3P Random Reflections Blog

Throughout the year whenever my husband and I shop together, we will occasionally come across some small item that either of us would like. The item will then sometimes get picked up off the shelf, and put into the shopping cart, accompanied by a "brief-eye-contact--words-are-not-necessary--knowing-nod"...a signal to the other person that this is an item that after being brought home, should be wrapped up and stored away for Christmas.

And then on Christmas morning, the funniest thing happens. Since we almost always forget about what we had chosen during the year, we are often completely surprised as we open up our presents... "OMG, I completely forgot about this". It's amazing how much we forget, and the amount of surprise and amusement and laughter that follows.

As I was reflecting on this, it occurred to me that forgetting is a wonderful thing. Every time I forget any memory, and then remember, it's like I get to see it new again, with fresh eyes, and potentially with a new perspective and wonder of feeling. And every time I want to hang on to any of my memories (or my beliefs or any of my thinking for that matter), the more limited my world becomes, the more I take things for granted, and the more I miss out on the limitless potential for new perspective and new wonder.

And so what do I miss when I hang on to, and pay attention to, and obsess over, and give significance to my old, recycled, habitual thinking? And how much energy does it unknowingly take for me to do all of this?

And what if I were to just allow myself to forget, to allow myself to let go of whatever I’m hanging onto… so that I could potentially leave room to see all the small little moments and miracles in life as if I was now seeing them as new... the wonder of on-demand hot and cold water from the taps - how does that all just magically happen?... the wonder of the fact that I'm actually a bundle of vibrating atoms but can only perceive my human form - seriously, what's up with that?... and even the wonder of looking at a difficult time (from now or from the past) in a new way - how cool that in any moment we have the potential to see new perspective and even wonder in some experiences that don't feel so wonderful.

The truth is that we always have the potential to see with new, fresh eyes and wonder. In fact, with the nature of the 24/7 flow of continually changing thought, we can't help but continue to see things in new ways, no matter how hard we try to stop it.

What's even more wonderful, is that as soon as we get insight into this fact, and begin to realize how much more we can rely on the fact that the human-thinking system was designed to primarily work all on its own, without our interference, presenting us with new, helpful thinking whenever we somehow allow it... the less desire we have to hang on to any of our old thinking (whether good or bad), and the more we get access to new eyes for the wonder within us and surrounding us.

May I wish all my friends and family, a new set of eyes with which to view their understanding of life, including the miracle that is their humanness, and the many glimpses always available into the limitless, miraculous world that surrounds them.

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