The connections we make are important and eternal.

That thought came to me at my mother's funeral. My mother passed away the day before her 95th birthday in 2012. I am the last of nine siblings. When my mother passed, she had 36 grandchildren and 77 great-grandchildren. Not to mention hundreds of extended family and friends. As I looked out at everyone gathered that day to celebrate her life, I was awed by the beauty of our connectedness.

When we connect with someone, no matter how briefly, it creates something unique. Something that didn't exist before that connection occurred. And once we make a connection, we can unmake it. We can break it sure, but the effects of that connection continue to ripple, however subtly, through our lives in ways we may not even know of.

I like to think of each of us neurons in a cosmic brain-yeah, I know, what can I say, I'm a bit of a geek but bear with me. So, like the neurons in our brain that connect and wire together to form and guide our thoughts and actions, so too our connections with each other form and guide something that is bigger and better than any of us individually. And that's a real need, especially in today's society where the institutions that used to provide the environments for making connections, communities of belonging, are crumbling. We find ourselves in a liminal space where the need for connection isn't being met in ways it was before.

Today's social media-driven world is chock full of pseudo-connections, superficial substitutes for the real thing. Supposed experts encourage us to have hundreds of connections of Facebook or LinkedIn but those connections don't benefit our psyche or our soul. That may be the reason the coaching profession has grown so quickly in the last few years. Connectedness is central to coaching. The trust and empathy that is so fundamental to the coaching relationship allows us to provide, even temporarily, the connectedness that can be a powerful catalyst of personal transformation.

Connections also benefit us at work. I know that I do my best work when I can collaborate with someone else or a team of people I share a connection with. That trust-infused synergy amps up the creative process and I find myself in states of flow much more easily when I'm connecting than when I'm working alone.

That collaboration, the ability to connect, is one of the key benefits to groups like ICF Michigan. The other day I was having lunch with a friend who said he avoided going into private practice because he feared not being able to connect. I told him how, besides being a great source of information and continuing education, the ICF provided me with that sense of connection. Like any other organization, you get out of it what you put into it.

So I want to make sure you take advantage of two major opportunities for establishing and rejuvenating connections with fellow coaches just on the horizon.

On Friday, September 27, ICF Michigan is hosting our West Michigan Coaches' Connection at the Grand Rapids Holiday Inn Downtown. This forum will feature panel discussions from both organizational leaders and coaches and provide ample time for networking. This is an excellent opportunity to make some new connections and strengthen connections with peers.

Then, on Thursday, October 17th, is the 2019 Annual Conference at the Okemos Conference Center in Okemos, MI (just outside Lansing). We will have two keynote speakers this year, interesting breakout sessions, and plenty of time for networking.

For more information and to register for either event, go our website - the annual conference has it's own tab with information and the Michigan Coaches' Connection has info on the home page as well as in the Programs and Events section.

We hope to see you there!