Open to Connection

When I travel solo, I am seldom alone. I just haven’t met who I will be with yet.

Maybe everyday life is this way too. I pay my rent and fall into a 45 min. conversation about bulldogs. I go to a Thai restaurant down the street, and Becky greets me with a smile. At the table beside me a young man in his twenties is in the hot seat. His family does not like his girlfriend or who he becomes in her presence. On my walk, home I talk to a neighbor about the new street resurfacing and repainting. It turns into a conversation of when he moved here 30 years ago, his neighbors then, and our neighbors now. One of our neighbors just passed in her 90’s. At 10:25pm the loop is complete, I’m home.

I wonder if when you are married, you are just predetermining with whom 70% of your conversations will be. If you are choosing in advance, one person who will show up in most scenes. I’m just noticing for being alone, I wasn’t alone much tonight. I enjoyed the connections and their varied sources.

Psychology researcher Barbara Fredrickson remind us in the book “Love 2.0 “there are a lot of ways to love and connection for those in a relationship and those out of it. Sharon Salzberg writes in “True Love” that love is not a feeling but an ability, a response that we can encourage in ourselves, others, and life.