Lost Connections
The ferryman said. The sun is shining and the sea is calm. I don't often have the chance to put those two thoughts together in one sentence.'
Just finished a lovely book
'Lost Connections by Johann Hari'
It's a book that addresses depression in a way that looks at all manner of disconnections in people's lives. You don't have to be suffering from depression to benefit from reading it. I reckon it offers a wonderful proactive guide to avoiding depression all together as well as helping people to break free of it.
At the end of the Chapter on being disconnected from other people there's a lovely final paragraph which touched me and I'd like to share it with you today.
'Sitting in the middle of Amish country, Freeman Lee told me he knew he would seem strange to me. "I understand how you guys would look at it," he said. "But our thought is- you can have a little bit of heaven here on earth, if you interact with other people. Because that's how we imagine it to be, you know- when life comes to an end, if you get to heaven, it's interacting with other people. That's how we look at it." If your picture of a perfect afterlife is being with the people you love all the time, he asked me, why wouldn't you choose today- while you are still alive- to be truly present with the people you love? Why would you rather be lost in a haze of distractions?'
Wow. Goodness.
Just finished a lovely book
'Lost Connections by Johann Hari'
It's a book that addresses depression in a way that looks at all manner of disconnections in people's lives. You don't have to be suffering from depression to benefit from reading it. I reckon it offers a wonderful proactive guide to avoiding depression all together as well as helping people to break free of it.
At the end of the Chapter on being disconnected from other people there's a lovely final paragraph which touched me and I'd like to share it with you today.
'Sitting in the middle of Amish country, Freeman Lee told me he knew he would seem strange to me. "I understand how you guys would look at it," he said. "But our thought is- you can have a little bit of heaven here on earth, if you interact with other people. Because that's how we imagine it to be, you know- when life comes to an end, if you get to heaven, it's interacting with other people. That's how we look at it." If your picture of a perfect afterlife is being with the people you love all the time, he asked me, why wouldn't you choose today- while you are still alive- to be truly present with the people you love? Why would you rather be lost in a haze of distractions?'
Wow. Goodness.