My wife Carolina, likes to complete crossword puzzles as a leisure time activity. She has actually gotten quite good at it. Carolina is definitely more well-read than me, been exposed more to cultural disciplines such as art and music and has a better appreciation for certain things in life than her husband, the son of blue-collar parents from a Northern New Jersey suburb.
Crossword puzzle clues cover a wide range of subjects. Early on in our marriage, when Carolina was stuck on a clue, she might suddenly ask me a question out of the blue. Often the questions were related to spectator sports, (a subject that she knew I knew well). Others might at times be about television programs or popular movies. Many times I knew the answer, other times I did not. The times that I did, she would say to me, I don’t know how you remember that stuff. I said to her, I didn’t know either how I somehow remembered what seemed liked the most mundane of things, but I guess I was “the champion of knowing a lot of useless trivia.”
I live fairly close to the area where I grew up, went to high school and college, and even grew into a young and middle aged adult. At times something will occur in my life today, which brings me back to an occurrence from my past. It may be triggered by the location where I’m at, a question from Carolina or someone else in my life today that prompts a memory to a similar experience, or a reaction by another that brings a chill down my spine. It amazes me how much I have experienced in my sixty years, (and hopefully how much more I have to experience in the coming years). Everything I’ve been a part of, viewed, read, enjoyed or not enjoyed, it’s all still a part of me.
The world we live in changes constantly. We’re asked to make transitions in the way we do things, the jobs we work in, the way we perform many of the tasks in our everyday life. That is understandable and I find is a key trait in living a happy and content life in the present. However, no one can take away your memories, past experiences and enjoyments. They have gotten you to this point in your life. They were the things you enjoyed doing because they allowed you to make the best use of your skills, provided the type of personal interaction you needed or allowed for the sensory experience to your environment that aligns to who you are and how you enjoy things. Your memories and experiences often provide the answer and clues as to what you may need to change, or find the need to adapt in your present so as to provide similar enjoyments that have been so much a part of your life in your past.
Therefore, if you are fighting that change/transition/new experience that has become a part of your life, take a step back and reflect on it. What can you do to make you experience it in the way that provides you the most pleasure and enjoyment, (NOTE: AND THAT DOES NOT INCLUDE TELLING SOMEONE ELSE TO DO WHAT THEY ARE DOING DIFFERENTLY). We all have a past. We have parts of it that cause us enjoyment when we think about it and parts which cause us pain. Focus on those times of enjoyment and look for those characteristics/traits which were present. Look to make them a part of your present as best as you can. Because, whether good or bad, enjoyable or distasteful, whatever has happened to you up to this moment, it’s all still a part of you.
