Cru’s Letter
One of my roommates (who also happens to be my videographer) came downstairs the other day while I was washing dishes. He opened the pantry and said “Cru…?” as he looked straight at the center of the middle shelf. Immediately, I knew he was going to ask me for a slice of my beloved sourdough bread for a few reasons:
I know exactly where I put my bread
Even though my back was mostly turned while doing dishes, I caught a glimpse of where his eyes flickered to as he said my name
The tone of his voice had a very “requesting” intonation, even just in one word
He went on to finish his sentence. “…can I have some of” then I completed it with him, “sourdough?”
He was pretty shocked. He goes, “did you just read my mind?” And I guess you could say I read it but in reality, all I did was pay attention. Something so simple that leads to people thinking you’re superhuman and anybody can work on it.
Now what exactly did the bread scenario do for me? Nothing really besides give me a fun moment with my friend and something to write about for this newsletter but the reason I bring the story up is to point out how much information you can truly find in the smallest moments.
In my opinion, being educated isn’t all about the degree you got in college or how much of the news you watch. It’s about how well you can process and interact with the world around you.
When it comes to communicating with people, keeping yourself safe, wasting as little time as possible, the best tool you could have is an aware and adaptable mind that has bearings on any situation.
This is a huge reason I don’t typically wear headphones in public because there’s so much to learn from things as simple as the way someone walks or how their voice sounds and all that data feeds into an aware mind.
You could say one of my enemies in mindlessness because in today’s world, going with the wind will carry you to a shitty place nine out of ten times and if you think of paying attention as a chore, you’re missing out on an abundance of value.
Eat dinner without your phone and maybe you’ll hear the air conditioning unit running in your house. Maybe you’ll start to wonder how the hell an air conditioning unit was invented. Maybe you’ll think about what life must’ve been like when you had to face the elements with no cozy house to come back to.
Maybe you’ll see that your mind is ON in a different way than the average person that seeks mindlessness.
It’s the small practices of awareness that enrich your life to a level that most people will never get to experience and when you see how much better you become at navigating life because of it…
You’ll be so grateful for the tiny lessons that are hidden in plain sight.
-Cru
P.S. Check out my recent youtube video:
