Love cont’d…
I think we bump into one another each day and do not quite comprehend how much of an influence we have on each other. To me, we human beings are living breathing compilations of our experience. Some of these experiences, more often than not, are with other people. Every interaction, every word, every gesture with someone is an influential moment, but I don’t think we comprehend the importance of these everyday occurrences. Every day to every hour to every minute to ever second is precious. So many things in our life have become “status quo”. They occur in automatic fashion with little to no thought to them. We no longer look at them as “special” enough to provide our unadulterated attention.
I always use the brushing of the teeth metaphor to help explain…
Do you remember the first time you brushed your teeth? Chances are you probably don’t, but I am sure most of us can admit that your younger self was probably very excited to start brushing his or her own teeth. I can remember when my mother stopped putting the toothpaste on the brush for me, I was ecstatic. This eventually led to me getting toothpaste everywhere, and I eventually tamed the wild beast that is the tube of toothpaste. Currently, brushing my teeth is just a necessary annoyance to me. I do it twice a day but never really want to do it, but that’s understandable I have done it every day of my life it was bound to become old fashion, right? If it wasn’t for the terrible consequences of breath and poor dental hygiene I would probably be much more inconsistent. Days where I am in a rush I always find myself wishing I didn’t have to brush my teeth.
Now juxtapose this frame of mind with the one of your younger self. My question to you is do you think we put in the same amount of effort in brushing our teeth, at both ages? Imagine your seven-year-old self and how happy they were with being able to have some accountability. This fueled an eagerness to put in as much effort as possible. Can you really admit to having that same eagerness?
I am not trying to convince you that your teeth are in terrible condition.
That vibrant energy of eagerness is what is missing from many of us trapped in adulthood. And it is a shame as adulthood is the second last stop on the life train headed to death. By this stage in life, tasks completed for decades become completed through routine rather than that pure youthful motivation. Motivation is present but it is a much less potent than the emotion concocted within ourselves during our younger selves.