What the hippies mean when they say we’re all connected (man)

I like to consider myself a modern day hippie. I meditate every day, practice energetic healing, preach love, not war, and am passionate about everyone being kind to the environment. But I also work in the corporate world, buy trashy magazines and shave my legs (although, given the frequency, my fiancé would beg to differ).

I’ve spent thousands of dollars on spiritual development courses and yoga in my life, so you’d think I would have been all over the whole ‘connected’ thing years ago. Unfortunately, I was very slow on the uptake. I used to nod along and pretend I understood when people would talk about it, but in the back of my mind I would be wondering what the fuck they meant.

Then, one day when I was lining up to get into my local pool, it hit me. I am pleased to announce that I finally understand!! Not only that, I’ve also come to realise that it’s a very poignant and important concept for everyone to understand. Hence the writing of this article.

(If you are smarter than me and have always known what being connected meant, please feel free to stop reading now. NASA probably needs your help with their latest space mission or some shit anyway. Me and all my crayon drawing friends will continue on below.)

We are all connected in that we cannot possibly live without having an impact on everyone and everything around us. Every single action affects something. You are not separate from the outside world, you are very much part of it.

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Physically, we are part of our surrounding environment in that we take resources from it – whether it be plants from our garden, water from catchments or things we buy, like clothes and cars. We also give back to it – both positively and negatively – in planting trees, generating waste and polluting.

We impact other people physically by touching, playing loud music and serving them food that we have made. Each of us is physically impacted by things like viruses, medicines, sharp objects, the sounds of planes flying overhead, and construction noise. There’s no hiding from all of the external things that influence our bodies.

Energetically, you influence those around you by the very mood you are in.

Feeling cranky? Thanks, dipshit – you just made everyone else around you cranky too.

Feeling happy? ‘Welcome! Please do come in!’

More than just our moods affect the world around us energetically, but let’s save that for another day.

Of course there is social connectedness too – you know someone who knows someone and that someone starred in a movie with Kevin Bacon. And there’s connectedness via social media too. These days, our networks are incredibly expansive.

So why is it important to understand that we are all connected? Because unless we understand that, we will likely continue to only look after our own backyards. When we only care about our own backyard, the neighbours will eventually get pretty annoyed about all the dog poo we’re throwing over their fence. When that happens, they are going to come banging on our door and make things very unpleasant for us.

The environment is just like our neighbour – if we keep polluting it, it’s going to stop giving us the things we need to survive, like fresh water and non-toxic food. If we don’t realise that every one of our actions has an impact on the world around us, we will continue to degrade it to the point where it can no longer support us.

What we do comes back to us. It may take a while, but be certain – nothing we ever do comes without consequence. So what will your consequence be? Positive or negative? It’s your choice.

Do you feel a connection to the people and natural world around you? What do you do to lessen your negative impact?

Written By

Mahdi is an advocate for nature, animals and people. She has poor fashion sense but a good sense of humour. She hopes that one day there will be ample female toilets in all venues. She is the author of ‘The Power of You: How to Positively Influence People, Places and the World’ and founder of Mahdi Earth and The Earth Healers’ Hub.

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