To be truly happy, I believe one thing you have to do is become very comfortable with perpetual ebb and flow. Constant change surrounds us and changes us. Becoming really comfortable with ups and downs, ins and outs, and ebbs and flows of who you think you are and what you think of everything around you is harder than it seems. Just take food as an example, in the last decade I have completely adopted entirely new eating habits (poorer eating habits, some would argue!) and just as I feel certain that almost nothing has changed about me in the last 10 years, I know with absolute clarity that nearly everything has! Take clothing as another example, or language for that matter. What words did you use as a 10 year old that you would never dare utter today? This may seem obvious to you, and not worth mentioning, but it is. All things change given time, and life. Take a journey with me...
How might a person harness change for good? What has society's role been in teaching us that we must change from this...
To this...
And who's to say which one is better? What if being "healthy" isn't your cup of tea? Where's this 'CHANGE NOW!' demand coming from? Is it within us? Is it innate?
Look around at those who you consider friends. Chances are that in the next 10 years, some may not be, and others who you do not yet know may take their places. Interpersonal relationships are one of the most dynamic forces in human lives. They are constantly changing, developing, deteriorating, or in some way becoming different than they were previously. One thing we don't do is stay the same. Think of your 3 closest girlfriends, chances are at least one of them (most likely 2 of them) will become a divorcee in her lifetime. You can't tell me that's because of the media and pop-culture discouraging everlasting marriage. Or can you? Why do people who were once in love change so dramatically? What are the precursors to this substantial change and how might we measure and predict it? Is that even possible? If we could bottle change, what would it look like?
How does a culture change from this...
To this....
And again, the million dollar question is WHY. What spurs this kind of cultural change and interpersonal change? What factors are involved in real change? Is any change permament? Better yet, is it ever possible for something to remain unchanged? Is there a thing on this planet that has never changed?
The exact degree to which we change each day, with each waking hour, cannot yet be measured, but I am without a doubt that it's a large amount. Over the course of your life, how many cars will you drive, residences will you live in, or friends will you make? Of those, how many will be with you from birth until death?
What is the nature of change and, more importantly, how is it that some people live their entire lives without asking themselves this question? Are we fundamentally unaware? Are we programmed to perceive real change as insignificant and minute? A popular psychologist believes it comes down to this: Each of us is trapped in a time, a place, and a circumstance and our attempts to use our minds to transcend these boundaries are more often than not ineffective. In essence, the human brain is not particularly sensitive to change, it seems.
And even with all these questions, I, sadly, have no answers with which to leave you. All I have is this quote from a great contemporary author:
With the exception of a few moments of time in my life, particularly those spent with the ones I love, I sometimes think I've passed through life with no more awareness than that of a small child on a long car ride, staring out the window as the scenery rolled past.
0 comments:
Post a Comment