By Tara Samuel
Every day of your life is a different coffee shop.
Just go with me on this for a minute. (Read: The length of this article.)
Think of every single day of your life as a different coffee shop. – And if you don’t drink coffee, consider each day a new gem of a restaurant. Order whatever you want. For now, we’re talking coffee shops.
“What the hell is she talking about?” you are thinking. Now come on. Open up your brain, and play with me. Imagine that each day you wake up – the moment you wake up – you look around and SEE a new and funky place you’ve never seen. Do it. And it’s cozy, or it’s weird, or it’s corporate, or it’s somewhere where you don’t speak the language. Yup – look at that book you haven’t finished – the one next to your bed – or better – look at all of those receipts you haven’t yet sorted – and think to yourself: “I don’t have to worry about that stuff; I don’t speak the language!” – Okay arguably that is not good advice – but for now – run with me on the whole ‘everything around you is new’ feeling. Humor me – and feel the curiosity – and the quiet chuckles to yourself – that come with looking at new surroundings, every single day.
Leave your house each day and think to yourself: “I am in a new coffee shop! A new building – or a new courtyard that I’ve never seen – with terrible décor! Who designed this place?!” Every day, look around, and realize to yourself “ I am in a lunatic coffee shop that defies all coffee shops!” Some days are old libraries you love for their dust and torn upholsteries – the mess is nostalgic; other days you adore, for their huge leather chairs and fireplaces; some afternoons you enjoy crisp sunshine, 20-foot ceilings, mirrored walls and marble floors; certain mornings are rainy, and you run your fingers along cold colored tiles of wrought iron tables. You are savoring these details, every single day.
Every single new day has its own particular clientele – shadowy people you get to stare at; sexy, enticing socialites; even Naked People. Yes indeed. Today you are in a nudist café. You may decide to come back to this particular café.
Some of your days have their own unique soundtrack – Tuesdays tend to play instrumental jazz; Wednesdays play musak that alternately cracks you up or oddly impresses you – orchestral covers of the Bee Gees; bossa nova versions of Cher; Fridays are often tuned to the satellite Sinatra channel, mischievously encouraging you to do it Your Way. There is often a swagger in your step this day. On other days when you can time travel, you visit this coffee shop again. – This, or the nudist café. Or you toss out all of these coffee shops and decide to see new ones…
Every day – when you wake up in this new shop you’re in, first thing: Take a huff. Sniff the air. Breathe in the new space. Anything different today? Is there a floral scent? Baking nearby? Fire? City smog that take on a new quality of seduction because YOU’RE IN A COFFEE SHOP IN BERLIN? Each day, imagine you’re somewhere you’ve never been, and look at your surroundings as though they are foreign, and SO ROMANTIC. Was this coffee shop built in Turkey? Are you in Morocco? Rwanda? Outer space? Is today an anti-gravity day? Challenging to walk today, but how cool is this?!
What details about today are you noticing, that have never before caught your attention? Is it the way the drapes hang in this particular French Café? Is it the sounds of African birds, chatting away to each other? Is the smell of the roasting beans at a late night campfire in Northern Canada? You’re in a late night outdoor café – Christmas lights everywhere – in the Canadian Arctic! Fantastic.
Now. “What the hell is her point?” you are asking.
Seek no further. Sit up and listen. Or lie back and enjoy your Persian hammock.
You are here on this planet to make something. Each and every one of you. Without exception. You know this. Don’t even try to argue with me on this point. Your job on this planet is to make something. You are here to make a song, make a sculpture, make a bridge, make a gourmet meal, make a gown, make a cabinet, make a movie soundtrack, make a character come to life, make a team of people that will create a breathtaking concert / opera / choreographed event / hike / commune / mural / choral group / tapestry / banquet / cinematic adventure.
And the very way to do this, is to stop doing all of that wondering you’re doing – quit doing that shit – and be in awe of what’s around you right now. Be in awe of everything.
Decide that every single day, you are in a new coffee shop – or a new city – or a new dimension – and get excited.
Be in awe of every day, in just the same way that you would admire the desert sky, the grand canyon, the pyramids, or Tara Samuel.
YES! The MOMENT you wake up – or heck – throughout your dreams as well – be amazed. Be amazed in your own bedroom, as though you were gazing at Planet Earth from your own personal floating space pod. That’s some sight, eh?
And that’s it.
That’s all you need to do in this life. Get excited about this very moment – this moment right now this second – stop thinking about all that shit in your head – and go make your thing. Go Make Your Thing!!
So exciting.
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by Tara Samuel, 2/20/11
Websites: Ruby Booby The Movie, Austin Film Festival , FIND the Movie, Santa Ana Performing Arts Examiner , IMDb-Tara Samuel , TaraTheSonyMovieChannelGirl, TaraSamuelOfficialWebsite , Girl At Start Up: Tara Samuel.
