As we go through the aging process and experience grief and loss, and as friends and family pass on, the need for connection to extended family, friends, community, and to all of humanity, becomes even more important. Being connective means being ready to connect.

The holiday season is a time to go home and be with family or friends, a journey that begins with the best of intentions. We look forward to all those parties and shared meals, all those gatherings where the room is abuzz with conversations as everyone catches up on news.

Have we become so distracted and disconnected that we now have to thank each other for basic kindness, as if remembering what another is living is somehow an extra service and not an integral part of relationship?

A genuine decision to quit calls for a shift into a new relationship with the hard-edged reality of smoking. At this time of year winter blues and holiday stress, as well as holiday hype and disappointments, provide plenty of triggers for smoking addiction to feed upon.

Something that is happening now has not happened before. While we are physically closer in proximity than ever before, we are less -- far less -- connected to one another.