finding purpose on my daily commute

I committed to sharing my experience living more purposefully but life happened last week and writing posts fell towards the bottom of my to-do list. Luckily I was fortunate enough to attend part of Oprah's The Life You Want Weekend here in Atlanta which was, strangely enough -- but not all surprisingly -- very aligned with this focus on purpose that I'm living right now.

I'll share about the Oprah experience at a later point but for now I thought I'd share about a specific moment from last week when I could pinpoint this little experiment having a positive, real impact on me.

With my recent move (read about my feelings on moving here and here) I've been able to take MARTA, Atlanta's public transit system. To say that it has been a wonderful life change would be an understatement. 

MARTA gets a bad rap so hear (read) me out... Moving from another city with a huge traffic problem  but one that also has a strong public transit system (Washington, DC), it's been a challenge getting used to life without easy access to public transit. Enter: living less than 4 blocks from MARTA and working less than a half a mile from a transit station.

MARTA seems to be looked down on in Atlanta. But truth be told, it's cleaner and less crowded than all the other public transits I've taken on a regular basis. This is likely due to the fact that it's not all that popular, which is largely due to the fact that it doesn't run through the most convenient locations, but I digress.

I've been taking the train to my office 2-3 times a week for the past 3 weeks. Along with removing me from the mess that is Metro Atlanta traffic it gives me time to read and decompress, offers a little exercise as I walk to/from the stations, and costs no more than traveling via car.

A co-worker of mine has joked that he can tell the days I take MARTA since I just seem to be in a brighter mood.

The other day I was leaving the train and saw one of the other women in my office who takes the train into work. My immediate reaction was to avoid her. I hate to admit this but then again I think that's a pretty normal reaction: I had a 5 minute walk to my building left in my commute and part of me wanted to revel in my solitude. I rationalized to myself that it wasn't just so that I'd have a few more minutes of "me" time but since she had ear buds in surely she wouldn't want to chat; further even if she did I'm sure I would have startled her if I approached her. 

Just before I could finish talking myself out of saying hello I remembered a part of the intention I set for myself that morning. My intention was to really think about and connect with my coworkers on a human level. Not that I don't do this on a pretty regular basis but I had recently been asked to develop a team development program to encourage associates to get to know one another on a more personal basis. I figured I should walk the walk. But more so I really firmly believe that showing our authentic selves at work and getting to know the authentic selves of our coworkers is really important to our happiness and success at a company. I am friendly with a lot of my coworkers and close with a few but I knew that there was still room for improvement.

With that I quickened my pace and caught up to her. We had a very nice walk to the office together. Then two days later we walked to the train together at the end of the day. That time she saw me heading out and asked if I had driven or rode in; when I told her I took the train her face lit up, she asked if I'd wait 2 minutes for her to grab her things (I obliged), and when she got back to the door she said as we walked towards the elevators, "I've had no one to ever walk with since the interns left!"

My simple act, while small to me, was big to her. 

This was the point of my set purpose that morning. And being able to identify and see progress in these purposes and intentions is a big reason I've been starting my days with a set intention or two.

What about you? What are your intentions for the day or month or even longer term? Declare your purpose and start making progress now.