When 1000 Years = A Single Moment
Noemi? After living in Italy for the past 10 years, she recently moved to La Seu d’Urgell — into the three story mustard-yellow stucco apartment at the end of the block. Her geraniums on each of the balconies are admired by all. Noemi puts her experience to work teaching an Italian language class at the town’s adult learning center.
Sonia runs her own holistic health business. Among other things, she leads a guided meditation in her studio once a week — never more than six people. Sonia wants to make sure to provide each client with a personal experience.
Galla, who is approaching age 3, belongs to her parents Dani and Pilar. Galla leverages the shadowy corners underneath the medieval stone arches to hide from my wife, Lisa, in a game of tag.
Two of our closest friends in town fell in love decades ago under these very same arches.
Those who we have not met, apparently know Lisa and me as “madre y padre de Seu” or mother and father to Seu, our 17 year-old daughter.
Rosa? She is the current owner of La Tasca, a bar that is a stones-throw from our apartment and is situated along the narrow cobblestone street in La Seu Medieval where all of these interactions are shared. Connective interactions have played out right here since the year 1000.
Yes, you read that correctly — these types of neighborly friendships is a 1000 year tradition on our street.
Rosa’s job as La Tasca’s proprietress is to carry forward the legacy of all the La Tasca owners from previous centuries — and bring together neighbors over a glass of sparkling Cava or any other drink for which one might have a craving.
Most afternoons, my wife and I get away from our MacBook & PC to enjoy a chilled Cava served to us by Rosa on high top tables under the ancient stone archways. Once the winter winds come rolling off the Pyrenees mountains, we’ll do the same, but inside La Tasca’s stone walls, and the drink will most likely be a hot Cafe Amb Llet.
Complimentary appetizers accompany the drinks — local hams, cheeses, olives, tortilla de patata. Then there are the fresh cherries from the market served alongside piping hot popcorn. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. The other day, Rosa brought me white chocolate-covered nuts with my coffee. But, once Rosa learned of our daughter’s affection for the popcorn & cherries, we see that pairing placed on our table more and more.
The drinks and snacks are of secondary importance at La Tasca. *Job Number One* is connecting to simplicity. Rosa’s guests seek simplicity and Rosa is simplicity’s primary facilitator.
A visiting friend to La Seu asked me, “Why do Catalans want to be independent from Spain?” He was referring to our home region’s ongoing quest to live by its own rules, principles, and values — the glue that holds together everything described here.
Regardless of how one answers what seems to be a simple question — the answer is not simple. There are 1000 years of connective interactions riding within it.
To sit at La Tasca for a moment each day immersed in conversation with, and observations of, our neighbors and friends — I treasure that I am now part of a 1000 year tradition. But it does not provide to me a short answer to my friend’s simple question about independence. Because for these few minutes each day, I understand nothing and everything about this topic all at once.
To continuously evolve for a thousand years is as overwhelming to consider as it is hard to put into practice.
If you and I were to borrow a page from this script and simply evolve ourselves for a month, perhaps a week, or even just a day, how would our page read?
Answer: Nobody evolves for a thousand years. We evolve in the single moments. Simply, the moment we are in right now.
With gratitude,
Joe
Ps — Do you know somebody who would benefit from reading this post? Consider sharing When 1000 Years = A Single Moment using THIS LINK and the hashtag #MomentOfNow.
And, if reading this post makes you want to come drink Cava with me in here La Seu d’Urgell, just message me here on Medium or at Joe@JoeJacobi.com and I’ll tell you how we can make this happen.
Hi, I’m Joe, the owner of 5 With Joe Performance Coaching. My clients are leaders, organizations, and teams who utilize my Olympic Gold Medal performance strategies and 40 years of navigating whitewater river rapids to streamline decision making and actions when engaged in complicated river currents of business and life.
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