Find a place.
Any place will do.
A tree,
A park bench,
A corner in the hallway,
A spot under the stairs.
It doesn’t matter where.
Those small, ignored places.

Sit.
Be silent,
Be still – and watch.

People are everywhere.
Listen.
Remember their manners.
Note the changes,
The differences.
Relate yourself to each of them.

The younger and the older,
The cliques –
They can all be identified at a glance.
But that is not the person.

The person is what you’re looking for.
The way they think, the times they hesitate,
The details that set them apart from their stereotypes.
Never say they’re not there – they always are.

This exercise gets easier – relating everything each of them does to something you have seen, something you have felt, something you have thought – trying to find some sense in the tiniest gesture they make. Never try to agree with what they do, never judge them, just seek an explanation. You will see one of them one day and think you’ve got it, you know who they are and the next the idea will change completely.

Repeat this over and over, day after day.
It will surprise you,
I promise.

~Lauren, Lauren.Rizzotto@theguthan.com