The Atlas of Connection: Project update

“We’re all connected, and we need to care about one another and ourselves.”

— Sharon Salzberg

From Ankara to Zurich to Berlin, this week has been filled with so much heartbreak around the world, not to mention the ongoing civil war in Syria and recent evacuation of Aleppo. As one Syrian journalist wrote about her country here, “its people can no longer agree on basic principles of humanity.”

To balance the seemingly daily heartbreak, friends of mine have shared that they’ve found comfort in the joy and innocence of their young children; others have turned to the purity and solace of nature. For me, the stories of connection you all shared from Asia have been my own place to turn to—they’ve helped me trust that there’s still basic goodness and kindness in the world.

In the past two weeks, you’ve shared stories from Taiwan, Thailand, and Tibet; from Mongolia, Malaysia, and Myanmar; and from the very top and bottom corners of India. And in each story, there is a moment of real, genuine, abiding connection with a stranger, guide, or new friend—“abiding” meaning to “last a long time; enduring.”

These moments of connection have endured in your memory, giving meaning to your lives still.

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One story feels especially timely for this week, which was shared by a reader named Andrew:

“My lungs were strained by the thin air as I climbed the few hundred feet to the main door of the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet, to explore the labyrinth inside. I wandered through huge prayer rooms adorned in gold, deep blues and reds, with padded benches and scattered with large drums where monks would chant for hours. There were other rooms that allowed only a small aisle around a huge central Buddha while smaller Buddhas lined the walls. The only light came from hundreds of yak butter candles, the sweet smoke mingling with incense, the aroma unforgettable.

In one of these rooms a voice whispered from a dark alcove. It was a monk and he pulled me in to sit on cushions where the light of the candles barely reached and prying eyes could not see. He poured small cups of yak butter tea. He smiled radiantly and talked. I understood nothing and yet understood everything. Such is the language of compassion, love, and peace. 

That was thirty-one years ago. My life has been filled with special moments that have stayed with me, and I often wish the creators of these moments knew the impact they have had.”

Right now, it often feels like connection and understanding will be forever out of reach for our world. But these two lines from Andrew’s story give me reason to hope:

“I understood nothing and yet understood everything. Such is the language of compassion, love, and peace.”

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The unexpected genesis of this project has been one of the greatest blessings 2016 brought me. And so as the year comes to a close, I’m excited to update you on how the project is going—and how it’ll be moving forward in the new year.

1. The name:

My title for our first map—The Geography of Connection—was inspired by two books by author Eric Weiner, The Geography of Bliss and The Geography of Genius. But as I’m now planning to create a book (more on that below!), it feels right to give the book its own unique name. My new working title for the project is The Atlas of Connection.

2. The book:

My vision is to structure the book like an actual atlas of the world, only with hand-drawn, illustrated maps telling true stories of kindness and connection. There will be six parts, one for each continent, and each story will be embedded directly on a map of the country where it takes place. I hope that this will not only guide readers to the physical location of each connection, but that the very form of the atlas itself will show the connections between each story—and ultimately, the connections between us all.

3. The plan:

I’ll be spending the month of January creating ten new maps from Asia, as well as a potential cover for the book. These will then form a 15-page sample chapter for the book—comprised of 15 stories from 12 countries—that I will begin sending to agents and publishers in February.

I’ll also post frequent in-process updates of the maps as I create them on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, so be sure we’re connected there if you’d like to follow along.

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The final thing I want to share with you today is a quote from author and speaker Robin Sharma:

“What you focus on grows, what you think about expands, and what you dwell upon determines your destiny.”

This quote has been something of a mantra for me in the last month. As I’ve focused my time and thoughts on The Atlas of Connection, it’s been such a thrill to feel the project growing, taking more and more shape, and becoming something I believe the world truly needs right now. And as we prepare to mark the end of 2016 and ring in 2017, I hope this new year will be a time of incredible focus and expansion for your own projects, passions, and plans.

Thank you all for reading and connecting with me this year—I wish you a wonderful holiday season, and an inspired start to 2017!

With gratitude,

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