During the ‘great Facebook blackout’ on October 4, 2021, I was driving from California to Arizona, and blissfully unaware until Tuesday. Since then, I’ve been taking a good look at real human interactions versus ‘likes’ and ‘hearts’ in the media. Don’t get me wrong, my social media accounts are still in place, and I’m glad for them, but I am researching alternatives… one of them being trust – trusting in humanity!

Zoom, Facetime, texts, or comments on a feed help, but what about our in-person connections? How do we engage at our safety level? Get creative! Call a missing friend, chat up the grocery store clerk, say ‘hello’ to a neighbor who may not be looking your way – cultivate more personal connections!

Also, try telling your people “I love you” and mean it – “make it weird” as the Facebook meme says. Start a soft campaign of intimacy or into-me-see… we are in this together and we are coming out of it together, dear Ones! I LOVE YOU! (and I really mean it!)

Thank you for your love, support, and open hearts, Amber Mele’ha