Picture this:
You find yourself at a park that is engulfed completely in the beauty that is spring. Immediately, the sun rays gently lay on your skin with a warmth your soul can feel. You choose a patch of grass you’d like to settle in although deep down you know the grass chose you. Slowly, you sit down, head tilted up, eyes closed with a slight grin that can’t be explained. The long blades of grass filling in between each finger of yours. Hearing, or more like receiving, the small conversations from strangers walking by. You gaze across the park at the city where thousands of individual’s lives are being lived yet you do not concern yourself with the details of each life but just the beauty of the whole. You reach for your favorite book, observe the clouds, and eventually, the sun’s comforting blanket of warmth invites you to take a quick nap only to wake up 20 minutes later in complete bliss.
As content as one could be, you pack your things and head home. Later that evening you get a call from your mother. She asks what have you been up to that day. You say how you went to the park, read, and ended up taking a quick nap. Is this true? Yes. Yet, why does it sound so empty? So dead? This is because although objectively you are correct, more importantly you were just being. You were what words can never be: experiencing. For this reason, I constantly have to remind myself to not let words be my primary way of sharing experiences. Though when structured correctly and even said with a moving tone, words can be a useful tool. Although useful, it is the weakest form of expression that we have as people. A word itself is dead. A reference to an experience that has already passed. A fulfilling experience is unexplainable.
So how can we be better at sharing experiences? Giving others a glimpse of the energy that fills us. This could be a book (and has) so I’ll try to take a short crack at it. First, we have to have the awareness to experience. This in itself is a journey that is far from binary. Second, we must embrace each other. Sounds obvious but is it? The fact that you probably look down or away when passing a stranger says otherwise. It is almost like eye contact is a gateway into your soul that others can somehow see. You project how you feel about yourself onto the eyes of others walking past. Why many avoid it like the plague. You can begin to love yourself more by “forcing” a loving projection on others. Try this: make it a point to smile at five strangers today. Fully commit to the smile. See how your mood changes during the day. Feel aware of how more connected you feel to others. Touch someone’s shoulder while laughing with them. Dance in a public place when you are around music. Sing a song you recognize at a restaurant. Give a high five to a kid. Hug the homie. Be the experience. Words are not a bad option, just don’t make it your go-to. A life that can fully be explained in words isn’t really a life at all.
To Just Be 