Question of the Day

Yesterday, at the coffeehouse I stumbled upon a fun little game that we carried over into today. After a week of talking about how each of us think in our family, I asked one of our customers:

"Do you have an inner monologue."

One after another I asked most of the people that walked into our little world, and reveled in the joy the novel question brought to their day. Many had never even considered to question their own thinking process and to be challenged on something so mundane as "what goes on within your head" was enough to break them out of their routine. I had more deeply-personal conversations yesterday than I can remember ever occurring in a single day, and all were positive. I was able to connect with SO many strangers on a profoundly human level... That's it really, we we able to humanize one another... a reminder that there is a commonality among us all that we forget to talk about in our "normal" routines.

I absolutely LOVED hearing about the inner-workings of each person's mind. And truly enjoyed sharing the inner workings of my own mind.

I mentioned above that there was "joy" released by the question. From my vantage point, I was able to watch a pattern unfold; each person seemed to be jolted out the funk of their routine. There was a moment of true introspection! This seemed to be true of those that had an answer at the ready as well as those who had never thought of the question before. I truly believe that in nearly every case, the outer facade fell away and I was interacting with the real person "in there"... There was a "trueness", a "realness" in the way they responded, and in each case, that person was overjoyed to be interacting with me on such a personal level. Many were giddy to be seen.

The reverse was true also. In the questioning (and my own sharing) I found myself being more ME than I often find myself recently. Perhaps that's why I was able to see the transition in them as the events unfolded. Sharing the inner workings of my mind and conversing with others about the inner workings of theirs, was a return to the conversations of my adolescence... a return to the deep discussions with my grandmother. To be able to know that there was no barrier between me and so many other people in a single day was energizing. It made ME giddy to make so many deep connections.

Today, we took another connecting step... we asked another question, this time not quite so deep. Today we asked:

"What song can you not listen to casually?"

We keyed in on the idea of a "question of the day"... but as I type this I believe that our instincts were keener than our intellect. I believe that we were able to yet again build a connection with each person by asking them something that is deeply personal, but not a secret and non-threatening. We asked them to think about something they love, and share it with their neighbors. We got such a variety of songs, bands, and stories. Again it was wonderful to interact with each person as they transitioned from their current headspace to some of their happiest memories. Even when those moments weren't fully shared with us, to see each person light up with the recollection was enough.

I only hope that each person's day was as improved by these interaction as mine was.

"Question of the day"... Who knew?