Happy New Year! What an exciting issue you have in your hands. It kicks off a new year and explores the latest trends in the health and wellness arena: the cannabis industry, coffee alternatives, electric vehicles, pet food and more. It is full of information about the latest technologies, strategies and resources to keep us and our pets on the path toward good health. And there’s more…

 

How wonderful – more information and more technology; new tools and bigger, better, more effective mousetraps to help us excel in our efforts—but at what cost?

 

Technology, efficiency, optimization, scale, profit and growth – these are the driving economic forces that fuel the R&D, marketing and consumption that is the backbone of our technological engines. While many of us want to be part of a thriving economy and generally appreciate the benefits of technological advancements, there is concern that we may be losing part of our human connection as a result.

 

The question to ask about the rapid pace of technological advancement is how do we balance and integrate the development and consumption of technology with intuition, compassion, empathy, simplicity and self-awareness to the degree that we maintain an authentic human connection with each other?

 

Marlaina Donato writes in this month’s Inspiration department, “In our age of rapidly developing technology and jam-packed schedules, the spoken word is becoming a casualty in the daily blur of abbreviated texts and emojis.” Also, social media algorithms now prevail in controlling our feeds, our friends and our news—shaping our views. Influencers create compelling, scripted content that is fictitious, yet funny, seeking views that generate revenue for them and creating a new career that didn’t exist a generation ago.

 

Such is life in this technologically expansive 21st century—a relentless and often tiring effort to seek balance between achieving and relinquishing; between acquiring and letting go; and between losing and finding our true self.

 

Perhaps striking this balance has always been at the core of the human condition, which makes it an applicable template for inner/spiritual growth, irrespective of technology. While the pace and intensity of today’s lifestyle may seem overwhelming at times for many of us, let’s remember that we can stay united in our effort to maintain our human connection by striving together to feel good, live simply and laugh more.

 

Much peace and love to everyone in 2022 and beyond.