Guess what comes up when you Google ?how to connect?? I?ll tell you: ?How to connect your smartphone or tablet to your TV?, ?How to connect your android phone to your TV?, ?Connect a laptop or PC to TV.? You get the picture, right? Has our time spent with ?screens? replaced a deeper way of connecting ? connecting with others, connecting with nature, and even connecting with ourselves and our spirituality?

Connectedness is important for me. I start my day with tapping into the energy of the universe, which makes me feel centered, grounded, and connected with myself. Social connections make me feel good and energize me, so they are usually a part of my day, and spending time in nature takes my sense of connectedness to another level and brings me peace.

Connection takes different forms, and there are endless ways to deepen your connections. We all have our own unique personalities and styles, so what makes you feel connected might be different than what makes me feel connected. There is no doubt in my mind that the benefit of deepening our connections contributes to our physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual wellbeing.

Recently, I had an interesting conversation with my husband. While both of us start our day with a similar practice of inward-connection (meditation), our perspectives are different when it comes to social connections. While I get energized from having engaged interactions with other human beings, for him it is enough to be among people, to see them around him while walking in the street or sitting in a coffee shop, and he’s energized even without engaging in conversation.

I asked him what energizes him about seeing people without actually talking to them. His answer was very interesting. He said that just like when he’s in nature he doesn’t verbally communicate with the trees to feel their energy, it’s the same with people. He doesn’t need verbal interaction in order to feel their energy. Interesting! isn’t? it?

One of my coaching clients told me this week: ?My connectivity is the way to balance myself. People I have a connection with or have a conversation with make me feel uplifted?.

How about you? What energizes you and makes you feel connected? What is the balance between connecting with yourself and connecting with others? How do you feel when you are outside in nature? If texting, tweeting, or posting on Facebook is your main way of engagement with the world, you might want to consider deepening your connections.

Here are 3 ways to deepen your connections:

1. Deepen your connection with yourself.

For me, spending 15 minutes every morning giving Reiki to myself and meditating is my daily spiritual practice. I physically feel tension being released in my body and my attention goes inward. I feel guided and at peace, and serenity emerges. I honestly cannot start my day without my morning practice or something feels missing. Reiki is my spiritual practice as well as the way I care for myself.

Developing a spiritual practice is one way to connect with yourself, and it doesn’t mean that it has to be ?religious.? Reiki, yoga, meditation, inspirational readings, and praying can also make you feel more connected. Whether you call it an energy source, higher-self, divine, God, universe, or any other word, develop a daily practice of connecting with your spirituality or simply think about ways to start your day feeling more connected with yourself.

Spirituality is not the only way to connect with yourself. For some people, art and creativity make them more connected. Listening to music, moving the body, coloring adult coloring-books, writing in a journal, or reading poems are ways to express your authentic self and deepen your connection with yourself.

2. Deepen your connection with others.

If you take a minute to think about your connections with other people, you might realize that you spend a lot of time communicating through texting, Facebook, and email. To deepen your connections with others, try going outside your current social circles and connecting with other communities, or change some of your current forms of interaction and use the simple, timeless form of communication: talking. Pick up the phone and call someone instead of sending them a message! Create a time when you actually sit with your loved ones (smartphones not allowed) and just have a conversation. Create an ?unplugged day? where you are not using your computer or phone that day ? other than to actually call someone and talk.

3. Deepen your connection with nature.

Growing up, there were no cell phones, iPods, iPads or Facebook, so we spent a lot of time outside running, playing, climbing trees, wandering, and exploring nature. The connection with the earth, plants, trees, and even the clouds and the sky were organic and natural.

Being outside in nature makes people feel more alive, finds a series of studies published in the June 2010 issue of the Journal of Environmental Psychology. Another study proves that exposure to nature directly improves happiness.

There are incredible benefits to being outdoors, including less perceived effort during exercise and strengthening the body’s immune system. It is clear that spending time in nature not only affects your mood, it actually affects your brain and supports your physical and emotional wellbeing.

When you understand the value of being outside, you realize that a 10-minute walk during your lunch break or playing with your kids (or pets) outside for few minutes after work is not a waste of time; it is actually a necessary, healthy activity.

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?No man is an island, entire of itself.? (English poet, John Donne, 1624)

Human beings were created to be in community. We were created to understand and know ourselves, our Creator, and connect with the world around us, including the natural world. It makes us feel better and is a significant part of our overall health. It’s not difficult to find ways to deepen your connections.

Try a few ideas from this article daily, and note how your energy improves. If you have ways you love to connect with yourself, others, or nature, I?d love to hear them!

Let’s have an inspiring conversation in the comment’s area!

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