JUST LIKE JULIA

Questioning seems intrinsic to our lives. As children, we are curious about the entire world. When we can form words, sentences and deductive reasoning, we approach the world with a ‘why’ centered approach. When our parents ask us to do something, we tend to question their reasoning for why we should do so. We need to understand. Perhaps it’s the unknown that brings a sense of anxiety to us. Or the fact that in order to feel comfortable in the awareness of our existence, we must discover a purpose for our being. 

For us to be comfortable in our every day lives, we wake up with some sort of purpose. An errand to run. Someone to care for. A task or goal we wish to accomplish. The motivation for our every sense of movement is motivated by a desire for something. 

To watch the world unfold slowly, to sit in one space for a lengthy amount of time without moving, without giving in to the desires that jump into our mind every few minutes may seem like a difficult task. Try it. Go to a cafe, a park, the beach…somewhere where you can post up for an hour or two at the very least and see how long you can sit there without tending to the multitude of thoughts that appear in your brain. The desire to utilize the bathroom. Perhaps the thinking thoughts that appear. The forgotten tasks that limited themselves to the back of the mind. Jumping from conclusion to conclusion. Posting up in one spot seems difficult. Yet as you remain to be the constant, you can observe how the world functions and be aware of how you perceive the world. you notice the way you judge, compartmentalize, label, describe, assign and piece together the unique perspective that is yours. The way you create associations, the symbols that appear, the superstitions and rituals you adhere to. 

From the moment we are born, we attempt to create our own understanding of the world. This knowledge is co created with the rest of the humans that we come into contact with: family, friends, peers, strangers…The places we see, visit, travel to become habitual. The newness dies down and we become creatures of habit. We self generate routines of self care, nourishment and stick to patterns of doing things. Not to say that habits are detrimental. From them, we can create constructive systems. When we automate and delegate tasks that take up more time and energy than is necessary, we can funnel that energy towards tasks with a greater return.