Cherishing Connections

Huddled with a soothing cup of chamomile tea, I found myself reminiscing about the authenticity of face-to-face connections and yearning for human touch that the pandemic deprived us of. As I mused over the warmth and fuzziness that a simple cup of tea can bring, I found parallels with the delicate yet profound joy of spontaneous human connections that are often missed in our bustling lives.

In this episode of Tea with TJ, we delve into the magical realm of human connections and the power of personal interactions. Is the digital world pushing us apart? Are we losing that precious physical connection to one another? Join me as we explore this pressing issue, sharing personal experiences of unexpected friendships and the nourishment they offer to our souls. Let's cherish every interaction and embrace the potential for deeper connections with the people around us. Because who knows? The next stranger you bump into at a coffee shop might just become your best friend. Let's remember: the world can be a much more rewarding place if we're open to the love and friendship that is always around us.

Transcript

TJ: 0:15

Hey friends, it's TJ, and you're listening to Tea with TJ, where our love for tea, conversation and self-improvement intersect, so let's take a deeper dive into my cup and let's have a chat. Hey friends, it's TJ. So today I am having some chamomile tea. It's perfect for this lazy, rainy Saturday that's happening right now in New York, but I was sitting here having this chamomile and it was just giving me all the warm and fuzzy feels that I wanted. Like today just was like a, a cuddle up on the couch with a blanket and this tea kind of day. It lends itself to our conversation for today and the magic of human connection.

TJ: 1:11

In a world where we are increasingly becoming more digitally focused in the spaces that we inhabit, I can't help but think about how much human connection we lose with that Um in granite. There are their ways, you know, to connect digitally um that were not possible before. You know we had all these like social media platforms and um you know, digital spaces. But I did want to just touch on, like how important that is to really see someone, to connect with them in a way that is, in many ways, in my opinion, magical. You know, like to to meet someone that you've never known before, that you've never laid eyes on before, um, and to have this immediate connection, or even not necessarily immediate, but like to develop something with someone over time, um, to really cultivate and create a relationship between the two of you. During the pandemic, you know, we um we had to go into isolation and you know, to a certain degree I'm okay with taking myself out of certain spaces in order to reflect and to meditate and to hopefully come out at the other end of it with some sort of growth. But I can't help but ponder on that time when we were in deep isolation during the pandemic and how I yearned and hungered for human connection, because I'm very much the type of person that enjoys connecting with other people. I love making friends, I love being in spaces and learning about people and where they come from and um, the different nuances of their background and life, stories and, like you know, their accomplishments and things they're working on and all of those things.

TJ: 3:26

I remember having this moment during the pandemic where I hungered for real connection and real moments with people, physically uh, that wasn't just on a screen because there's so much value in being able to feel someone's energy and presence, uh, in front of you that you just don't get on a screen. And I think there's. You know, we, we, we live in this world now where practically everything can be done digitally. Everything can be done, you know, in a digital space. Being being physically in front of people, it, um, it feeds my soul in a way that I just don't think is attainable, um, digitally. You know, one of my favorite things to do is to go, you know, sit at a tea shop and have a conversation with a friend and just to catch up on, like, what's happening in their life and like what's going on and what, if they learn, and you know, what progress are they making.

TJ: 4:31

And, you know, during the pandemic we lost a lot of that and we've not. We started to kind of get back into those spaces, but so much has been amended, um, because of the pandemic, and we've gone back to this hustle and bustle of life but are losing some of those precious moments in the quote unquote before, times where we were, you know, able to connect, where you would go to a party or you would go to a coffee shop, you know, and you would talk to people and get to know other people on a much deeper level, like it feeds that, that hunger to be recognized. Um, and I remember coming out of the pandemic the first time I saw my best friend, um, who I hadn't seen in years at that point because I had been away for a year. And then the pandemic happened and we were in isolation in the hug, felt so warm to be engulfed in that hug in that moment Felt like time had stopped, like it just felt nourishing to my soul, um, and I didn't realize how much I missed that, how much I missed that until it was taken away from me. Our um, our hug, our embrace, like really just uh, brought up so many feelings and kind of like unpacked all this stuff that I didn't know was in there, of how important physical touch was to me, um, and how much it means to me, um, in addition to like face-to-face human interaction.

TJ: 6:12

And I will say this that I've always been the type of person to go into a coffee shop or go into a store or whatever, and make a point to speak to someone, because I feel like there's value in acknowledging another person's presence, in really seeing them right, because I feel like oftentimes we walk this world and it's very easy to not see each other, especially if you live in a big city, but I think even more so if you live in a city where you're driving most of the time, your human interaction is really your home space, your workspace or any community space that you have. It reminds me of a time that this friend of mine we used to work together years ago and I remember the first time I just came back from tour and the first time I walked into the office and saw her sitting on break. We immediately locked eyes and was like wait, do I know you? We immediately giggled and we were like I felt your energy. It's insane and we've been friends ever since.

TJ: 7:35

But it's those moments that I cherish and that I really love because it really just it feeds my soul. It helps me understand that I'm not walking through this life alone, that people see me in a way similarly to how I see myself, and that ultimately there is love out there for me and for us that exist, that we just have to acknowledge and find and recognize and be intentional about it. And I truly love when. I love it when I go to like a store or like a coffee shop and I start to like have a conversation with the barista or the person at the checkout and I find something out interesting about them, or find out that we have like a mutual friend or that we have similar interest.

TJ: 8:35

Because I feel like you always can tell when you connect with someone in that way that you have similar energies right Like you, kind of you're vibrating on the same frequency, so to speak. It really allows me to remain open and walk into spaces, into the world, with my heart open to receive all of those energies, because I know it can be difficult when you are walking through life and you have your heart closed. You know it can be difficult when no one sees you, when no one acknowledges your presence, and so you start to become hardened and you don't allow those moments of joy and sunshine to peak in because you've now closed yourself off. So I want to leave with you today, you know that, cherish those moments of interaction and be open to the magic of deeper connections with people, because you know, even if it's with a stranger, with a friend, a family member, you know life can really be more rewarding and beautiful if we can find those connections in our lives. And with that, have a great day and I'll see you next week.