Sometimes I don't realize how caught up I am in the framework of life. This frame; it is made. Man-made. And many of us including myself follow it blindly. School, work, obligations, that which we are taught to value, our daily schedules, our mindset towards individual success and thinking towards the future, and so many other details, compose this warped frame made to look ideal but that keeps us from breaking, even looking, out every once in a while.
Sitting at my desk in my dorm room now at 2:08 in the morning everything looks different. 4 hours ago I set aside my psychology reading after worrying about whether or not the university Program Board I am part of will be able to do the catering we promised, or worrying about the sudden realization over dinner that I need classes picked out by Tuesday (of which I have hardly the slightest plans. More appointments, woohoo.) or the financial updates I need to make to start planning study abroad or, as a Resident Assistant, worrying about certain residents. I even set aside all other concerns drifting around in my mind decidedly trying to make my life more difficult by not landing in my memory. After setting aside all this along with my textbook, I intentionally let it all go. I just went out to learn how to play rugby at 11pm with my friend and make a few phone calls with some long-lost friends, NO STRINGS ATTACHED. What a breath of fresh air! I didn't realize how well I had adjusted to breathing in the aroma of varnish from constantly polishing the frame. But i think everyone, myself included, needs to stop and smell the roses more often than they probably do. It was such a simple reboot of life, but I am so calmed and ready to embrace whatever life has to offer, whether or not it lies within the deceiving frame. All the work and duties i have - I remember now that I do it all, not because I am tied to them and therefore can blindly follow through with everything without worrying about falling away, but because I choose too and decide to make my time worthwhile through everything that I do.
CAUTION: do not fall prey to the frame
tips: see it, recognize it, know it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOTcr9wKC-o&a=QjpW7pM9_JU&playnext_from=ML
"I didn't realize how well I had adjusted to breathing in the aroma of varnish from constantly polishing the frame."
ReplyDeleteYES. I completely understand and agree with this statement. It sometimes disgusts me how accustomed I have become.
In other news - YOU ARE SO LIKE ME IT'S NOT EVEN FUNNY. :P
In other other news... this can also be applied to Christianity. It shouldn't fit in a frame, but so often I feel that it does. We go through the motions - go to church, read the scriptures, and pray, but where are our hearts? Often they are not present in this equation.
We have to remember to live. No matter where we are, we are learning something, enriching our experience in some way. And we have to feel. I sometimes look back at life and realize I have forgotten so much, and I think it's due to a lack of emotion in my actions. But when there is passion, there is an effect, there is a memory, there is LIFE.
I like to put it this way: In this life, we must be memory collectors. In order to make a memory, you must actively pursue an experience, an emotion, and, most importantly, enrichment.
So... I just posted a blog in response to yours. I have the sudden urge to write a paper on this topic.