Nowadays, it is not enough for one to buy a ticket to a concert/play or even just to book a flight or make reservations at a hotel and/or restaurant. Once you click that “Pay” button (or confirm the purchase with the person on the other side of the phone line), the opportunity for an “up-sell” arises and you are asked whether you would like to “increase the pleasure you derive” from watching/eating/whatever it is you just paid for, or to borrow their phrase, “Expand the Experience.”
Why expend money and effort for the opportunity to intensify a feeling, a sensation or just a moment? Whatever you are doing, wherever you may be, and whomever you may well be with – BE TOTALLY THERE! Enjoy that specific moment, let the ‘experience’ envelop your whole being, or just be ‘involved’ in the experience! Be present in the moment!
That is why I was so blown away by my 18-year old niece, Bea, who is visiting the United States for the first time. As I was dropping her off (with her parents & younger brother) at Universal Studios, she blurted out, “Fair warning! If I burst out in tears, please ignore me because I would need to express my extreme joy somehow.”
Wow! The honesty of her words and the simplicity with how she expressed her feelings about visiting her most favorite place in the world are such a rarity nowadays! She had been wanting to see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter attraction since it opened in Florida. Now that there is the same attraction in Universal Studios Hollywood, coming to Los Angeles for her graduation gift fulfilled her most ardent wish!
Juxtaposed against those who are offering an “expanded experience,” I cannot help but wonder if our society has robbed this generation of something important – the ability to delight in simple things. That not everything worth ‘knowing’ has to be spectacular, sensational nor singularly exclusive. All it needs is – to BE.