Walking into town this morning, I passed a young woman with a small child. The woman was holding an empty pushchair, looking behind where the child was. The small toddler was walking very slowly. I smiled to myself thinking 'you can't be in a hurry when a small child wants to walk.' The mother knows where she's going and just wants to get there but for the child, it's a whole new adventure. She wants to look closely at everything and just take time to enjoy the freedom of walking and taking it all in. No doubt some things were new to her and so had to be investigated.
Those of us who are parents or grandparents remember well the times when our children discovered things for the first time. Oh the excitement; the look on their faces; sheer wonder at discovering something new.
It does seem a shame that much of that wonder of seeing life goes as we grow older. We can so easily get to the point of 'we've seen it all before' and dismiss the awesomeness of small things happening all around us. We are so often in a hurry just to get from A to B as quickly as possible. Busy, busy, busy; deadlines to meet; so much to pack into our 24 hours. And before we know it, the months and years have flown by.
I must say that as a retired person, I do have the privilege of not having deadlines to meet or places I must be. Still, it is a good reminder to occasionally just stop and notice the small details of everyday life. Take time, take a deep breath and enjoy just being alive. Don't let life slip by without taking time to enjoy it.
I saw this photo the other day. Apparently it has now gone viral. It is obviously a crowd of people waiting to see their favourite celebrities. When you look more closely at the picture you see that everyone is ready with their camera, iphone or tablet to get the occasion for posterity so they can look at it later at length. Everyone, that is, except a small, white-haired lady right at the front. Maybe she doesn't own any such device. But on the other hand she doesn't have to be concerned with getting the right angle or if someone sticks their head right in front of her just as she is taking the longed-for photo. She is just happy to be there and is soaking up the atmosphere and I guess not missing a thing. Her total concentration is on the event of the moment and she is enjoying whatever is happening right now without being distracted by searching for the optimum position and getting ready to click, making sure to click the right button at the exact moment. She is engrossed in the moment and enjoying it to the full.
At the beginning of the week (for those who aren't on my friends list on Facebook so don't already know) I underwent an operation to remove a cataract from my right eye. People I spoke to who have had it done all told me that it was nothing to worry about and that I wouldn't feel a thing. It would all be over in no time at all. Everyone tried to console me and I tried to take it all on board but if I'm honest I was still a little apprehensive.
Learning about something, whether from books, professionals or friends and actually experiencing what they are describing can be two entirely different things. It's the difference between saying, 'People told me about it' and 'Now I know what it's like'.
Ask any young mother who has just given birth for the first time or a sports fan who watches a game on television while other fans go to the venue and watch it in person. You can't really absorb the atmosphere and the feeling of being carried along by other fans who also want to cheer on their team. The singing, the cheering, the banter. They will tell you that there is no comparison between watching it on a screen and watching it for real. The experience far outweighs seeing it second hand.
Also at the beginning of the week we had the rare occurrence of the supermoon and lunar eclipse that could be seen around the world. Many people stayed up to watch it. Others who had work or other commitments really needed their sleep so opted to watch pictures shown on the news the next morning. Although I am retired and don't need to go to work, I still slept through the night and missed actually seeing the event as it unfolded. The pictures I saw were indeed quite spectacular and it's an event that won't happen again until I'm well into my 90s, if I'm still with life that is. I'm sure though that for those who did see it, they would look at pictures and just know that you can't capture the same feelings of awe and wonder at the workings of the heavens. You have to be in it to feel it.
You can have a great deal of knowledge about a subject or event but that doesn't compare with the actual experience. We can look at photos or pictures, read articles or books but the experience allows us to identify with the occasion and the people involved. It involves emotions and conjures up feelings of wonder and pleasure. We never know what the future will bring or how long we have in this life so it's a shame if we spend too much time just having second hand knowledge rather than living the occasion with all that that entails. It's rather sad that so many people spend so much time learning about something that they never get to really enjoy experiencing it. Embrace the moment to the full. Immerse yourself in the experience. Go for it, even though you may be a little apprehensive. In the nicest possible way I want to say 'Get a life!'
Those of us who are parents or grandparents remember well the times when our children discovered things for the first time. Oh the excitement; the look on their faces; sheer wonder at discovering something new.
