this is actually a re-upload due to music
copyright so I changed the music and I
hope you enjoy some words have the power
to change who we are and the world as we
know it and I want to share with you a
word that will do just that but first I
need to share some context if you're
like me you've had this thought at some
point in your life about how awesome it
would be to live in a neighborhood
surrounded by all your best friends but
then if you're also like me there comes
a second realization of logistically
speaking that's almost impossible in our
society where it's the norm to move
every few years with a number one answer
- how are you doing is busy too busy to
see our friends and family without weeks
of notice in advance where we no longer
know our neighbors somehow disconnection
has become the norm you see growing up
loneliness was a consistent theme in my
life I had this deep longing like I
believe we all do to be loved and for me
in an Asian American home the way to get
that seemed like chasing success and
achievement so that's what I did
and after walking that path for years
past these amazing high points like
getting into a top-tier University
raising millions of dollars for our
startup getting to pitch Richard Branson
and other billionaires on his private
island all this stuff seemed to not
deliver on the promise that I thought it
would I realized that I still felt
really lonely and empty inside and then
one day something spoke to me and of all
the random places it was from this one
scene from the Disney movie Moana
Moana sets out to see by herself and
feels utterly alone but then her whole
tribe comes and surrounds her ships
sailing right alongside saying you are
not alone and when I saw that I got the
goose bumps and may or may not have
cried there's a quote from Johann Hari's
amazing book on the topic lost
connections we without ever quite
intending to have become the first
humans to ever dismantle our tribes and
as a result we've been left alone on a
savanna we do not understand puzzled by
our own sentence please stay in our
quest to make it for ourselves we've
sacrificed that which we need the most
genuine human connection and so I took
it upon myself to read and learn
everything I could on the topic of
loneliness mental health and connection
and I started to wonder though why are
not more of us talking about this like
the crisis it actually is suicide rates
are increasing violence and hate appear
in the news every day as people struggle
to deal with the hurt that we all carry
with us in some form connection is a
fundamental human need and we as a
culture have forgotten that and so for
every child in each of us that still
dreams of that neighborhood where we can
be known and loved this is the line in
the sand to realize that we have the
power to change things
and to do that I think there's something
we need I think we need a new word
connectionism well okay technically it's
already a word used in the 70s to
describe a branch of AI study of neural
networks but this definition has since
all but dropped off the radar as a word
for computer scientists so today I'm
reclaiming the word for all of us
connectionism the belief that we should
intentionally prioritize safe genuine
human connection once again as a basic
human need and a connectionist is anyone
who intentionally tries to live that way
so I think a lot about the minimalist
movement you know the idea that you
don't need stuff to make you happy a big
reason we began to talk about it in
recent years was that we finally had a
word for it
minimalism minimalism minimalist the
idea was around for millennia but the
word "Minimalist" gave people a word to
identify by putting an idea to a word
gave it wings and see that's what I
believe connectionism can do for us
it takes an intentional person to begin
prioritizing connection again even when
it's hard a connectionist is someone who
is tired of the endless scrolling on
social media yearning for s connections
and doesn't wait until they are lonely
to prioritize community and check in on
their friends and family and they
consider relationships as a core factor
in weighing life decisions and
fundamentally they realize that in the
end it's up to us to make this thing a
priority so last month I went to my
friend Rani and Akshay's wedding and
got to see a powerful glimpse of what is
waiting for us when we choose to
prioritize connection once again
I watched as the whole community
generations friends family co-workers
all came together and danced
to show them that hey we'll be here for
you we love you
this glimmer of hope that said you don't
realize what you've been missing and
yearning for has been here all along
until that fills me with so much hope of
what life could begin to look like for
us when we begin to prioritize
connection once again
so hello again my friends it's been a
while since I last posted
I've been busy putting all this together
for you I can't wait to share with you
the cool stuff we have in store coming
up we're gonna be diving into the
science to see what experts and research
have to teach us as well as exploring
the creative ways people are seeking
connection if you feel me at all on this
message if you resonate in any way I
just want to be the first to say to you
hello connectionist oh yeah and
subscribe and hit that bell so you don't
miss future videos there's gonna be a
lot of exciting things happening and in
the future I hope to be spotlighting
people doing amazing things as well as
holding real-life events all around the
world sign up for the email list if any
of this sounds interesting to you to be
a part of the movement at
connectionism.org
love you all
