Just a couple of posts ago I mentioned how I think that doscovery is an important part of enjoyment. This weekend I went to a National Park and played around in nature. It made me happy. I climbed up a giant sanddune and just smiled as I walked through the sand at the top (avoiding the scorpion tracks). I also really enjoyed wandering around right before sunset clambering over slick rock and admiring the Indian Paintbrush. I'm sure others have seen those things before but just finding these places myself was fun. My friend that I was with told some other friends that I was "euphoric" after these little escapades. I guess other people don't seem to get so excited about these kind of things... I guess I get it from my mom.
Although I have to admit that sometimes I don't feel like I appreciate some things as much as I should. We went on a sunrise hike. It was cool but it didn't seem that exciting...
Discovery and creation seem to be really connected in that way, as in they both give me the same triumphant feel. Without using the word "discovery" I wrote last month about how it can be a part of creation. In another post a couple of years ago, I wrote about being excited about the little things and how doing so makes you a good candidate for immortality. Perhaps they are more interrelated than I thought.
I always liked hiking to some degree, but I loved it so much more when I went to England and we walked as an actual mode of useful transportation. As in, instead of hiking up a mountain and back down to the same parking lot, we would hike up and over and on to the next town, and that was really satisfying. So the experience was really similar (walking outside) but the purpose was different, and the purpose really changed the experience for me. It felt triumphant to walk to somewhere rather than to walk for the sake of walking. This felt related to your post when I started this comment, but maybe it isn't as related as I thought!
ReplyDeleteAlso, do you ever listen to Radio West? Your post made me think of this one: http://radiowest.kuer.org/post/nature-fix
There does seem to be something doubly fulfilling when you can do something you enjoy and it happens to be useful.
ReplyDeleteI have another friend going on that study abroad. I am still a little jealous.