Walt Streightiff said that “to a child's eyes there are no seven wonders in the world; there are seven million. " As soon as we are born we begin to discover the environment that surrounds us, everything appears new and surprising to us; the shape of a flower or a sound are more than enough reasons to surprise us.
But as time goes by, our ability to amaze ourselves diminishes. Because? One of the main factors that impact our ability to amaze ourselves is habit. For example, when we take a completely new road we tend to be attentive to details, but once we have traveled it several times, we take it back immersed in our thoughts without even considering it.
The force of habit shows us the way and we avoid considering the details. The same happens in couple relationships. At first everything is new, but as the years go by when we think we know the other person well enough, they lose their charm and we begin to focus on their weaknesses. As a result, the relationship deteriorates.
It also happens with advertising. By dint of seeing so many ads all the same, we often end up watching them without even realizing it. In marketing this is known as "ad blindness".
In either case, what happens is that the stimuli lose their power to surprise us and stop attracting our attention.
Our share of responsibility
It is obvious that when a stimulus is new it has all the characteristics to amaze us. But the fact is, we too have our share of responsibility for the loss of this ability. Because?
In the first place, because we develop the belief that nothing can amaze us anymore, given that we have seen everything in life. Secondly, because we close ourselves to small changes since we are too immersed in the frenzy of a life that makes us rush from place to place without allowing us to stop and consider what is happening around us.
How can we recover the ability to amaze ourselves?
The good news is that we can recover the ability to be amazed and therefore to be much happier. Like? By following the advice below:
- Consider that everything is always in constant evolution. Everything around us is changing, the road we take continuously is different every day, even if we do not realize it since we often go in a hurry. A useful exercise in this regard is to take the same path thinking that it is the first time that we are walking it. Opening our eyes we will discover new things that will surely amaze us.
- Enjoy the here and now. Just live the present intensely. Remember that the past is past and the future is uncertain, and yet it is yet to come. Learning to enjoy the moment you are living will make you happier.
- Always use your five senses. When you take a walk in nature, free your thoughts and open yourself to the experience. Consider that there are millions of species of animals and plants and that you cannot know them all. There are also thousands of different colors and aromas. There is a huge and varied world to discover, just pay attention to it.
- Look for the novelty. Listen to new musical genres and new singers, be open to new styles of painting, attend alternative theatrical works, start a new hobby… In short, it is about doing new things that make you experience different emotions.
- Live experiences differently. There are often different ways of doing the same thing. For example, if you go for a run every day, you change the route you take. The question is to explore all possible ways to change. In this way, every activity will be much more enjoyable.
