Five minutes more...

We live full life's.  We seem busier now than ever in history although, I have my doubts about this being true.  Regardless, life is busy...for most of us.

Much has been written and discussed about how today's society is too preoccupied and disconnected. How we fool ourselves into believing Facebook, Twitter, or other social media fill in the gaps we lose in our busyness.  Or how suicides, depression and mental illness are on the rise, starting in younger and younger people.  There are websites, books and seminars dedicated to solving this growing plague of unhappiness and disconnection among us.

I suppose there are no easy answers and I certainly won't pretend to speak as an expert, but what if we  started with just taking five minutes every day to really connect with someone.  We all have five minutes to spare...yes, you do!

Preferably, this five minute connection would be in person, but even if you use it to send off a personal email, post or text to one of your many, many "friends" online, it'll be authentic.  And I don't mean just using some generic greeting!  NO!  Take five minutes to add a personal note or make a real commitment to get together (not someday, sometime) and genuinely mean it!

You are not so busy or so important that you can't give someone five minutes of sincere interest even if it's the clerk you see every day at Starbucks, where you order your daily coffee.  Don't be afraid that those five minutes might extend into 10 or 15 minutes.  If it does, oh well...nothing bad will happen. No one will likely notice that you're MIA for 15 minutes out of 24 hours!  Except...that "somebody" you chose to connect with and perhaps, lifted up for the rest of the day.

Just think about it.  It's only five minutes.  You have the time.  You use this much time everyday  with your snooze alarm.


And if you're still doubtful, just think of someone, anyone whom you loved and lost.  What would you give...what would you set aside...if you could have five minutes more?