I’ve got a question for you: When was the last time you REALLY wondered about something around you with full curiosity and felt extremely excited like a little child?
The reason I’m asking you this is because I see that, with age, we lose our ability to stay curious about things in life, thus losing our ability to really enjoy every day and live life to the fullest.
Since I changed my activity, I take the train to come to work in the morning. Every day, I see the same image on the platform, in the train, and then at the Central Station until I get to work.
The image is the following:
– all people wear suits/formal/casual dresses and backpacks or briefcases;
– all people stand quietly and look into their phones, read some kind of book or newspaper;
– all people walk in 2 straight lines to get off the platform, then the same thing happens upstairs in the Central Station, on the escalator and basically until I exit the station building;
– all people look tired or unhappy.
Good thing is, though, that everybody is respectful of one another and nobody tries to override you while hasting to work.
Sometimes, there are people who come in a group of 2-4 and they are the only ones talking on the train, thus creating a little more human atmosphere filled with funny jokes, laughter and social interaction. As a person who is constantly seeking to be around people and have a connection with the world, I couldn’t look at this picture with straight eyes. Nothing that happens every morning bothers me, and, most of all, I understand the reason WHY everybody acts like this. Nevertheless, I can’t brush off of my brain this one question: “Where we really born into this World to be like this, to act like this, and then end up unhappy?”
When we were little, we found joy in every single rock we picked from the ground, in every grass we ate to see how it tastes, in every hidden corner we discovered when playing hide-and-seek. So what happened to us? When did we transcend from gleeful little people into grumpy, all-the-time-tired, no-happy-for-nothing adults? Unfortunately, it happens to all of us, and we don’t even notice when. The transition from no-problems to life-problems is so smooth and steady, that we don’t realize the change, until we see something that used to excite us as kids and now it just doesn’t. As adults, there seems to be almost nothing that captivates us too much and makes us go head-over-heels for something or someone in life. We all “use our heads”, as they say, instead of our heart and instincts. We lost survival skills. We lost touch with our own selves, while, at the same time, we vividly keep convincing ourselves that we are strong and high-performing and amazing and achieving adults nowadays. Every day, we try our best to impress someone – a boss, a colleague, a girl, a boy, an acquaintance – when, in fact, the only one needing to be impressed is our own person!
When I was with my family on vacation in the USA, I’ve seen a huge moon over the ocean, the kind of moon you only see in movies, and several shooting stars! The night was magical! I was standing there with my husband and my daughter. The ocean shore, the breezy air, the smell and the sound of the ocean magnified the experience to a supreme level. In an instant, I felt like my soul was flying high and I was free. Free of everything I wanted to be free from. Suddenly, I remembered how excited and tingly I’d become when seeing shooting stars when growing up. That exact moment right there was the ultimate spirit shifter for me! Nothing else mattered but us 3 and the Universe.
Since that day, I keep on seeing things around me and feeling positive emotions more intensely. On my bad days, if I start to drift into a negative spiral of thoughts, I catch myself on this pattern and I just say to myself: “This is just one little event. It will be different tomorrow. Well, f**k this shit, let’s call it a day.” It helps a lot. It doesn’t mean that I don’t feel crappy, but I just hope for a better day to follow. At home, I don’t concentrate on my household chores, I just leave them aside for a sunnier day. On the contrary, I engage myself into silly activities with my girl, talking all we want with my husband, watching documentaries and reading my books. Online shopping helps too if you’re the kind of reasonably-spending person who also happens to like to receive parcels by post 😉 (it’s just a little happiness trick I do to motivate myself at times).
Anyways, my message to all of you today is to remember about those little things that made you squeak from happiness. Find them today and let yourself feel the joy again. And then, keep a constant reminder of those feelings. Start being curious again, being carefree and, please, try to worry less than you usually do. I know that what I’m asking of you doesn’t come that easily, but just give it a try! Do just one thing differently than you usually do, and start from there. Look more at the sky. Smile at people. Tell somebody they look great when they walk on the street. Bump into people on purpose only to say “sorry” and exchange couple of words. Touch the grass in the park. Feel the paper in your hands. Drink water and feel it going down your throat then into your chest and into your stomach. Smell the flowers when you pass by a florist’s. There are really countless ways to perk yourself up and make a little change to become happier and more aware of yourself and your feelings.
Let us all not only have a life, but let’s also live it to the fullest!
Ina's Place 