We are exchanging advice, ideas, and information all the time, in effect trading minds with each other. Yet, within that knowledge transfer also oozes emotion. Stress is as contagious as a sneeze.
If a family member or we bring tension home, it spreads like a virus to everyone in the house. The obstacle becomes an instant distraction from what’s good: the experience of togetherness.
Rather than deal with problems directly, screen time becomes a short-lived panacea by alleviating discomfort. But as the results show, the candy-colored apps and variable rewards are more likely to thwart happiness.
Alone, together, relationships dwindle. And then, if left to inertia, they go off track. Instead of investing in our preferred future, we forfeit. Capitulation seems inevitable when the going gets tough.
But hope neither denies suffering nor pain. While the build back can be unsettling, facing up to the unavoidable can be consoling. Instead of waiting for the storm to pass, we err on the side of freedom and dance in the rain.
We become moored to the promise, wandering chaotically until perception realigns with an attractor. Neurons reciprocate and fire at each other in the same synchronized manner. The telepathy ensues, even if it all still feels detached. With just a little bit of mindful reawakening, we break the chain of events that beget unhappiness and play our way back into the mirror of love and trust.
Nothing changed at the end of the day but the staying power of stress, directly toxic to health, as it buffeted the seas of peace. The primary barriers were self-imposed. Intrinsically, the heart kept beating with near-perfect reliability. It just needed the beautiful struggle to wake it up again.