Systems are simply interlocking collectives of interlocking individuals. They form and disband quite frequently – teams, projects, relationships, family dynamics. You influence and participate in the build of any system through your connection to its individuals.

Your degree of influence – positively and negatively – is directly correlated to the value of those connections. Strong, effective, and healthy communities are built upon strong, effective, and healthy connections and the points of interconnectivity between them. The effort you put into connection – everywhere within a collective – directly and indirectly shapes the system's overall sense of self, collectivism, shared focus, and lived experience. You participate consciously or unconsciously, intentionally or distractedly, one connection at a time.

Pick up the phone, have a coffee, gab for 10 minutes, interrupt your own busy-ness with intention. Give time to your community build. It’s good for your health, your heart, and the whole – literally.