I spent a lovely afternoon yesterday looking at furry rockets, giant glittery mushrooms and shot Chanel handbags.

It's not what I usually do on Tuesday afternoons, but I had signed up for the Kunsthal Rotterdam's "art buddies" initiative, where they match you with someone you've never met to look at art together.

Five wonderful things happened:

=> I made a new friend

=> We had wildly different reactions to the art (me: please, no gold! her: give me gold! give me glitter! give me neon! this is the best!!!)

=> I got to look at things through her eyes

=> I got to verbalise my own experience and explain it to someone with a different background

=> We found a lot of common ground

It got me out of my bubble in a very gentle, non-polarising, dare I say 'glittery' way.

And I wish much more of this for all of us.

Go play with someone you've never met before.

If you work for a large organization, you can even make this a regular activity.

And if not: there's parks, museums, cafe's, train stations - so many places to play.

Arrange for a date with someone you don't yet know this month, and get out of your bubble. We need more connection and less polarisation.

P.S. If you have other creative ideas for hanging out with people you've never met, do share them in the comments.

Art work: Cristal Custom Commando from the exhibition Sylvie Fleurie - Yes to All, Kunsthal Rotterdam