Bubble Communication Experiences

Summer sunlight, kissing the cliché student stubble, filtering thorough the stained-by-time window of the residence somehow seemed to make that day all the more bubble-esque. As conversation began to transcend beyond the banal daily chatter, and into more profound territory, the room was set ablaze by the Cape Town fireball in the sky. Fascinating, even more, was the condition of the conversation.

When you interact with people, do you see beyond the words? Do you look beyond the faux body language and expected shrugs, to the subliminal gasps and sighs that compensate for the lack of depth and meaning in our conversations? True conversation is not a meeting of words and an exchange of laughs. In order to truly connect with someone, communication should transcend beyond words. It’s an aura, an experience more than a connection. Conversations don’t always equate to connections. The gormless chatter outside café Frigo is not equivalent to the conversation comprising of a few carefully selected words while a chic Indie band strums along in the background on a lazy Summer evening.

All our lives, we build a reservoir of experience, thoughts, ideas and opinions. These begin to form part of our personal bubble. We carry it with us when we enter into conversation, when we think and when we judge situations or people. The question is, have you ever truly crossed into someone’s bubble beyond touching the slippery surface and consequently popping it (thereby quelling the chances for meaningful chatter) ? That is an experience.

When you experience someone, you don’t simply speak with them. You show your true self, and you in turn receive truth, of word and body language. An experience stays with you, changes the chemical composition of reactions you’ve integrated into your life regarding that person. If we experienced people more, then maybe we’d be a happier humanity. That’s not to say that the ubiquitous “Hey, how’re you” conversations are meaningless – it’s just that they often don’t lead one to grow into another’s bubble.

As I’ve begun to interact more with people, I’ve begun to recognise the need to cast away the cloak that we all frequently adopt. The cloak that we believe will win us friends an influence. I’m happy to slide in-between personalities, as long as the one I manifest is ultimately my highest truth in the present situation. When we cast aside the banal social expectations, and we show our truths, we begin to fully open ourselves to the world and all the experiences that people will, or have, come to offer. Who am I? I say I am a bubble, but you may step inside one day and understand why my colours swirl in the sunlight.

Often, experiences can be draining. If done properly, if truly comprehended and taken in, one can be emotionally and mentally overwhelmed. Soft subjects, tender words and brimming eyes take no prisoners in bubble sharing and can naturally lead to confusion. What do you do if you’ve experienced someone, and you encounter them randomly on the road? Or, more specifically, you’ve been able to transcend into conversation realms with them you thought were previously unattainable. The answer I have often pondered. It’s impossible to launch into something meaningful in public with a cursory “Hey”. But the intuitive vibrations emitted from a person should not be different towards you. If someone shows and shares their bubble with you when you’re alone but somehow blocks you out when you’re together in person, it’s not unreasonable to question the sincerity of their bubble sharing. How do you breathe false, sweetly smelling air when the cherry blossoms are on the breeze an ocean away? Turning the lights off can pour salve, but not heal a bubble.

Have you ever had that bubble communication experience? Where, for a moment, you became enveloped by another's world - and they painted around you their mind's most fragile workings? You haven't lived until you've been drowned in life beyond your finite life processes.