I’m sitting here this morning listening to music called “Ancient Temples” by the artist High Priestess. It is just peaceful music of the fantasy genre and I found it to be a suitable selection for the morning. I discovered it just the other day through last.fm when I followed a chain of suggestions stemming from The Hobbit soundtrack.
As I drink my tea (high grade from Chinatown) and listen to this soothing music it occurred to me that I really like fantasy and the magical. I like to try and imagine the world from a child’s point of view and how wonderful a world it can be when you use your imagination.
Or, for those who take life a bit more seriously, we could frame this is a Zen, universe, theoretical physics sort of way and say we are just opening ourselves up to possibilities!
I think adults often forget that. The simple magic of being alive and discovery is either completely lost or severely dimmed. As for me, I cannot say exactly when or where my mindset changed but for the past couple of years I have really enjoyed discovery, trying new things and simply enjoying the world around me.
Perhaps I am taking a cue from my little boy who is interested in EVERYTHING! I try to imitate his wonder and suddenly realize that I do not know very much about ants, plants, rocks and so on. He becomes very excited when he finds a new type of bug and it dawns on me that I do not even know what the bug is called!
I’m not sure if I can describe the feeling or these vivid, wonderful thoughts I have when I tell myself to start paying attention and see everything with fresh eyes. What I can say is that life becomes wonderful, it becomes magical! Just by changing my mindset I now open myself up to ever expanding possibilities.
To bring this down to earth a little I can tell you that through this love of discovery I suddenly had the urge to buy a mountain bike last week. Now I find myself getting a LOT of exercise and am really enjoying being able to cover a larger range. I think it also may help quite a bit that I live in a beautiful place called “Pacifica” where there is plenty to explore.
Now how many adults no longer feel the need to explore? It is not that you need to travel long distances or live in beautiful places to explore (although it helps.) As I mentioned above I can explore my own backyard with my little boy as I’m quite certain there are many more bugs out there to be discovered.
It has also just occurred to me that perhaps technology has really encouraged this type of thinking for me. Perhaps it is not just faerie music and extremely caffeinated tea after all. My Iphone is a magical device which connects me to all of human knowledge. Therefore, when I find that strange bug or weird looking plant I can look it up and know what it is!
Yes, yes, that is the magic brew!
1. Keeping the curiosity of a child
2. Seeing the world with new eyes
3. Being able to actually tap into all of human knowledge to really understand what you are observing!
4. AND faerie music does not hurt. 🙂
Believe it or not, this was not my original conclusion or what my main point started out to be. Sometimes I go in completely different directions and it is a rarity that my posts retain any sort of cohesion.
My original thought was about the perceptions people would have if say, I wrote my profile on a dating site or something like that.
1. Listens to fantasy music
2. Drinks tea
3. Likes to explore his own backyard
4. Previously played too much Warcraft
5. Attends the Renaissance Festival every year.
6. Favorite Book: Don Quixote
7. Favorite Movie: The Lord of the Rings
How many responses do you think I would get and what conclusions would people draw about me?
Now I ask myself the same question. What conclusions would I draw if I were to read a female’s profile of the same type?
(Luckily I don’t need to do this anymore as I’m married and my wife likes to attend the Renaissance Faires with me. My little boy does too but actually he likes everything.)
I guess in conclusion, keeping an open mind is something everyone says is a positive thing to do but in actuality is quite difficult. By limiting ourselves to our own biases and set opinions we are limiting the experiences we could have, we are limiting the possibilities!
It would be akin to looking at a menu in a restaurant and that you will only look at the plates with beef. Not just beef but only beef that comes with sauce. Not only that, but the price must be above $20.
Terrible metaphor I know but I believe it accurately describes how we go about living our lives. There is so much to experience (and re-experience) but the main impediment isn’t money and it isn’t time. It is ourselves.
