I have a very cool job that allows me to work on music festivals across the US. As such, I travel a bunch, and am in a variety of hotels, from the Ritz to Motel 6. People from all walks of life have crossed my path, and between airplanes and airports and hotels and the various cities I visit, I probably come across hundreds of thousands of new and different people every month.

And while we all walk by one another with our eyes glued to our phones, earplugs pushing in music and pushing out reality, I wonder how many blessings, I could have encountered, had I been paying attention.

My six hour plane rides? A slight hello to my seat mate, but usually silenced by anti-noise headphones and distractions from work on my computer. My elevator ride at my numerous hotels? Uncomfortable small smiles, then typically silence until we scurry out on to our given floors. We have become immune, to being near one another.

A recent Sunday morning after a long weekend event, I woke up early in my lovely Residence Inn in San Bernadino, and went downstairs for their free breakfast. I smiled, quickly and routinely to the two older women on the tables near me, as I made my way to my table, balancing computer and lukewarm pancakes, ready to dive in to my electronic world.

Clicka clicka clack, I was off, firing away on the key boards. Paying no attention to anything other than my work.

The two older ladies near me, had begun a conversation. It was only when I paused to check emails, I tuned in and heard them.

One was standing, talking down to the one sitting, she said in a soft voice “….Oh that must be so hard, cancer is just awful isn’t it? Well my husband, he has Parkinson’s, and it’s the Lord that has gotten us through, just faith, you need faith” the standing woman said gently to the other, as she laid her hand on her arm with a gesture of warmth and comfort.

The recipient, whose husband, apparently had the cancer, wiped her eyes, and said “You know, I’ve been trying but it’s so hard…thank you for your kind words, I needed to hear them.”

The two older women, whose husbands were both, apparently very ill, and whose lives were no doubt, upside down, were strangers waking that morning, yet took a moment to share a smile, push that into a conversation, and find a meaningful, much needed conversation, probably for them both.

I continued to pay attention, as their conversation ran rich and deep. Standing woman was now sitting – and their chairs were closer and closer. They were talking softly, occasionally wiping away tears, but also, often smiling and patting hands.

I watched until they were ready to part ways. They hugged, and exchanged phone numbers, the good ol fashioned way, by writing it down on a piece of paper, with a promise to check in on one another soon.

How many times have I been burdened, alone, sitting quietly, searching for an answer, and perhaps one was sitting right next to me at a coffee shop?

How many business contacts, have I perhaps passed up on a plane ride, or friends could I have made with a little extra effort, in just starting with a hello?

How many times has God put someone right next to me, and I have overlooked what their gift, could have been to me?

Or worse, how many times God put ME right next to someone with the intention of being of Gift to that person, yet I, focused solely on me, solely on my purpose solely on my small isolated universe, missed being their blessing?

Those sweet ladies taught me something important. Pay attention. Tune in. Look up, smile, say hello.

Imagine how rich our worlds would be if every person who passes us, had a lesson or a gift or a bit of knowledge, that gave us that much more out of life

Imagine if every person we passed, we were able to gift them with something divine and inspired.

It wouldn’t solve the world’s problems, and we all know there are plenty of those out there….but man, wouldn’t it be a great, simple start?