Have we become so conditioned by technology that we believe that the only way to maintain our bonds with one another is on social media? As though our online absence means we’re not present.

We are woven together by a fabric that existed long before the first fiber-optic cable was laid. For better or worse, we are connected—with or without the Internet.

What is Love? What it is not is fear, for fear triggers separation and isolation, which then triggers self-inadequacy, self-superiority, self-righteousness, self-judgment, judgement of others, anger, and unforgiveness towards self and others, and it goes on. Imagine all that from just one emotion we call fear. Fear is like a domino effect.

Our happiness depends on us, on our way of responding to events, not on other people. Our suffering also depends on us. Knowing this, we no longer blame or complain; we are determined to begin anew with ourselves. Because another opportunity is presenting itself.

— Thich Nhat Hanh. “In Love and Trust”

We are not stardust, we are light! Our form and all the other stuff around us and in the universe are matters that materialized from the source, light. So we are, in French philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s words, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”

We all tend to react to what the Internet spoon-feeds us. It has become mindless and habitual. I am no different. We are all doing our best to navigate.

Do we need a new year to let go and move on? When you think about it, the new year is just a change of mindset. It is a conscious shift in perspective.