On a recent trip to Atlanta, I felt a tug to take a detour into a coffee shop I'd heard had good pastries though I rarely eat pastries and don't drink coffee.
“Hey!” I said to the two baristas inside, “I hear you guys have good pastries.”
“Yep, fresh from Alon's (a local bakery) every day,” one guy answered.
I ordered a cheese danish for my boyfriend, and as the guy was putting it in a bag for me he said, “I really like you.”
“Oh, thanks. I really like you too,” I said, because I did.
Not to be left out, the other barista joined in the love fest. And after a few minutes of the most delightful banter, I headed to the door but doubled back:
“I was so mesmerized by you guys that I forgot my danish!” I said, and as I turned to leave for real said, “thank you, my soul really needed this.”
As I walked out, I caught a glimpse of a customer on his laptop trying not to be too obvious trying to catch a glimpse of the mesmerized me.
Do you make space to delight your soul?
Feeling high after leaving the shop, I thought about how vibing with folks I may only see once is among the greatest things in life. But sadly, it's happening less frequently for me now.
I won't blame it all on smartphones and earbuds, but before they became so ubiquitous I was making fleeting friends all the time with folks in shops, on the street, on buses, in airports…pretty much anywhere.
Speaking of airports…
On the plane coming home, I saw a woman wearing a jacket stitched with “Delta Sigma Theta,” a sorority my mother joined over 70 years ago when in college. And I've yet to meet a Delta who wasn't thrilled to hear this.
I got the woman's attention and spoke. She didn't hear me. Rather than signal “never mind,” I waited for her to remove her earbuds and repeated myself. “Oh, what a blessing!” she exclaimed, as did a woman who overheard us.
Do you make space to delight your soul?
Though that exchange wasn't as delightful as the love fest with the baristas, it gave me (and it seemed the lady) a tiny boost I made space to occur by facing the awkwardness of “bugging” someone wearing earbuds by speaking to her.
Will it be the growing discomfort (to put it mildly) of social fragmentation, or the lesser discomfort of evolving our way into connection and feeling alive?
If you pick the latter, make room to vibe with neighbors and “strangers”—which onlookers may witness and be inspired to try for themselves—by taking “detours” and going out with your phone or earbuds stowed away more often.
There's another important thing we can do to up our odds of creating fleeting and not-so-fleeting delightful connections our souls will love, but I'll discuss that in a separate message soon so that this one won't be too long. :-)
Take care,
Mary-Elizabeth
P.S. About ten minutes before entering the coffee shop, I spontaneously said to myself, “Life can become magical on a dime.” In other words, make space for delight to occur by intending delight to happen.
