Welcome to 20S2, opening a new season of the podcast with an introduction to a series called: 

I don't know how to connect with you... and here's why.

In this episode, I dive into the topic of connection, or lack thereof, and how deeply it affects us as human beings. As per usual, the thread of the flow starts within - a feeling of disconnect to my environment, as I navigate this new path in a new country with a foreign culture, and attempting to establish a sense of belonging in this new long-term home, the one I carry with me in my heart, and my true northern star, my country of origin - Kosovo. 

I found these feelings are more than meets the eye - a pattern of being human. Bear with me as I attempt to deconstruct in this flow and identify what are these core values of ours that drive us to meaningful connection. The more I think about it, and the more I connect with people on this topic, the more I understand we have a lot of work to do here. Slow and steady, and explore this topic one episode at a time.

Join me in this Flow, and may you find something in it to feed into Yours. 🐞

- // [Read more about the series below] \\ -

A new year begins, and with it, we start a new season of this podcast. I took the past couple of weeks to let my mind wander free and give it time to hone in on a topic that has been gnawing at me: connection, or rather lack thereof, this most natural trait of all creatures of emotion. How is it that us, also creatures of thought-processes and machines of rationalization, have created systems which were meant to enhance connection, and long since has lost its meaning, in our attempt to simplify, automate or nowadays even monetise. 

It feels as though we as humanity have run ourselves into a hyperactive treadmill in an attempt to somehow overclock our own evolution, we have created a system which reminds us of our deep disconnect. To bridge this deep chasm of disconnect, we rely on cyclical dopamine rushes to feed our craving selves. We are only now beginning to learn how our brains form new connections, and I'm having a lot of fun with this endless source of metaphors to help understand our current Society.  

We as humans so easily connect to one another on a substantial level, if only we skip past surface level interactions and approach each other with genuine curiosity and compassion. We find ourselves too emotionally, physically and mentally overwhelmed however, pressured by an environment designed to keep us performing, that we forget what it means to be curious and compassionate. If this pandemic situation has taught humanity anything, is that everything falls apart if people feel disconnected from society.

A book by Jonnah Hari, "Lost Connections", masterfully depicts (pre-pandemic era) how the true cause of depression isn't simply chemical (although there is a correlation), it is when people are at deep disconnect within themselves that depression levels rise as its most jarring symptom. Dopamine economy shows us that feeding our ego's desires and only helps it grow in over our heads. I would further argue that mental illnesses (ruling out those caused by chemical imbalances) are a direct result of our growing lack of self-awareness and a symptom of various deprivations of connections with our authentic selves.

For now, however, it has become my mission to uncover our pattern of connection, by trying to understand this natural process of ours, in my own capacity, through the books that I read and those of the people I invite on the podcast. 

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Will we succeed? 

WELL, 98 & 3/4% GUARANTEED! 🐞