshipsThe more we uplift each other, the more we are upliftedDon’t be embarrassed to pay that complimentIt may save someone’s life, and that’s no exaggerationWe need each otherAll the noise in the world disorients usAnd we can’t reorient aloneBelonging isn’t a state we arrive atIt’s a pattern we co-createIn moments of relatingOf being the signal despite a whole lot of noiseSo if you feel the impulse—say the thingSomeone may be silently drowning in a sea of cultural messages And your one human word of affirmation, of perspective or of careCould be the lifeline that restores sanity and reorients a troubled heartI speak from experienceI’ve been the saver and the saved, regularlyWe need each otherIt’s not from weakness, it’s by designLet us remind each other of our light and the light in the worldRam Dass said we’re all just walking each other homeWhen it feels darkWe can be each others’ flashlight This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fallingtenderly.substack.com