My favourite author is China Mieville. I find Joe Rogan's podcast to be pretty life affirming.
I work in HR, I'm a vegan and I like to run etc etc but all that's just trivia.
A meaningful connection for me would be based on a mutual feeling of amazement over just being alive. There was a big bang which lead to stars and then planets and then then the primordial soup lead to evolution and consciousness, seriously what the f**k!