Sometimes I’ll think of someone I haven’t spoken to in awhile.  For whatever reason, they pop in my head. I used to ignore it, but now I do something different.

I send them a quick email saying “Hey, thought of you today. Sending you good karma.”

I don’t ask “how are you?”  … I’m not asking for a full report of everything that’s been happening…I just want the person to know I am thinking of them and wishing them well in life. I can’t tell you how many times people have said “Wow, I was just thinking of you.”…or they’re going through something challenging and find the good wishes comforting.  I jokingly call it “my Spidey sense”, but to me it’s a nice way of staying in touch.

My executive communications guru calls this “dripping”. You maintain a list of the people in your professional life who are important to you, and you make sure you’re dripping:  sending them an email occasionally, forwarding an interesting article that you think they would appreciate.  It’s not meant to be as time consuming or meaningful as a lunch or dinner, but it’s a way to maintain a relationship  that’s important to you in a light way with positive intent.