In our culture of split second communication around the Earth, and easy push-button access to infinite amounts of knowledge under any topic, ideas around the concept of boundaries are becoming too easy to question. Go ahead, Google “boundaries”.

Perhaps the time is ripe to start a conversation about the many layers of what boundaries have come to mean for you, for me, for those who have no boundaries, for those who are totally shut down and imprisoned by static boundaries and especially for those (of us) feeling a bit blurry on the topic.

How do we create something that is not always tangible? How do boundaries impact our connections with people and ideas? What is the difference between boundaries and connections? Opposite sides of the same coin? What is that coin? How do we choose what realm to build our wall, fence, veil, doorway, idea, in? Is a boundary a passageway or a line? What are the realms we can build boundaries in? Time? Space? Transcendental? Virtual? ………….?

In a recent interview with CBC’s Anna Maria Tremonti, Douglas Coupland talks about the pre-internet brain of those dinosaurs among us who were roaming the earth before the internet. It is a bit shocking to think that the brains of our children are wiring differently simply because of computers. This implies boundaries from generation to generation, as well as the potential for stronger, inter-generational connections. Could it also imply that our children may have a very different set of criteria for creating boundaries and connections?

Freud said the loss of conscious boundaries can occur when an individual is caught up in a unified, fast-moving crowd. Can Pop Culture and the World Wide Web be considered a unified, fast moving crowd? My answer would be, yes, sometimes. In this context, perhaps exercising one’s boundaries and being deliberate about whom to connect with, suggests the element of choice as well as the idea of self-regulation.

This is the beginning of an inquiry for those of us who are curious and/or have experience in trauma, grief, physical health, the immune system, dreaming, living and whatever other experiences relate to the idea of creating healthy boundaries and dynamic connections.

I welcome your feedback, thoughts and ideas as I work though this multifaceted topic over the coming weeks (and months).