500 Words a Week - Chasing Experiences
“Try to be surprised by something every day. It could be something you see, hear, or read about. Stop to look at the unusual car parked at the curb, taste the new item on the cafeteria menu, actually listen to your colleague at the office. How is this different from other similar cars, dishes or conversations? What is its essence? Don't assume that you already know what these things are all about, or that even if you knew them, they wouldn't matter anyway. Experience this one thing for what it is, not what you think it is. Be open to what the world is telling you. Life is nothing more than a stream of experiences — the more widely and deeply you swim in it, the richer your life will be."
- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
There are a few ideas/ quotes that standout to me which I always find myself coming back to. The above is one of them. For me, it links to something that I’ve been trying to work on which I find is something I struggle with. I struggle with getting lost in my own head. During these times my ability to feel and be present is diminished as I’m thinking about some abstract thing or thought, some random event that happened in the past or some distant worry about the future.
The above also links to how we spend our time, how we spend our resources. Do we spend it accumulating things or experiences? On a sombre note, I’ve recently been reflecting upon death as mentioned in the past. When we think of ourselves on our death bed, what will we recall with fondness? Will it be that trip we went on with people close to us or will it be the time we missed that life event to work that extra day? Of course, at times we will have to work that extra bit to afford us the resources to accumulate these experiences.
I couldn’t help thinking about the movie “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” while writing this blog, in the movie Walter is a man who also spends his life in his own head, day dreaming of little scenarios and situations where if he was a bit more bold and seized life he would experience. Then life forces him to go on an adventure, to seize the moment, to be open to what life throws at us.
When we talk about experiences in this nature, we immediately think of big events, big holidays, major life events. Yet it’s ultimately the little everyday experiences we have that make our life.
The point of this blog is to remind us to cherish the little experiences around us. The little moments of laughter, or the tears shed with someone close to us. The chance to be there for someone close to us.
