The REAL MAGIC
COTTON CHALLENGE: Surely most of my FB friends are thinking of, planning or looking forward to an upcoming lunch/coffee/rendez vous with someone (anyone.) Doesn't matter in the least who it might be, nor their supreme significance among the dominoes of your life, BUT--Here's the "rub," in Dear Will Shakespearean terms: Even though your most natural inclination might be to anticipate (at long last,) finally having some quality time with someone who truly knows you, and with whom you can authentically bare your most private heartaches, burdens, despair and feelings of disconnection. Brace yourself, as THIS IS A MINDSET TRAP: Not one set by your upcoming lunch/coffee partner, but from LIFE, itself. IF you dare proceed to this meeting with some misguided notion that it will be your opportunity to vent/lighten your load/find a kindred spirit, etc.--you WILL fail.
While I would not be so pompous as to envision any semblance of "why," all I know is that the only way to make sense of your upcoming time together will be if you just decide right now that your purpose in attending this particular get together/lunch/coffee or---will be to give the person you are meeting a wide open forum to vent/talk/complain/whine--whatever. And if this were not enough--there is more: tape up your mouth if need be, but do not offer solutions. Simply listen, acknowledge, empathize, agree and tell your friend/lunch partner that you understand, and that you support whatever choices they end up making. If you must comment, do so in passive ways, with "Oh, I know," or "You certainly do have had a lot on your plate, don't you?"
I'm suggesting that you go into this thing with a desire to abandon all notions of your own pressing issues. (Rest assured, they will be resolved, but just how is for another post.)
Yes, in a perfect world, you would be meeting your adoring mother for lunch, and the topic of conversation would be all about your welfare, and your mom would pick up the tab, and maybe even slip a few Ben Franklins to you during that last embrace. But this is not the "and they lived happily ever after" destination that was once the natural form of Ambien for young, sleepless babies. Your mother won't be attending this lunch, and as to who might be paying the bill, well that probably will depend on who stands to gain the most from the meeting.
I'm asking you to exercise a complete resistance to your natural inclinations here and step out of the box/leave your comfort zone/ deny yourself or whatever terminology you might use to describe it.
If you abandon every other notion and proceed into such a time spent with ANYONE ELSE---you will experience some true magic--and while it may not exactly qualify for the same level of superlatives used to describe the first Americans walking on the moon, what you will have produced will be every bit as future-changing and significant for you--as any Moon walk could ever be.
