Mind Reading

Sometimes my heart and mind wander and I feel so connected to people I know who live miles away – even as far as the opposite coast. I believe that we can connect mentally, bonded as if we were sitting inches apart rather than separated by many miles. Sometimes I hold you in prayer, other times I simply sit and think of you, imagine what you’re doing – how your day is progressing, are you feeling joy or sorrow, satisfaction or frustration, what are you dreaming of, hoping for or longing about. I try to send loving thoughts your way and imagine that you’re feeling the influence of this.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons I find the concept of Social Intelligence so compelling. Currently I’m reading Social Intelligence by Daniel Goleman – he also wrote Emotional Intelligence (wow, he's really clever with the title of his books). Social Intelligence is an actual science that combines biology and brain science to show how we’re wired to connect with one another.

Have you ever met a stranger and instantly felt an immediate emotional connection? Or shared a laugh with someone and experienced that warm glow of interconnection? How about reconnecting with old friends and feeling as if the time apart didn’t matter – you could pick-up where you left off?

Are you aware that relationships actually have a hormonal response in your body? Whether you’re in a good or toxic relationship, hormones cascade through your body and either reinforce your immune system or break it down. You can’t actually read minds but you can share parallel emotions that interconnect with one another and emotionally influence your mind making you feel as if you are sharing thoughts.

Next week I am having a huge party, well huge by my standards considering the size of my house. I’m hosting a Cordell Hull Junior High 40th year reunion of a group of kids who hung out together in the 9th grade. There has been amazing response from those I’ve contacted – classmates flying in from Hawaii, California and Utah, others changing their plans – giving away theater tickets and returning home early from vacations so that they can attend. We were a tight group who after that year went our separate ways. But our class had a strong social connection that apparently continues some 40 years later. I like to think that our brain development was influenced positively from our shared fun and joy in that year so long ago and now we’re all looking to have that connection again. It will be interesting and I hope fun to see how we’ve all fared since that time.

I’ll be thinking about Social Intelligence as I prepare and entertain this group of people. I’ll be considering how that time influenced and changed my thinking and contributed to who I am today. And I’ll continue to reflect, communicate and hold in prayer those whom I love who may live miles and miles away. Now I have science to back-up that they may actually be feeling it too.